With just

over a week until the official U.S. Census day of April

1, Coweta County officials are trying to get out the

message for citizens to send in their forms.

Coweta

County public information officer Tom Corker is heading

up the Complete Count Committee and said the county wants

to make sure everybody is counted.

Corker said

the committee has contacted more than 133 religious

groups in the county, along with businesses such as local

cable companies to inform people how important it is to

return the forms.

In 1990,

Coweta County was one of the lowest reporting counties in

the state, with just under 70 percent of the residents

filling out the forms.

In the last

decade, the county has grown by more than 60 percent and

the demographics started to change. The county has seen a

huge migration from people around the country, and also

people from other countries.

"I've

created English and Spanish brochures to help get the

word out," Corker said.

The

county's utility companies are posting messages about the

census forms at the bottoms of bills, and many grocery

stores are putting forms in residents' grocery bags.

Census

numbers are used to calculate how many representatives

each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives

and are also used to determine which areas will receive

federal grants.

April 1,

Census workers will start going door-to-door to collect

information from residents who have not sent their forms

back to the government.

Along with

members of the committee, Corker said county clerk Roxie

Clark has been working closely with officials to make

sure they have the most current county maps.

Figures

gathered from this census will not be released until next

year.