Increased Funding for Census Bureau Will Help Count Underserved Populations
Feature Story by Shayna Wareing - 5/8/2007
With the 2010 Census quickly approaching, the civil rights community is concerned that insufficient funding will jeopardize the goal of a fair and accurate count.
Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives cut more than $53 million from the planning budget for the 2010 Census. However, the new Congress restored all of the money the Census Bureau had requested in 2007, but legislative fights over its funding loom again this year, as Congress considers funding requests for 2008.
Civil rights groups say that any further cuts in funding could undermine efforts to improve accuracy and reduce the historic and disproportionate undercount of underserved populations – particularly people of color, the poor, and children.
President Bush requested a 42 percent increase in funding for the Census Bureau in 2008, reflecting the traditional increase that occurs right before the decennial census.
But the civil rights community is concerned that the President's request does not include money to launch a Census Partnerships and Outreach program. "The Census Bureau is delaying its partnership work until 2009 because there is no funding for the partnership program in Fiscal Year 08," said Karen Narasaki, president and executive director of the Asian American Justice Center, in a hearing before the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives, on April 24, 2007
"If the Census Bureau does not get adequate funding specifically in Fiscal Year 08 to do the partnership and outreach program, then the accuracy of the count, particularly of hard-to-count communities, is at risk," said Narasaki.
The goal of the Census Partnerships and Outreach program is to promote census participation in all communities. According to the Census Bureau, census partners help recruit census workers, display or distribute census materials, and sponsor community events.
Local governments, religious organizations, social services providers, educators, and neighborhood groups are all vital participants.
The civil rights community emphasizes that these programs are some of the most critical to the success of the census, because they educate Americans about the importance of answering the census. Without effective partnerships, the most underserved populations are less likely to understand that it is both important and safe to complete and return their census forms.
"Participation in outreach and promotion programs is essential because people need to hear from trusted leaders that it is safe to answer the census. These groups act as liaisons between the Census Bureau and the people, so they understand the importance of the census," said Terri Ann Lowenthal, co-director of the Census Project.
Advocates of increased funding say that cuts from the census budget threaten to undermine the effectiveness of these programs. Without sufficient funding, it will be much harder for the Census Bureau to reach all Americans, especially those Americans who distrust or are alienated from the government, whose primary language is not English, or who are not native born.
The results of the decennial census are used to allocate funding for a wide range of social programs, from education and workforce training, to housing and community development, to transportation and disaster preparation. An accurate count of the population helps ensure that program funds reach the people and communities that need the most assistance. Census numbers also are used to distribute political representation at the national, state, and local levels.
