Community Boost for Census

As mandated by the Constitution, every 10 years the Census Bureau tries to count all U.S. residents, but consistently and increasingly it comes up short.

In 1990, for instance, official estimates put the California count short by more than 800,000; that translates into less federal funding for roads, schools, housing and health care because distribution of the money is based on a per capita formula. The short count might also deny the state its deserved number of seats in Congress and affect reapportionment of legislative districts. This has long been an issue for African Americans here and nationwide.

The Census Bureau wanted to adjust for the undercount with a statistical technique called sampling, but Congress, swayed by politics, forbade the change. Now the bureau is trying to rise to the challenge by hiring community experts to work in alliance with business owners and civic leaders to achieve a more accurate count for 2000. The new staffers have roots in their communities and many are multilingual. Their aim is to promote cooperation with the census, especially in Spanish-speaking, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Filipino communities where a government census is not a familiar or welcome event. In 1990, it’s estimated, 60% of those not counted were Latinos.

The undercount hurts; the Los Angeles area and all of California benefits greatly from programs funded by federal dollars.

The Census Bureau never provides information on individuals or families to immigration or tax authorities, and part of the new program’s aim is to make people understand that. Now community leaders must add their weight, to make sure that the hesitant stand up to be counted.