U.S. census: Strategy in place for El Paso's hard-to-count population

By Gustavo Reveles Acosta
El Paso Times
Posted: 07/04/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT

Making sense of the Census

The census is coming next year and so are the forms that ask a multitude of questions. Will you fill them out?

Total Votes = 507
Yes, they are important to know trends in the U.S.
41.81 %
Yes, they help the community.
17.35 %
No, they are too long.
3.747 %
No, how I live is not the government's business.
37.08 %

EL PASO -- Hard-to-count communities are a particular challenge for census takers.
So the U.S. Census Bureau is stepping up efforts to help El Paso's Spanish-speaking neighborhoods participate in next year's population tally.

Census officials were in El Paso this week to unveil some of the strategies they have launched to reach the type of resident who normally would not fill out a census form.

"We really want to get as close to 100 percent participation as possible, and that requires the participation of people we think are not as easy to count as others are," said Gabriel Perales, a media specialist for the census office in Dallas. "We know that a complete count is so important for the future of every community, that we are taking every step possible to guarantee better participation than ever before."

El Paso had one of the highest rates of participation in Texas during the 2000 census, when 71 percent of the population filled out questionnaires and returned them to the federal government.

Perales, an El Paso native, said Spanish speakers, people living in unincorporated colonias and recent immigrants are considered hard-to-count populations because of language complications.

For the first time, the census will mail out bilingual forms to try to increase the count of Hispanics in the United States.

The census is also reaching out to Spanish newspapers and television networks to help them inform the public about the count, scheduled for April 1, 2010.

"We want to stress how important it is for a mother of a 1-year-old child not to throw out the survey that she may get in the trash," Perales said. "That survey will impact the life of her child until he is 10 years old."
Perales said the forms for the census will be shorter and easier to fill out, especially when compared with the hefty forms mailed out in 2000.

The federal government uses census figures to determine representation in Congress and to allocate billions of dollars for health care, transportation and education.

Local and state governments use census figures to keep track of their populations and to plan for growth or population shifts from one part of town to another.

Melisa Ortiz said she has begun to see more census information on TV, and is making a note to participate.

"There's a telenovela on Telemundo who has a guy who works for the census. I noticed that," she said. "They keep saying to participate, so I guess I am going to do so. If it's important, then we all should do it."

Gustavo Reveles Acosta may be reached at greveles@elpasotimes.com; 546-6133.

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