Pages tagged Census

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 1, 2019

CONTACT: Tess Waggoner

 twaggoner@aaiusa.org 

(202) 429-9210

On National Census Day of Action, AAI Launches “Yalla Count Me In”

WASHINGTON, DC – On April 1, 2019 the Arab American Institute along with a coalition of Arab American organizations formally launches, Yalla Count Me In, a national campaign to Get Out the Count (GOTC) of Arab Americans during the upcoming decennial Census in 2020. This launch corresponds with the National Day of Action hosted by the Census Counts coalition, civil rights groups who are working to ensure all communities, especially those who are designated as 

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The Census Bureau has come under fire for several issues that can negatively impact an accurate count on the upcoming 2020 census. The Census Bureau must ensure an accurate count which is why we have advocated for adding a Middle Eastern North African ethnic category to the questionnaire for over three years. Decades of research done by the Bureau itself has showed that adding a MENA category by way of a new combined question format would be beneficial in providing a more accurate population count. All this data and research were disregarded under the context that the Bureau did...

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DREAMers Countdown: It’s been 325 days since President Trump moved to end DACA. The courts did step in to block the move, but Congress has yet to provide a permanent fix.

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The 2020 Census is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy. The data collected serves many purposes, for all those residing in the United States. From redistricting and helping Congress appropriate the right amount of funds for various services to helping determine where schools and hospitals should be built, the Census is an avenue for the federal government to support the people as intended.

For years communities have been asking the Bureau to change the race and ethnicity categories used due to the need of providing more categories for a more accurate count of underrepresented communities. This disaggregation of data...

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Background

On January 26, 2018, the Census Bureau announced that the 2020 Census would not include a new “Middle Eastern orNorthAfrican” category or use a combined question format. The decision is anegregious rejection of stakeholder interest that impedes the possibility of an accurate count.

The decision came after the Office of Management and Budget delayed a planned December release of recommendations regarding the standards for race and ethnicity data for federal agencies, which would affect the categories used in the decennial census. The failure to adopt an approach that we have worked on for more than three decades is irresponsible...

By Blaise Malley

Last Friday, the House Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice held a hearing regarding the hotly contested addition of a citizenship category to the 2020 Census.

For a question that was put forth by the current administration as being about accumulating the most accurate and precise data possible, the debate at the hearing made clear the political agenda behind the citizenship question. Led by the subcommittee chairman Rep. Steve King (R-NY), Republican members of the committee argued that counting non-citizens who cannot vote distorts the allocation of both congressional seats and Electoral College votes. Democrats countered...

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DREAMers Countdown: It’s been 247 days since President Trump moved to end DACA. The courts did step in to block the move, but Congress has yet to provide a permanent fix.

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There is no ethnic category for Arab Americans on the U.S. Census. This has led to a significant undercount of the community, creating barriers to many basic rights and services. While the Census Bureau estimates the number of Arab Americans in the United States is 1.9 million, the Arab American Institute estimates the total is actually closer to 3.7 million. Federal data on Arab Americans is obtained through ancestry data from the American Community Survey, a yearly survey that collects economic, social, demographic and housing information from a small sample of the general population. While helpful, this approach is incomplete. Read more

Monday night, Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that the decennial census would include an untested question on citizenship, ignoring the objections of career Census Bureau staff and community advocates across the country. The inclusion of a citizenship question is a transparent political move designed to suppress the count. Including it before it has undergone the years-long testing by the Census Bureau’s seasoned demographers typical of large changes to census surveys, marks a deep departure in the standards of statistical analysis performed by the Bureau under Republican and Democratic administrations alike. What’s more, current Census Bureau employees,...

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 27, 2018

CONTACT:

Margaret Lowry, mlowry@aaiusa.org

(202) 652-4993

Statement from AAI Executive Director Maya Berry on the inclusion of an untested question on citizenship on the 2020 Census:

The decision by Secretary Ross and the Department of Commerce to move forward with the  inclusion of a citizenship question on the decennial census makes it clear that the Trump Administration is choosing to politicize the constitutionally mandated responsibility of conducting the census. This decision will deter many from responding to the decennial census, creating legitimate concern about the confidentiality of their personal information and fear about how...

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