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Census workers need local knowledge

The Flagstaff regional office is aiming to get 7,500 applicants for 1,500 jobs.

By JOE FERGUSON
Sun Staff Reporter
Thursday, January 08, 2009

Five days a week, Jolene Yazzie drives 69 miles from her home on the Navajo Nation to work in the Flagstaff office of the U.S. Census Bureau. Eight hours later, she drives back to the community she knows and loves.

Although her official title is assistant manager of quality assurance, Yazzie has become an invaluable resource in identifying the tiny Navajo communities that don't show up on some maps. She said she is proud to work on the 2010 census. The young woman exemplifies precisely what the census bureau is looking for in the estimated 1,500 employees the Flagstaff census office plans to hire in the next few months: a local resident who knows the community far better than maps and databases can show.

Veterans and bilingual speakers are also expected to be highly sought after. Their first tasks will be to compile and verify the list of addresses to which census questionnaires will be mailed.

The local census office manager, Paul Baker, has set a goal or 7,500 applicants to fill the 1,500 temporary positions. The census bureau will have part-time and full-time jobs starting at $12 an hour.

Some of those applicants won't pass the required written test for the job while others will decide it is not for them. In some areas, too many are expected to vie for a limited number of positions.

Annie Giglio, the area manager for the Denver Regional Census Center, said the area covered by the local office spans more than 60,000 square miles -- from the Colorado River to the easternmost edge of the Navajo Nation. It covers three states and 11 American Indian reservations.

The U.S. Constitution mandates a decennial census to physically count the number of U.S. residents. The census is used, among other things, to determine how roughly $300 billion in federal funds is allocated annually.

Giglio said the agency is after a very specific type of employee -- those who know the area they live in fairly well.

"We need local people working in their communities canvassing the area," she said.

She said the agency has put out a call for applicants from all over northern Arizona, not just Flagstaff.

"If we have a lot of people in Flagstaff, that doesn't help on the Navajo Nation," Giglio said.

In small, isolated areas like Supai Village and the communities near the Arizona/Utah border, the Census Bureau is working to directly recruit locals.

The agency expects to open another Census Bureau office in Window Rock in early 2010.

"We already have hired a Navajo Nation recruiting assistant," she said.

During a small ceremony to kick off the recruitment drive, Giglio offered advice for those who want to avoid having a census employee knock on their door next year: Respond by mail.

Census questionnaires are to be mailed to every household in March 2010

"We look at it as 10 questions, 10 minutes for an investment of 10 years," Giglio said.

Joe Ferguson can be reached at jferguson@azdailysun.com or 556-2253.

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