Profile -- Angela Pride

"Stand up and be counted" has been a key concept for Angela Pride over the last few months, and her effectiveness as an organizer and leader will be tested over the next few weeks, with about a quarter-million South Carolina residents in this area being asked to take part in the U.S. Census Bureau's colossal counting campaign.

Pride, a Mount Vintage Plantation resident, is a partnership specialist working for the Charlotte Regional Census Center, with specific responsibilities for covering Aiken, Edgefield, McCormick and Greenwood counties.

Helping with her North Augusta chores are such local residents as Timothy Key, Chris DeCamp, Skip Grkovic, Mindy DeMine and Brian Tucker, in the build-up to March, when census forms are to be mailed to every residence in the United States and Puerto Rico. As always, hopes are for as many mail responses as possible. Those who don't respond can expect a knock at the door, for another attempt to gather basic data.SClBPride's territory stretches from Ware Shoals to the northern edge of the Savannah River Site, covering everything from prisons and homeless shelters to trailer parks and gated communities.

Her message to the population at large has three major components. "It's easy, first of all -- a short questionnaire. Ten questions. Ten minutes to answer," she said.

"It's important. Why? Because all the federal funds that come to the state are based on the population count, and every year more than $400 billion are distributed to the state and communities like this.

"Thirdly, it's safe, because the information you give them remains confidential. We take an oath to protect confidential information ... Only the statistical information is released. That is the information everybody will know -- how many people are in North Augusta, but we're not going to divulge 'who lives in that place.'"

Information in a particular address, she said, must be kept confidential for 72 years. As for her own involvement, Pride said she expects her census chores to be completed by June.

She noted that "the short form" will be the tool of choice for the census this time. All the information is to be gathered via 10 questions, focusing on such topics as name, sex, age, date of birth, Hispanic origin, race, household relationship and "if you own or rent," as noted in promotional material. The same announcement adds, "The census DOES NOT ask about the legal status of respondents or their Social Security numbers."

Pride and her fellow census leaders in South Carolina have plenty of room for improvement in terms of participation. The state had 58-percent participation during the 2000 count. Only Alaska, at 56 percent, was lower. On top of the heap were Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin, all at 75 percent. The national average was 67 percent.

Pride assumed her current role in May 2009, having moved to South Carolina in 2005. Pride and her husband, Andrew, moved to the area from California, and she, in particular, has seen plenty of the Western hemisphere, having grown up on the west coast of Brazil, in the city of Campo Grande, near the Paraguayan border. She can do business in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

As for the family's move to Edgefield County, she said, "My husband comes from the South, so he wanted to come back to the South." His love of golf was another factor, she confirmed.

Her degree is in mechanical engineering, but she hasn't focused much attention on that area, she noted, pointing out that she has worked mostly in real estate over the past 20 years. "I was always in business," she said.

These days, her business is all about numbers.