Domestic Violence Shelters and the United States Census 2010 Dec 5, 2010 5:28am by purplehearts4butterflies Domestic Violence Shelters and the United States Census 2010 http://www.nnedv.org/resources/stats/dvsheltersanduscensus2010.html A survivor living in a domestic violence shelter can participate confidentially: U.S. Census workers do not have to meet with clients individually, or even enter your shelter. A shelter staff person can meet with U.S. Census staff at your agency’s business address to receive a stack of forms. Then back at the shelter, the shelter staff person can pass out U.S. Census forms to residents. After choosing how much information they feel safe disclosing, residents put the forms into an envelope, and returns the envelope(s) to the shelter staff person. At a later date, the shelter staff person gives the envelope of forms to the U.S. Census contact person. If shelter staff encounter a U.S. Census worker knocking at the door of the shelter, its okay for the shelter staff person to simply provide the U.S. census worker with the contact information (name, phone number) for a shelter supervisor. If you have further questions, you can contact: NNEDV's Safety Net team by phone 202-543-5566 or via our online form (under subject, select "Technology Safety Project"). Your U.S. Census regional office and ask to speak to someone about their process for counting domestic violence shelters. Did you know? The 2010 U.S. Census Form is short – only 10 questions! You can preview the questionnaire online in English and Spanish. As always, NNEDV recommends that survivors only share as much information as they feel comfortable or safe giving. What about U.S. confidentiality laws? The census shouldn't conflict with any U.S. confidentiality laws regarding providing personally identifying information about clients because the shelter is not (and should not) be providing the information. The individual client is voluntarily choosing to provide whatever information that survivor feels comfortable sharing. Can I provide information about the U.S. Census to survivors in several languages? U.S. Census has a Spanish language website: Censo Del 2010 The U.S. Census 2010 website provides the one page description and user guide explaining how to answer the U.S. Census questionnaire in 59 languages. Look for the "Select a Language" box. The 2010 U.S. Census questionnaire will be available in 6 languages: English, Spanish, Russian,Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. Ask for it. Additionally, it's available to be read by certain Braille devices.