Latino Census Workers Cite Trust as Key to Effort

When the Census Bureau worker knocked at the door of their Pico-Union apartment, Louisa Ollague remembered the reaction she and her grandmother had.

They hid in the closet.

Over in Pacoima, Isai Perez recalled how his parents decided not to fill out the forms. They were citizens, but were still fearful of the government’s purpose and documents.

From that 1990 census, Ollague and Perez have since traveled to the other side of the doorway in the Latino community: They’re now officials knocking on doors, working to dispel fears and misconceptions, and encouraging residents to be counted in next year’s census.

To improve census counts of Latinos, particularly in sections of the city with consistent undercounts, Perez and Ollague said residents need to talk to faces they can trust. That can mean leaders from schools and churches or local nonprofit officials. Even residents who hold sway within neighborhoods.

“I call it my comadre network,” explained Perez, a community partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau office in Van Nuys.

Perez and Ollague addressed a task force Thursday that is examining ways to increase census participation in Rep. Howard Berman’s 26th Congressional District, which includes portions of the northeast Valley.

Officials said census forms that are filled out at home and mailed back contain better data than forms requested by a visiting census worker.

Census officials are especially concerned about some tracts with less than 50% mail response rates. For example, one tract in Pacoima, part of Berman’s district, had a 49.6% rate and is targeted by community leaders for better census results.

A Pacoima native and resident, Perez said he often goes to parent centers at schools, ferreting out the mothers who are most likely to go home to the neighborhood and “spread the gospel” about the census.

If there’s trepidation about the government, Perez said he reminds the comadres of their overcrowded schools and how a better count of children in the census can result in greater funding.

Many Latinos do not include their children on the census forms, and community education in that area is critical, he said.

From the 1990 census, half the people missed in the Los Angeles County count were children age 17 and younger, Perez said.

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As regional census director for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Ollague said anti-immigrant fears fueled by Proposition 187 and welfare reform have scared off many Latinos, even legal residents, from anything connected with the government.

MALDEF is expanding its outreach for the 2000 Census, but the biggest need is for local, grass-roots efforts, she said.

At a recent soccer match at Los Angeles City College, Ollague said her information booth about the census was flooded with inquiries. Many people had never heard of the decennial count and how it affects federal funding for critical services such as health care and schools.

“One third-grader asked me if I needed help, and he distributed leaflets,” she said. “That’s what we need. We need an army of people to help with the census.”

MALDEF is working closely with the Los Angeles Unified School District to help educate children, who it is hoped, will ultimately pass the pro-census message on to their parents.

Schools and teachers are trusted community fixtures in Latino communities, Ollague said, and MALDEF is working with the school district’s census count committee. Ten-minute information videos prepared by MALDEF will be available for schools, and information pamphlets will be distributed through students.

John Reeder, regional director for the Census Bureau, reminded local officials who attended Thursday’s meeting that census undercounts are not a racial issue, but primarily one of socioeconomics. Renters, younger families that are busy, and less-educated residents are more likely to be missed.

“The census isn’t on people’s radar screen,” he said, encouraging community groups to contact the bureau, which is eager to hold community presentations to increase awareness.