The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

In this report:

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. The Importance of the Census
3. Census Accuracy: The Undercount (and Overcount)
4. Census 2010: Key Operations and Milestones; How You Can Get Involved
   1. Overview of the census plan
   2. What you need to know
   3. How you can help
5. Additional Information
   1. Frequently asked questions
   2. Facts and figures
   3. Census history

Immigrants

The ACS collects information on place of birth, citizenship, year of entry, and language spoken at home in order to better serve the needs of immigrants and refugees. Knowing the characteristics of immigrants helps policy makers understand how different immigrant groups are assimilated. The data also help fund programs specifically geared towards those who have difficulty with English. Decennial census data are used to:

• Allocate funds to public and private nonprofit organizations to provide employment resources aimed at making the foreign-born economically self-sufficient;
• Assist states and local agencies with developing health care and other services tailored to the language and cultural diversity of immigrants;
• Evaluate voting practices of government subdivisions, such as states, counties, and school districts, under the Voting Rights Act;
• Evaluate the effectiveness of equal opportunity employment programs and policies under the Civil Rights Act;
• Allocate grants to school districts for children with limited English language proficiency; and
• Develop health care and other services tailored to the language and cultural diversity of the elderly under the Older Americans Act.

Next Section: Persons with disabilities