DAVIE, Fla. -- An event was held Thursday morning in Davie to educate residents about the importance of the upcoming 2010 census.

An expo was held at Tree Tops Park in Davie, where officials educated the crowd. The issue is important, Broward County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman said, because the census determines the destination of federal funding.

"In 2000, roughly 1.2 percent of Broward County was undercounted. That equates to $6.5 million in lost federal funds," Lieberman said.

Census forms will arrive in residents' mailboxes in April. It will consist of 10 questions that officials said should only take about 10 minutes to answer. They are basic questions, including name, address, length of time at the residence, whether you rent or own, your age, ethnicity, gender, marital status and number of people who live in the home.

Officials want to reassure the public that privacy is guaranteed. The U.S. Census Bureau by law cannot share specific personal information with any other agency, such as the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the FBI or the Internal Revenue Service.

The officials also want to encourage residents to respond to the census in order to ensure their communities receive full funding, which affects schools, health care, roads and mass transit.

"There's 146 more days until April 1, which is Census Day, and while that may sound like a large amount of time, it really isn't," Lieberman said.