University group raises census awareness

Challenge to target Latino communities

A student fills out her Census form

By Brian Bradley

Staff Writer

Dottie Chicquelo knew it wouldn’t be easy to convince local Latino residents to fill out their 2010 census forms, especially in predominantly Latino communities.

That’s why, as assistant director for outreach and programming of University of Maryland’s Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Education, she has been working with other organizational leaders to call upon all student groups to actively promote census awareness.

Chicquelo noted that through its ongoing census volunteer training, OMSE will aim to target everyone, including undocumented immigrants, by emphasizing the importance of completing the 10-question form to the Latino community.

“The goal of the 2010 census is to count everybody who is living here in the United States,” Chicquelo said.

The results of the U.S. Census will determine how $400 billion in public funds will be distributed for schools, public works, emergency services and senior cents, according to the U.S. Census Web site.

As part of their campaign, OMSE held a Feb. 24 training session at the Nyumburu Cultural Center to train students to work in communities with a high concentration of Latinos, like Langley Park, Adelphi, Hyattsville and Takoma Park, Md.

Latinos make up around 64 percent of Langley Park’s population, 26 percent of Adelphi’s, 18 percent of Hyattsville’s and 14 percent of Takoma Park’s, census data shows.

U.S. Census Bureau employees work to count everyone who lives in the U.S., regardless of immigration status, said Alex Compagnet, a Census partnership specialist, who is responsible of developing census partnerships with various community entities.

Compagnet is concerned that it will be difficult to persuade “new arrivals” fromLatin American countries to fill out their forms, which will arrive in mailboxes by April 1. He said properly-trained volunteers will help nudge new residents in the right direction.

“If you know the language, and if you know some of the cultural customs, then I think you can communicate with them better than other people [could],” Compagnet said. “You can tell them the importance of the census, how easy the census is and how confidential the census is.”

Yet, the challenge of persuading people to take the census intensifies when asking undocumented immigrants to fill it. Although the U.S. Census is not meant to ask the legal status of census takers, some undocumented immigrants might think that filling it could identify them as targets for immigration officials.

“If a person is undocumented, I have no information about that,” said Chicquelo, who added that asking about someone’s immigration status is often seen as taboo. “I wouldn’t ask that information either, unless it’s on the [census] form to ask that person if they’re undocumented.”

Chicquelo’s group is not the only student organization trying to promote census awareness.

The University of Maryland’s 2010 Bateman Team, representing one of many colleges involved in the Public Relations Student Society of America Bateman Competition, is working to promote census awareness for renters, students and anyone who will listen to their message.

The Bateman Team members organized the “Power Hour,” a five-group student acapella performance at the Memorial Chapel on Feb. 25. Endorsing the slogan “the power of 10 starts with the power of 1,” event organizers suggested that groups choose to sing songs related to social change.

“Every single person who lives in the United States needs to fill it out because everyone … uses the same roads and goes to schools,” said Bateman Team member and event organizer Shelley DeLucia.

According to Compagnet, a high rate of participation in the census could translate to a stronger economy and better more equal distribution of federal money to local governments and jurisdictions.

Short URL: http://www.lavozlatinaumd.com/?p=453

Posted by admin on Apr 22 2010. Filed under Local News, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry