Census 2010 Latino Outreach and Civic Participation Project
Our newest initiative to further social justice and voting rights for Latinos concerns their participation in the 2010 Census and the subsequent redistricting – as well as the mitigation of any loss of federal funding through undercounts.
Census undercounts have led to a serious lack of Latino representation during elections – and thus the loss of political power and hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid to localities.
Our project will address these problems in two ways:
- By reaching out to the Latino community in several states, we will allay fears and inform people of the primary importance of participating in the Census.
- Beginning in 2011, we will educate Latinos on the importance of participating, monitoring and testifying during the reapportionment and redistricting activities.
We will concentrate our outreach in regions where new Latino immigrants are perennially undercounted and where Puerto Ricans relocate from the island to the mainland. Based on estimates in the 2000 Census and the American Community Survey data, we are focusing our work in Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and other Eastern U.S. communities that have seen large increases in the Latino population – and where an accurate count will affect Congressional reapportionment outcomes.
Latinos, if properly accounted for in the 2010 Census, will have a major impact on the Congressional reapportionment in several key states. Our efforts to ensure that the seriously undercounted and underserved Latino population will be accurately counted could have major political and financial effects for Latinos and for all residents in the states we are targeting.
Objectives of the Project
- Mobilize Latinos in targeted “hard to count” communities and communicate the great importance of participating in the 2010 Census
- Mitigate the undercount of Latinos, the undocumented and children
- Assist local networks in understanding redistricting criteria
- Create local non-partisan civic engagement committees
- Promote understanding of the importance of reapportionment and redistricting
- Civic Participation Education
We are deploying staff members and local Civic Participation Educators to target specific communities in key states. There, they will mobilize Latino community leaders and organizations and provide legal and technical information on the pressing need for Census participation, as well as the long-term advantages of Latinos being included in the 2010 Census.
Latinos who tend to be chronically undercounted include children and families that have undocumented members. This year, in particular, many factors – including widespread anti-Latino attitudes and policies – combined to make Latinos especially wary of responding to the Census.
We are collaborating with other local and national civil rights groups. Together, we are visiting local communities to provide information and materials that explain the importance of Latino participation in Census 2010 and how to work with the community to increase participation. We are providing facts and dispelling myths. We are disseminating information on site, through local Latino media outlets and on social networking sites like Facebook.
Our comprehensive presentation for community and advocate groups working directly with undocumented immigrant communities includes handouts, an oral presentations and Q&A facilitated by our staff, and a specially-developed audio-visual presentation outlining the critical points on Census participation and its effect on the community through redistricting and reapportionment.
Explaining Census Confidentiality
One of the biggest obstacles to persuading undocumented immigrants to participate in the Census is the fear of exposure to immigration officials and law enforcement. Undocumented immigrants are afraid that answering Census questionnaires or dealing with Census workers will lead to discovery, arrest and detainment. Our legal experts are able to explain the confidentiality requirements of the Census Bureau.
Education about Constitutional Processes
Relatively few people – let alone Latino immigrants – understand the representational aspects of the Census count. Our legal expertise allows us to act as non-partisan bridges to the complex process of redistricting and reapportionment. Our goal is to explain this process and its long-term impact on the community to Census trainers and advocates clearly and extensively enough for them to in turn explain to the hard-to-reach residents who are our ultimate targets.
We have taken the lead in advancing a joint multiracial Census outreach project on behalf of the New York Voting Rights Coalition (LatinoJustice PRLDEF; Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund; NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, the National Institute for Latino Policy; and the CUNY Center for Law & Social Justice at Medgar Evers College).
We are coordinating efforts with numerous organizations doing Census outreach work, including NALEO, the NYC Voting Rights Consortium and MALDEF. Our funding partners are the Ford Foundation, the Hagedorn Foundation and the New York Community Trust.