Vanderhoef Appoints Samuels to “Complete Count” Committee for 2010 Census

Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, along with US Census Bureau Deputy Regional Director Ligia Jaquez, has announced the formation of Rockland County’s Census 2010 Complete Count Committee. Al Samuels, President/CEO of the Rockland Business Association, has been named to serve on the Committee.

The Rockland County Complete Count Committee is a volunteer group whose purpose is to help increase awareness about the census and motivate residents in the community to respond. The members represent an actual cross-section of the Rockland County community as a whole. By bringing together community and local government, business and service agency leaders, the CCC will help achieve an increased Census response rate by lending local knowledge and expertise to the process.

“The Census Bureau is charged with the daunting task of counting all residents living in the United States on April 1, 2010, counting them only once, and counting them in the right place – a monumental undertaking,” said Vanderhoef. “We have established a partnership with the Census Bureau to help explain the importance of completing the 2010 Census to people in Rockland County, and I have created the Rockland County 2010 Census Complete Count Committee (CCC) to ensure all of our communities are properly informed and aware of the importance of participating in the Census. The people represented on the CCC are leaders in their communities who know best how to reach out and communicate with their residents.”

“The census is the largest domestic operation conducted by the federal government and the Census Bureau cannot accomplish it alone. The 2010 Census is thrilled to partner with County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef and the County of Rockland to ensure the most accurate count,” said New York Deputy Regional Director Ligia Jaquez, U.S. Census Bureau.

“I’m grateful to the County Executive for including the RBA in this important project,” noted Samuels. Many business decisions are influenced by local census data and we need as accurate a picture as possible in order for those decisions to be truly beneficial.”

“Nothing can be more important for Rockland than an accurate census count,” said Rockland County Legislature Chair Harriet Cornell. “All manner of funding allocations are based upon census figures. It is incumbent on the county to alert the public and to assure them that being counted will help, not hurt them."