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Update on 2010 Census Opportunities and Resources

Posted on Thursday November 19, 2009

September 4, 2009

Activity around the 2010 Census is picking up speed as we are now less than five months away from Census Day (April 1, 2010). There is news about efforts in the Senate to change the census content, what's happening in regional outreach to our community and the latest resources available to Arab American organizations and activists.


2010 Census Resources in English and Arabic

Materials are now available in Arabic to educate and motivate your local communities on the responsibilities and rewards of filling out the 2010 census form. Examples are:

In the next few weeks, AAI will have available a comprehensive Arab American 2010 Census Toolkit for Arab American organizations and community leaders to download to help educate local communities about the importance of the Census.

In October, AAI presented a workshop on the 2010 Census at the National Network for Arab American Communities annual conference. If you'd like a copy of the powerpoint presentation, which includes Myths and Facts about the 2010 Census, contact Kyle Haley at khaley@aaiusa.org.


Trusted Voices: Joint Messages to Encourage Participation

One of the most effective ways to reach Arab Americans who may have reservations about the safety or confidentiality of the U.S. Census is for the organizations they trust to speak out. AAI is working with an advertising agency to design a simple and compelling bilingual Public Service Announcement (PSA) for use on websites, in print publications and in broadcast media used by our community.

Our plan is to create a national message endorsed by major Arab American organizations that can be designed and distributed by January 2010, and also have a template that local organizations can reproduce with their own logos. If your organization would like to join AAI and other census partners in this Arab American 2010 Census campaign, please contact Omar Baddar at obaddar@aaiusa.org.


News from the Regions: Arab American Outreach Efforts and Opportunities

Opportunities to partner with the Census Regional Office nearest you are still available. Most regions are setting up Local Census Offices and hiring people from the community to staff these offices, as well as questionnaire assistance centers, and hiring enumerators to help with non-response follow up next spring. To see what is available in your area, contact the partnership specialist in the Regional Office representing your state.

Some recent news we've heard from the regions:

  • Boston: Souad Dajani is now working with Partnership Specialist Samer Balbaky in New England and greater New York State. She is focusing on reaching student groups throughout the region to make sure they are counted in the 2010 Census. If you belong to a Middle Eastern or Arab student group please that would like to work with her on Census Awareness, please give her a call at 617-821-2724.
  • Miami-Dade County: Ammal Elhaddad is chairing the Census Committee for the Miami-Dade County Asian American Advisory Board and spearheading the efforts to reach the "hard to count communities" across South Florida as a part of Florida Governor Crist's Complete Count Committee (CCC).
  • Los Angeles: The Network of Arab American Professional (NAAP) in Los Angeles is involved in their regional CCC, joining ACCESS-CA in Anaheim; and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) was awarded a grant to conduct 2010 Census outreach among hard to count populations in Los Angeles County; for more information on MPAC outreach efforts contact Saadia Khan at Saadia@mpac.org.
  • Montgomery County, Maryland: the Middle Eastern American Advisory Group, appointed by the County Executive, has formed a 2010 Census outreach initiative under the chairmanship of Suhail Hishmeh, and is hosting a meeting of the local Complete Count Committee on November 21. For details contact Suhail at meaagroupmc@verizon.net.
  • Virginia: Helen Samhan was appointed to serve on the statewide Complete Count Committee and attended the first meeting on November 6th in Richmond; also serving on the Virginia CCC is Dr. Imad Damaj of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs.
  • Chicago: at the October 23 Census Information Center conference, Dr. Louise Cainkar met with the assistant director of the Chicago Regional Census Office to advocate on the need to recruit Arabic-speakers for local census offices.

These efforts are spreading rapidly across the country so check out the Complete Count Committees nearest you.


Anti-immigrant Census amendment defeated on Capitol Hill

You may have heard about Senator Vitter's Amendment to the FY 2010 CJS bill that would have required the Census Bureau to add a new question (on citizenship) to the 2010 Census, but was defeated. If you want the details, visit the Census Project website at http://www.thecensusproject.org/.

Another matter related to federal policy: despite some concern that Title 13 confidentiality protections may be impacted by provisions in the Patriot Act, Census advocates have been assured that Title 13 trumps the Patriot Act and that no information provided on the Census survey can be shared with other branches of government or law enforcement.

We will continue to update you on 2010 Census news as we get it, so remember to check our dedicated web page at www.aaiusa.org/census-2010. Send any news about the 2010 Census you'd like to share in the next update to Yasmeen Shaheen-McConnell.