U.S. Census forms are starting to arrive at people's homes, and the push to get the forms filled out and mailed back is beginning in earnest.

Ellen Brandom, local Census office manager, said the goal is for every home to receive a form by March 15. The forms are being sent by mail to those with city-style addresses. For those without such an address, for instance those who live on rural routes or get their mail general delivery, forms will be hand-delivered beginning Friday.

Eighty-three percent of people nationally will get a short form that takes about 10 minutes to complete. It asks the name, sex, age, relationship and race of each person in the household plus whether the home is owned or rented. It is the shortest census form in 180 years, the Census Bureau says.

About one in six homes nationwide will receive a long form that takes about 38 minutes to complete. It covers the same information as the short form plus asks for socio-economic details needed for government programs and federal requirements. It asks for information on such things as marital status, education, income and disability, and asks for more details about housing.

People are asked to fill out the form and mail it back by April 1. For the first time the Census Bureau is doing a media blitz costing $167 million to convince people to mail in their forms, said Brandom. That is because the number of forms mailed in has been declining, down to 65 percent in 1990, and it costs the bureau extra money if the form isn't returned by mail.

"For every 1 percent of forms not returned by mail nationally, it costs the bureau $25 million," Brandom said. "For every household that doesn't return the form by mail, the bureau sends census-takers knocking on the door to collect the information. They'll go back at least six times if they have to get the information."

Not only is it more efficient to have the forms returned by mail, Brandom said people tend to answer questions more honestly when they fill out the forms themselves than when a census-taker is asking for that information at their door.

Census data is used for a variety of things, including determining congressional apportionment on the federal and state levels, distribution of state and federal funds, obtaining services and facilities for people with disabilities, the aged and children, forecasting transportation needs, assessing health services and planning land use.

"It's estimated that every person not counted represents a yearly loss to the local government of $685," Brandom said. "That's every year over 10 years."

John Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, is leader of Cape Girardeau's Complete Count Committee, which is trying to make sure everyone in the city is counted. He said efforts are being concentrated toward three groups research showed are traditionally undercounted populations: university students, African Americans and other minorities.

At Southeast Missouri State University, Mehner said, flyers and a mass e-mailing will be used to reach students.

To reach African Americans, the committee is working with predominately black churches to insert information in church bulletins and designate certain Sundays when people can bring the forms to church and get help filling them out.

For the other minorities, Mehner said committee members are working with business owners of Asian, Hispanic and Native American descent to disseminate information.

Rodney Bollinger, building and planning supervisor for the city of Jackson, said notices reminding people to send in their forms will be placed in Jackson utility bills, on bulletin boards and in church bulletins.

Kevin Sexton, community service representative with East Missouri Action Agency, said it will distribute 2,500 flyers paid for with funds from the Census Bureau in low-income areas.

"These are people who often fear the government and are afraid that any information they give will come back to haunt them," Sexton said. "We are trying to use the flyers to explain that the Census is simply an information gathering tool."

Sexton said it is important for low-income residents to realize that many of the grants that provide many of the services they benefit from are based on what is reported to the Census.

Brandom said privacy is the main concern people have about filling out forms. But she assured that individual information is strictly confidential. Information from the Census is only released when answers are combined to a level that assures security.

"We try to assure people that nothing is shared," Brandom said. "In fact, all workers take an oath that subjects them to imprisonment or fines if they share information."