Officials Launch Effort for Full Census Count

Children made up 41% of the Californians who were missed during the last U.S. census, officials said Wednesday. Because of a massive undercount, the state lost hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for a variety of programs. With that in mind, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and community leaders came together at a Head Start preschool in an effort to ensure that all Californians are counted in 2000.

The primary reason that children are missed is simple: Their parents and other family members are also missed. Parents who don’t receive census forms, can’t read or don’t return questionnaires often leave several children out of the count--children who disproportionally are members of racial minorities, officials said.

Homeless children usually slip through the cracks as well, according to Census Bureau officials. The problem of undercounting is even greater in the city of Los Angeles, where 5.7% of children were missed last time, compared to 4.3% statewide.

“Census information helps direct money to our schools, roads, senior services, even school lunches,” Boxer said. “This isn’t just about knowing how fast the state is growing. This is about life and death for a lot of people.”

The widely praised Head Start program, as a federally supported preschool for the children of needy families, is a prime example of the type of programs affected.

“Our enrollment funds are very dependent on the number of children in the area who qualify,” said Beatrice Price, the director of USC’s Head Start program.