30 Days Out from 2010 Census: Civil Rights Community Calls for Full Participation

Today marks 30 days from the start of the 2010 census.  And civil and human rights organizations are stepping up their work in hard-to-count communities – immigrant communities, low-income people, young children, and people of color – to ensure that people understand and participate in the census.

“We at The Leadership Conference Education Fund and in the civil rights community believe that 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,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Education Fund.  “Given the extraordinary economic challenges facing states and communities right now, the stakes for an accurate count have never been greater – especially for those who have traditionally been undercounted in the census.”

The Education Fund is running a campaign to encourage census participation among hard-to-count populations with the Asian American Justice Center, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, the National Congress of American Indians, the NAACP, and local organizations in 13 key cities around the country.

With only a month to go, the campaign is kicking into high gear with events all month long in all 13 cities, including a National Week of Action the week of March 22.  Campaign volunteers, local activists, and national partners will be engaging in a number of outreach activities, 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 ad buys.

In addition, hotlines capable of providing assistance to people who speak languages other than English will also be available to help people fill out census questionnaires.

Census information is used to determine where and how more than $400 billion in government funding is spent each year. Each person who goes uncounted will cost thousands of dollars a year, depriving local communities of funding for essential resources such as schools, health clinics, senior centers, and job training sites. Census information also helps empower communities by making sure that they are included when new congressional and legislative districts are drawn; and is used to enforce and monitor compliance with civil rights and anti-discrimination laws.

The count begins April 1, 2010, but forms will be mailed to households in March.