Focus Groups to Develop Messages for the Census 2010 Public Information Campaign, Phase II

MODERATOR SET-UP:

We’d like to get your reactions to a number of potential ideas that are designed to encourage all Americans to participate in the 2010 Census. The Census determines how over $300 billion in federal funds per year gets divided among states and local areas of the country. Filling out the Census provides an opportunity to help people in your local community get certain benefits, such as, health care, school programs, day care, and job training. And information from the Census also helps the government plan for future improvements to local community services such as roads, fire and police stations.

What I want to share with you today are 3 different ways of expressing those benefits.

EXPOSE PLATFORM IDEAS ONE AT A TIME – ROTATING ORDER IN GROUPS

[Platform idea and description will be exposed first, followed by TV and Print]

Moderator will hold off discussion until each respondent has written down the main message they personally took away from the idea.

THE POTENTIAL OF WE

We all need to come together and participate in the 2010 Census. The Census is for “we the people” and it’s a way for us to turn our potential into power. It’s up to us to help make a difference.

Because the more of us that answer the Census, the more of us who want to tell a friend, to tell a friend, to tell a friend, and the louder we are, the more funding we might get to help improve our lives and the lives of those who are important to us.

IT’S IN OUR HANDS

I hold the power to help determine the fate of my community, my family, myself. This power is literally in my hands, in the form of the 2010 Census questionnaire. The Census is much more than a piece of paper. It’s a tool that I can put to work to ignite positive change.

My participation in the 2010 Census can be the tipping point that helps make change possible. But with this power is the responsibility to use it. And to use it, all I have to do is fill out the Census questionnaire and mail it back.

IT’S TIME TO MAKE YOUR MARK

The mark I make on my Census questionnaire is much more than a simple pen mark. It has value. My answers on the Census questionnaire are more than just X’s to be counted. They are the building blocks to can help build a better future for myself, my family, my community.

So, it’s time to make my mark. And I can start here - on the Census questionnaire because those X’s are not merely answers – those answers have value.

MODERATOR:

At the end of the session, all 3 ideas will be posted up on the wall. Before general discussion, each respondent will be asked to write down which one of the 3 ideas is most motivating to them, that is, would most encourage them to participate in the 2010 Census, and why?