Transcript
Andrew Reamer: I'm Andrew Reamer with the Urban Markets Initiative at the Brookings Institution. I welcome you to this third Brookings Briefing on the Census, provided to Congressional staff with the cooperation of the House Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census.
The first briefing, held on Capitol Hill in April, explored the value of and plans for the 2010 Census, including its uses for apportionment. The second briefing, held on Capitol Hill in June, provided business, research, rural, and Congressional staff perspectives on the importance of the new American Community Survey.
This third session, titled "Know Your Constituency: Congressional District and State Profiles From the 2005 American Community Survey," provides a closer look at how Members' offices can gain on-line access to ACS data for their own purposes. With the first full scale implementation of the ACS in 2005, the Census Bureau can now provide detailed, annually updated population characteristics for every Congressional District and State in the nation. This is an exciting development, for it means that Members of Congress can stay current on the nature of their constituency in terms of characteristics such as income, employment, occupation, age, race, housing values, and commuting patterns.
To reach Members' staff who most directly deal with constituents, the staff in the District and State home offices, we are using an electronic format, a webcast, for this briefing. Your guide will be Cynthia Taeuber, formerly with the Census Bureau and an integral player in the design and development of the ACS.