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Intro: The Journal Register Co.’s ongoing multi-media series on the 2010 census helps readers understand who we are and how we live. This story was reported and compiled by New Haven Register reporter Angela Carter.

Click above to hear David Hinson, national director of the Minority Business Development Agency, explain trends and challenges among minority entrepreneurs.

The number of minority-owned businesses increased nationally by 46 percent to 5.8 million between 2002 and 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency announced Tuesday.

"There should be no doubt that the minority business community is no secondary group," David Hinson, national director of the Minority Business Development Agency, said.

Thomas Mesenbourg, deputy director of the Census Bureau, said that even though growth among businesses is outpacing population growth, there is a direct correlation. "It's not a surprise the states with the largest numbers of minority-owned businesses are the states with the largest minority populations," he said.

The numbers are the latest survey data available. The business ownership data by gender, ethnicity, race and veteran status is released every five years.

 Mesenbourg said more detailed statistics will be released periodically over the next year.

Future data, officials said, is expected to reflect how the recession affected entrepreneurs in the targeted categories.

In Connecticut, there were 14, 676 companies owned by blacks in 2007, compared to 10,309 in 2002. Sales and receipts among black-owned firms in Connecticut rose by 43.7 percent, going from $723.3 million in 2002 to just over $1 billion in 2007.

Hinson said that even though minority businesses are growing at a faster rate than the minority population across the country, parity with firms owned by non-minorities remains "elusive."

All firms, however, are offering quality products and services and create jobs that are comparable in salary and benefits offerings, Hinson said.

Among Hispanic enterprises, 14,043 existed in the state in 2007 with $2.5 billion in receipts, up from 9,408 firms in 2002 with $1.2 billion in receipts.

Hinson said minority business owners must begin to focus on growth through mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships and global expansion.

Some of the barriers MBDA helps entrepreneurs overcome include less access to capital, contracts and new markets.

The MBDA promotes minority business growth and now has a nationwide network of 45 business centers that help entrepreneurs through exposure to consulting services, contract and financing opportunities, bonding and certification services and building business-to-business alliances.

"Minority-owned firms are relatively recent to the game in earnest," Hinson said.

There were 93,521 women-owned businesses statewide in 2007, compared to 82,118 in 2002. Their receipts increased by 18 percent from $12.2 billion in 2002 to $14.4 billion in 2007.

The number of companies owned by whites in Connecticut grew from 271,665 in 2002 up to 291,723 in 2007, with receipts jumping by 39.5 percent from $119.4 billion in 2002 to $166.6 billion in 2007.

In 2007, there were 492,052 veteran-owned firms nationwide employing 5.9 million persons with a total payroll of $214.0 billion. These firms generated $1.1 trillion in receipts. Employer firms accounted for 20.1 percent of the total number of veteran-owned firms, and 92.4 percent of veteran-owned firms’ gross receipts. The average receipts for these employer firms was $2.3 million.

The three surviving children of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his late wife Coretta Scott King have joined a growing list of celebrities who have recorded public service announcements (PSA)encouraging everyone living in the United States to respond to the 2010 Census questionnaire.

King's participating children are Martin Luther King III, a human rights advocate and community activist; Dexter Scott King, president of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and a documentary film maker; and Bernice Albertine King, a minister, licensed attorney and president-elect of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

In the 60-second PSA,  Bernice begins by saying, “We are united in support of getting everyone counted in the 2010 Census.”

You hear Martin toward the middle of the recording: “It is our human right and civic duty to be counted. So please, honor your commitment to democracy. Welcome your local census taker.”

Dexter chimes in near the end with these words: “Our family, your family, we all count.”


Others who have endorsed the 2010 Census include President Barack Obama, Miss America Caressa
Cameron, Donny Osmond, Karl Rove, Olympic athletes, major league baseball players, mayors, members of Congress and the late Dorothy Height.

Osmond says, “The information you provide will help your community get the federal funding — and
representation in Congress — that it deserves.”
All PSAs recorded to date may be heard online at 2010census.gov or spotsource.census.gov

WHAT IS THE CENSUS?
The Constitution mandates a count of everyone living in the U.S. every 10 years. The data is used to apportion congressional seats and state legislative districts, to distribute more than $400 billion in federal funds to tribal, state and local governments annually and to monitor compliance with anti-discrimination and other federal laws.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a new audit questions whether the 2010 census can stick to its $15 billion budget because of computer problems that are forcing substantial overtime work.
The report from the Commerce Department inspector general’s office was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. It says glitches with the computer system used to manage the door-to-door count caused a 40-hour backlog of work over two weeks.

The report notes that the Census Bureau has already notched more than $1.6 million in overtime costs, and says continuing shutdowns could put the count’s accuracy at risk if census data can’t be put into the system immediately.

Census Bureau director Robert Groves says he believes the agency will stay within its budget.


WHAT IS THE CENSUS?

The Constitution mandates a count of everyone living in the U.S. every 10 years. The data is used to apportion congressional seats and state legislative districts, to distribute more than $400 billion in federal funds to tribal, state and local governments annually and to monitor compliance with anti-discrimination and other federal laws.

The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting that nearly 6 in 10 advanced degree holders in the 25 to 29 age bracket are women.


More women than men are expected to occupy professions such as doctors, lawyers and college professors as they represent approximately 58 percent of young adults, age 25 to 29, who hold an advanced degree.

Additionally, among all adults 25 and older, more women than men had high school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees.

The tabulations in the report, "Educational Attainment in the United States: 2009," show that among people in the 25-29 age group, 9 percent of women and 6 percent of men hold either a master’s, professional (such as law or medical) or doctoral degree.

This holds true for white, black and Hispanic women. Among Asian men and women of this age group, there was no statistical difference.

Now, what about the bacon?

Data also reflected that average earnings in 2008 totaled $83,144 for those with an advanced degree, compared with $58,613 for those with a bachelor’s degree only. People whose highest level of attainment was a high school diploma had average earnings of $31,283.

These results come from the Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic supplement, which is conducted in February, March and April at about 100,000 addresses nationwide.

Granted, I waited until just before the last minute to send mine back. I held onto it as a reference for our company's series that will cover the Census process throughout.

Then, a second one arrived and I mailed the first one off earlier this week and I'm glad that my family is in the count.


Today marks the last day for residents across the country to mail back their 2010 Census questionnaires. Households that return their forms after April 16 will likely be visited by census workers when they begin May 1 going door to door to collect census responses.

 Nationwide, about 68 percent of households have mailed back their census forms as of today. In 2000, the mail-in participation rate was 72 percent.


The U.S. Census Bureau is encouraging everyone to get their forms in the mail today.
Census takers, who are members of the community in which they are working, will visit a household up to
six times, each time leaving a door hanger featuring a phone number. Residents can call the number on the
hanger to schedule a visit and be counted.

“Now’s the time to clear off your kitchen table and stick that form in the mail,” U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said. “Residents who fail to mail back their forms today should be prepared to get a knock on their doors in May and July.”


ABOUT THE 2010 CENSUS

The 2010 Census is a count of everyone living in the United States and is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Census data are used to apportion congressional seats to states, to distribute more than $400 billion in
federal funds to tribal, state and local governments each year and to make decisions about what community services to provide. The form is one of the shortest in U.S. history, consisting of 10 questions, taking about 10 minutes to complete. Strict confidentiality laws protect the respondents and the information they provide.

Over the last few months, the New Haven Register and newhavenregister.com have reported on different aspects of the 2010 Census. Here are some offerings:

EDITORIAL: Everyone needs to be counted

Race and the Census: Local man claims it s not about color it s the numbers (video)

Race and the Census: Negro? Please. I'm an American human being

Elm City making headway on census returns (video)

COUNT ON US: Register multimedia series takes deeper look at U.S. Census (video)