U.S. Plans to Spend $300 Million to Provide Assistance in 59 Languages to Encourage Immigrants to Participate in the Census
With less than six months remaining before the start of the 2010 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau is implementing various multi-language outreach initiatives to ensure a more accurate count of the immigrant population in the United States. Numerous studies indicate that historical census counts have consistently underestimated the numbers of minority and immigrant populations due to language barriers and distrust of government.
In light of this, Census Bureau Director Groves informed elected officials in San Francisco on the 14th that to achieve a more accurate count of the immigrant population, they plan to launch a $300 million outreach campaign, which will print a form with ten questions in English and publish flyers in five other languages, including English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish, directing users to webpages in their respective languages. Additionally, phone guidance will provide assistance in up to 59 languages.
Groves stated that some outreach efforts would be conducted through community organizations, such as churches and ethnic organizations, to spread the word about the census and alleviate community concerns about cooperating with federal agencies. Furthermore, the Census Bureau plans to undertake media outreach activities, including advertisements in minority newspapers, which will also aid in census promotion. The Census Bureau also intends to mail up to 13.5 million bilingual forms in English and Spanish to communities estimated to have one-fifth of families as Hispanic.
There have been advocacy groups that requested the Census Bureau to ask immigration authorities to suspend workplace enforcement during the census to reduce immigrants' fears of government; however, Groves declined this request on the grounds that federal agencies cannot ask another agency to cease its operations. Nevertheless, he assured that respondent privacy will be protected and guaranteed that participation in the census will not lead to any harm. Meanwhile, local governments are also joining this effort. For instance, San Francisco plans to invest over $800,000 in community outreach initiatives.
San Francisco and California have claimed that the 2008 Census underestimated their residential numbers by 35,000 and 500,000, respectively, resulting in significant economic losses, including a reduction of $1.5 billion in federal funding for California.
