Census Bureau Counts On Huge Campaign to Get Numbers Right

Preparing to make her pitch to a south Oxnard night school class, census worker Rosa Martinez-Sotelo knows that what she is about to say will sound a lot like a bad joke: I’m from the federal government. I’m here to help. Trust me.

Yeah, right.

For many residents in this poor, crowded immigrant community, a healthy distrust of government is what comes naturally from years of trying to avoid the INS, the IRS and all those other agencies that go by their initials and ask too many questions.

Martinez-Sotelo, the daughter of an El Rio packinghouse worker, understands their reluctance. But as a soldier in an unprecedented campaign by the U.S. Census Bureau to ferret out those traditionally overlooked during the decennial event, she is here to say it’s time to stand up and be counted.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are a citizen, it doesn’t matter whether you have [immigration] papers, if you live in this country you have the right to participate,” she told the adult education students learning English at a local junior high school.

“The information you give is private, we can’t give it to anyone,” she assured them. “You have the ability to participate in something that will affect you, your children and your community for years to come.”

At a cost of $4.8 billion, the 2000 census will be the largest peacetime endeavor ever undertaken by the federal government.

The nationwide head count takes place every 10 years. And every 10 years groups representing minorities and other hard-to-count populations complain loudly about its inaccuracies.

Indeed, the census is thought to have missed millions of people nationwide 10 years ago, including 12.2% of Native Americans, 5% of Latinos and 4.2% of blacks. School-age children, the homeless, renters, recent immigrants and farm workers are among those vastly undercounted.

Those oversights carry serious consequences.

Information generated by the census is used to determine federal, state and local legislative districts. The numbers also help determine how much federal money is spent in local communities on everything from public schools to road construction.

Undercounts are believed to have cost California one congressional seat and millions of dollars in federal money for such services as health care, education and housing assistance over the past decade.

Closer to home, each uncounted person costs the average city $150 to $190 a year in lost revenue. That means a city stands to lose at least $1.5 million a year if just 10,000 people go uncounted.

“It’s important to try to reach out to these communities and convince people they need to participate in order to avoid that from happening,” said John Reeder, the Census Bureau’s regional director. “We are going to succeed to the extent that people cooperate with us. What we are trying to do is educate people and let them know this won’t hurt you.”

Bureau Launches Expensive Campaign

Toward that end, the Census Bureau earlier this month launched a 17-language, $167-million television, radio and print ad campaign aimed at courting underrepresented groups. California is spending close to $25 million to increase census awareness.

Census Bureau officials also have launched an unprecedented education effort in the nation’s schools, making promotional materials available to students from kindergarten to high school so they can share them with their parents.

But the most significant step in boosting participation has been the hiring of workers such as Martinez-Sotelo, so-called partnership specialists responsible for preparing the way for census forms and census takers to arrive next spring.

Short and smart, with a mane of black hair that swings halfway down her back, Martinez-Sotelo possesses the kind of friendly manner that quickly puts people at ease. She is willing to talk to anyone, any time and anywhere about the importance of the upcoming count. She has talked to teachers and farm workers, church groups and chambers of commerce.

She has prodded local school and government agencies to form committees to help spread the word.

Thirty years ago, there was only one such Census Bureau employee per region doing this kind of work. In 1990, there were about 35. This year, the Census Bureau has hired 50 people per region to help track down those traditionally undercounted or not counted at all.

Even so, Martinez-Sotelo is still responsible for tracking down the hard-to-count in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

It is no easy feat, especially given that she uses arm crutches and leg braces to get around. But the fact that she is Latina and has a disability adds to her desire to make the 2000 census as inclusive as possible.

“I tell people that the census is a snapshot. We can have the best equipment, we can have the best operators to do it, but they need to show up to be in the picture,” said Martinez-Sotelo, who was born and raised near Oxnard. “They have a right to be in the portrait. And I don’t want anyone to say they weren’t offered that opportunity.”

Several local government and community groups have been enlisted to help expand those opportunities.

The Ventura County Council of Governments has launched a countywide planning effort, pulling together staff members from the cities and the county to ensure the most accurate count possible. It could be tough going, however, because many cities are strapped by limited resources, said Arnold Dowdy, the council’s executive director.

“What we’re really talking about is how we can get the best bang for our limited bucks,” he said. “It’s just a question of how you go about counting the ones who are difficult to find with the limited resources you have to go after them.”

In Oxnard, officials say it’s an investment worth making. Ten years ago, city leaders created a task force to help update the Census Bureau’s address list and assist people in filling out forms.

In addition, knowing that many residents lived in unconventional housing such as converted tool sheds and garages, task force members went door-to-door to find people who hadn’t taken part in the count. As a result, the city turned in a list of 12,000 people overlooked by census takers.

Oxnard Outreach Effort Pays Off

Oxnard spent $230,000 on that effort. Officials estimate that in return the city has received an additional $4 million in state and federal revenue over the past decade.

This time around, the city will contract with a nonprofit group to perform a similar outreach effort. City officials are in the process of awarding a $200,000 grant for that work.

“Our job is to get as many people as possible into the system and work with the Census Bureau to get them counted,” said Oxnard housing official Karl Lawson. “We clearly feel that last time it was money well spent.”

The outreach campaign is not limited to government agencies.

Various nonprofit groups also have taken up the cause, zeroing in on specialized populations such as the homeless and migrant farm workers.

The Oxnard office of California Rural Legal Assistance--a poverty law firm that provides free help to farm workers--recently hosted a census information meeting for Mixtec Indian laborers, indigenous inhabitants of the highland villages of southern Mexico who represent a growing percentage of the state’s agricultural work force.

Such outreach is critical. Officials from the law firm estimate as many as half of the state’s migrant and seasonal farm worker population went uncounted a decade ago.

The local office plans to host a community meeting next month to help local governments and community organizations gear up for the census. And statewide, the group recently was awarded a half-million dollar grant to boost its outreach efforts in rural areas, including Oxnard.

“I think the Census Bureau is making the best effort it has ever made, but it cannot do it alone,” said Ilene Jacobs, a California Rural Legal Assistance attorney in Marysville who serves on the bureau’s 2000 Census Advisory Committee.

“I don’t think they can possibly hire enough people to be able to do the job that needs to be done in terms of community education and outreach,” she added. “It’s going to fall to local government, community-based organizations and states to assume their part of the civic duty to make sure everyone is counted.”

Martinez-Sotelo talks a lot about civic duty whenever she visits a classroom or community group.

She also brings along a couple of plastic bags filled with refrigerator magnets and colored pencils promoting the 2000 census. It would be wrong to call them bribes, she said. It’s just that when your job is to track down people who may want to be left alone, it helps to have something to break the ice.

She also brings along a disposable camera to demonstrate the government’s desire to get the most accurate snapshot possible of the population.

“The census is like a picture, and if you aren’t in the frame the photo won’t be as good,” she told the south Oxnard night school class, holding the camera up to her eye. “We want to have the best possible photo of all of you. But only you have the ability to make that happen.”