Panel Hears Southland Census Success Story

Southern California’s ongoing census count deserves accolades, especially for its improved outreach to minorities and immigrants, community leaders and local government officials told a federal watchdog panel Monday.

In 1990, the state had the largest population undercount in the nation, and a third of the Californians missed--close to 300,000--lived in the Los Angeles area, said Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante, the newest member of the U.S. Census Monitoring Board, which co-hosted the hearing at USC.

This year, the area’s count looks more promising, as the census region, which includes Southern California and Hawaii, ranked second in the nation for timeliness and completion. The Denver region was first.

“We’re here to learn how you did it,” said businessman Gilbert Casellas, who was appointed by President Clinton to co-chair the bipartisan national board.

Monday’s meeting focused on the outreach efforts that led to a higher-than-expected return rate of census forms by mail in many Southern California communities. Mail-ins so far have reached 68% in Los Angeles County, up from 64% in 1990. This year, the national return rate has been 65%.

Increases in some historically undercounted communities were especially dramatic, said Noelle Minto, an aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina. South Whittier, with its large Latino population, for example, sent back 68% of the forms, compared to 41% in 1990. In Compton, which is mainly Latino and black, mail-backs jumped to 61% from 49% a decade ago.

It is a success that the bureau’s regional director, John Reeder, credited to intensive television and radio advertising, schools teaching students about the count, and “neighborhood walks” by volunteers who helped erase fears about how the information would be used.

There was no discussion at Monday’s hearing about the recently completed “non-response follow-up” phase, in which census workers knock on doors of households that did not send back forms. A Times story last Friday highlighted some irregularities that emerged in that often difficult phase, in which a number of workers at lagging offices cut corners to close the books.

Aides to the federal census board said members had not heard about any irregularities, however. “Any time you have a major operation like this there are likely to be some people who are not as dedicated to their work as others. We should try to get those people out of the system,” Bustamante said, adding that he would investigate census-related problems brought to his attention.

Reeder said that his superiors in Suitland, Md., recently completed an internal review of the door-knocking phase nationwide, and that no irregularities showed up in the region, including Santa Monica--a local office highlighted in The Times’ story.

However, Reeder told the panel Monday that Santa Monica was one of two more “difficult” offices that had reluctant respondents requiring multiple visits.

When asked if this census had been the best one of his three-decade career, Reeder replied, “Definitely!”

Other panelists shared his enthusiasm. They said Census 2000 showed how different levels of government and private groups can work cooperatively to reach people who historically are hard to find. Ideally, that cooperation should continue, rather than fade and then resume a couple years before the next census, said Antonia Hernandez, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. “For us, the census is a year-round process.”