Good morning. On behalf of the Leon County Board of County Commissioners, I would like to welcome you and thank you for accepting our invitation to serve on the Leon County Census 2000 Complete Count Committee. In our selection of committee members, our main objective was to identify key individuals and organizations who would be able to appeal to a large segment of our community in our effort to make sure that our census count in the Tallahassee/Leon County area is as accurate as possible.

Communities receive an average of $1,500 per person, for special needs identified during the census count. During the last census count in 1990, over 4,100 individuals were left out of the count. Depending on needs that may have been identified for this number of people, this quite possibly means that Leon County could have missed out on over

$6 million in federal dollars to help with infrastructure improvements and various human services programs for our community. I personally do not want to see us as a community miss out on the possibility of bringing that type of money into our growing community again.

One way that we can improve on our count in the year 2000 is to educate our citizens on the importance and benefits of being included in the census count. You will all be given opportunities as a whole, as well as individually to promote Census 2000 and educate our community on what their participation means to our community.

I think it would be a good idea at this time if we just go around the room and, if you would introduce yourself and us what organization you’re from.

What I’ve said so far is about the extent of my knowledge of Complete Count Committee responsibilities. So at this time, I’d like to turn the meeting over to Ms. Pat Underwood, Government Partnership Specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau and also a good friend of mine. Pat has with her Stephen Buckner and Jim Campbell from the Census Bureau.

Pat, Stephen, and Jim will give you an orientation on committee responsibilities and ideas that the Leon County Complete Count Committee may want to implement.

Thank you. Pat...