It happens once every ten years, and Alachua County officials want to make sure that every person in our community is counted during the 2-0-1-0 census.

City and county officials teamed up this afternoon to organize a census awareness campaign at the Bo Diddley Plaza in downtown Gainesville.

Officials say filling out the ten-question survey is crucial to making sure that our community is given the proper amount of federal money, and they say filling out the form is simple, safe and completely confidential.

"Its really critical for a community in order to make sure that the federal funds that were taxed for actually come back to the community on a popular basis. . . including funding for schools, public transportation, assistance for the elderly or the homeless. those are all based on census data," Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan said.

TV20s Bob Williams hosted the event, which also featured live music and prize give-aways.