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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- One Heartland political group hosts some educational meetings regarding the 2010 census.

Each Thursday in March, the League of Women Voters in Ottumwa host a discussion on a separate census related topic.  Today’s discussion focused on the history of the census and included guest speaker Rue Woods, a professor at Indian Hills.  Overall, they want to raise awareness and inform how the census numbers actually impact the lives of Wapello County residents.

“Those numbers are used, to determine how many representatives we will have locally, at the state level and of course at the national level, so it’s very important that every resident, every person in Wapello County be counted,” said Jean Dell with the League of Women Voters in Ottumwa.

The group also helps build trust and keeps your identity safe.

“(We are) Helping people understand whether they can share personal information safely with the census, because there is a lot of concern that this information might be misused.  We want to allay any of those concerns,” Dell said.

Next weeks topic discusses the financial impact of the census.

The group meets at noon for lunch at the Lucky Rooster in downtown Ottumwa. The meetings are open to the public.