********** C E N S U S 2 0 0 0 B U L L E T I N ********** Vol. 2 - No. 39 Aug. 10, 1998 As of Aug. 1, 7,475 cities, counties, and tribal governments had signed confidentiality agreements with the Census Bureau, enabling them to take part in the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) Program, a new activity in which local and tribal governments can review and check the accuracy of Census 2000 address lists. The Census Bureau's Geography Division also reported that as of Aug. 1 a total of 10,362 of the 17,311 governmental units in which house-number and street-name addresses are used for mail delivery had responded -- the overwhelming majority positively -- to the Census Bureau's invitation to participate in the address-list review opportunity. The Census Bureau's Geography Division said officials in all of the jurisdictions had signed and returned forms pledging that they would protect the confidentiality of the address lists. Signing of the confidentiality agreements was a prerequisite for the Census Bureau to generate the corresponding portions of the address lists handed over to officials in each of the jurisdictions. Local officials will match the Census Bureau address list against their own address lists and inform the Census Bureau of any corrections or additions. They have three months from the time they receive the list and the large-scale (36" x 42") map sheets for their jurisdictions to complete their reviews. Local and tribal governments can review the census address list in different ways. Some choose to do a comprehensive review, including field checks, but others have indicated they will employ a less intensive approach and focus on areas where addresses are more likely to be missed - newly constructed housing, apartment buildings with irregular or missing numbering schemes for individual units, areas along jurisdictional boundaries, etc. Under a law passed by Congress in 1994, the Census Bureau was directed to develop a program that would allow local and tribal governments to provide assistance in verifying the accuracy of its address list, which will be used in Census 2000 as the framework for conducting the census. In early 1999, the Census Bureau will offer a similar address-list review opportunity for areas that use other mail-delivery methods. Staff from the Census Bureau's Regional Census Centers have been conducting training sessions for local and tribal participants, and will be available throughout the program to answer questions. A toll-free telephone number (888-688-6948) will direct calls from participants to the appropriate census offices. Participants receiving computer-readable files can receive technical assistance by calling a contractor-operated help desk at a toll-free telephone number (888-879-6656). For further information concerning this bulletin, contact Catherine McCully of the Census Bureau's Geography Division on 301-457-8630 (fax: 301-457-4710; e-mail: luca(a)geo.census.gov).