Civil Rights Leaders Emphasize the Need for Full Participation in the 2010 Census

With Census Day, April 1st, just one month away, civil rights leaders from several national organizations took part in a press conference call today to emphasize the need for full participation in the 2010 Census and highlight the work their organizations are doing at the national, state, and local levels to encourage members of hard-to-count communities to be counted.

Leaders from The Leadership Conference Education Fund (The Education Fund), the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), and the NAACP described the work of their organizations in reaching out to communities at greatest risk of not being counted – immigrant communities, low-income people, young children, and people of color. 

The outreach activities include in-language assistance hotlines for filling out census questionnaires, canvassing low-income neighborhoods and apartment buildings, distributing in-language fliers to local, ethnic grocery stores, incorporating census themes at local festivals, and identifying and filling language gaps in immigrant communities through bus advertisements, radio PSAs, and ethnic media advertising.

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During the press conference call, speakers issued the following statements:

“Getting a fair and accurate census count is one of the most urgent civil rights issues of the year, with far-reaching implications for the next decade. An accurate census is critical to ensuring fair political representation, to enforcing civil rights laws, and to the distribution of vital resources, which is especially important for hard-to-count communities of racial and ethnic minorities, low-income people, and young children.” – Wade Henderson, President and CEO of The Leadership Conference Education Fund

“At the NAACP, our outreach efforts in the African American and Black communities are in full swing. We have mobilized all of our more than 2,200 units across the Nation and in every state, and have asked each NAACP member and every friend of the NAACP to become an activist in his or her community, and to work towards as complete and accurate a census count as possible.” – Hilary Shelton, Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau and Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy

“This will be the most important Census in history for the Latino community.  As the nation’s second largest and fastest growing population, a Latino undercount will mean a failed census.” – Arturo Vargas, Executive Director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund

“Historically, Asian Americans have been undercounted in and run a high risk of being missed in the 2010 census count because of language and cultural barriers. There’s a lot at stake for Asian Americans, more than $400 billion per year that is dispensed nationally for police and firefighters, schools and hospitals, roads and job creation. Those are dollars that our community cannot afford to lose.” – Terry Ao, Director of Census and Voting Programs for the Asian American Justice Center

“The Census is essential to building a foundation for strong, healthy Native communities.  With only one month before Census Day, NCAI’s Indian Country Counts campaign is in full swing to ensure all American Indians and Alaska Natives are accurately counted in the 2010 Census.  Our children and our grandchildren have too far to go not to be counted.” – Jacqueline Johnson Pata, Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians