D-1686sg-ak Courtesy Invitation

D-1686(SG AK)

Alaska

ST02

264711

October 26, 2007

Kathryn Lizik

Alaska Department of Labor

1111 West 8^th St

Juneau, AK 99811-5504

Dear Ms. Lizik:

Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau invited the governor of your state to participate in the 2010 Decennial Census Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) Program. The LUCA Program, authorized by Title 13 and the Census Address List Improvement Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-430), provides state, tribal, and local governments the opportunity to review and update the Census Bureau’s address list.

The accuracy and completeness of the Census Bureau’s address list is critical to the enumeration process and the quality of the resulting data. Your state’s participation in the LUCA Program can help ensure that we achieve complete coverage in the enumeration of your state. If your state chooses to participate in the LUCA Program, your state will be able to:

• Review and update the Census Bureau’s address list products for all eligible areas within your state, or you may elect to focus your review on selected areas within your state; or

• Submit your state’s list of city-style addresses for all eligible areas to the Census Bureau in the Census Bureau-specified computer-readable format; and/or

1. Review and update the geographic features in the Census Bureau’s geographic database.
   
   

We have designated Lake and Peninsula, and Bristol Bay boroughs in their entirety, and parts of 17 other boroughs or borough-equivalents for special enumeration procedures; special enumeration procedures are used for the most remote and sparsely populated areas. Because of timing and operational constraints, the two boroughs and the special enumeration portions of the 17 other affected boroughs or borough-equivalents cannot be included in the LUCA Program. Anchorage, Fairbanks North Star, Haines, Juneau, Matanuska-Susitna, and Sitka boroughs are not designated for special enumeration and are eligible for inclusion in the LUCA Program in their entirety.

Our regional office in Seattle can provide you information as to the location of the areas not designated for special enumeration in the 17 affected boroughs or borough-equivalents, and, therefore, are eligible for inclusion in the LUCA review. A file of the specific census blocks eligible for LUCA review will be provided with your LUCA materials.

The enclosed flyer, Will Your Community Be Ready for the 2010 Census Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) Program?, provides an overview of the LUCA Program. The flyer answers questions that may assist your state in deciding whether to participate in this important program.

Kathryn Lizik 2

We have also enclosed two computer-based training (CBT) CD-ROMs. One CBT CD-ROM provides background and instructions on participating in the LUCA Program. The second CBT CD-ROM contains instructional information on the Census Bureau’s Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing Partnership Software (available free of charge to LUCA Program participants), a geographic information software application that allows your state to update both the Census Bureau’s address list materials and map information.

If your state has an active State Data Center, Federal/State Cooperative Program for Population Estimates, and/or Geographic Information System (GIS) coordinator, these established Census Bureau partners may be good candidates for involvement in your LUCA effort.

We will supply your LUCA materials as soon as possible after we receive your state’s completed registration forms. You have 120 days from the date you receive your LUCA materials to complete your review and submit your address list changes. We will accept registrations up until December 31, 2007,

but can guarantee the full 120-day review period only for governments registering by November 19, 2007.

The Census Bureau estimates that it will take between 105 and 1,575 hours to complete the LUCA review depending on the number of addresses and the rate of address growth and change. This includes the time needed to read the enclosed invitation materials and complete the registration forms, and, upon receipt of the LUCA materials, to read the instructions, assemble and review the LUCA materials, and provide updates. Please send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Paperwork Project 0607-0795,

4600 Silver Hill Road, Room 3K138, Washington, DC 20233, or you may e-mail comments to <[email protected]>; use “Paperwork Project 0607-0795” as the subject. Please include a copy of your message addressed to <[email protected]>. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, we cannot ask you to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The OMB number is found in the upper right corner of each LUCA form.

Please review the enclosed information and contact your governor about your state’s participation. Your governor received the forms required to register to participate in the LUCA Program. If you have any questions regarding the LUCA Program, please contact your Census Bureau regional office by telephone at 1-866-511-LUCA (5822) or via e-mail at <[email protected]>.

We look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Charles Louis Kincannon