Thread: Neb. Latino advocate sounds warning on census

Neb. Latino advocate sounds warning on census

By JEAN ORTIZ
Associated Press Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A Nebraska Latino advocate says census officials in Nebraska are faltering in their efforts to hire bilingual employees and could again undercount Latinos in the once-a-decade survey.

Mexican-American Commission acting director Angel Freytez said the possible repercussions extend beyond the Latino communities. The state could lose billions of dollars in federal funding over the next decade because of the many decisions tied to census results, he said.

"There's something wrong in Nebraska, and we need to address it," Freytez said.

Census officials, meanwhile, said they are working diligently to increase their work force's diversity and to build stronger partnerships with Latino communities.

Steve Rein, who directs census operations for Nebraska, called overall hiring efforts successful.

Out of more than 6,800 applicants, 972 people have been hired for the first phase of work that involves verifying addresses in the state, Denver-based census spokesman Leo Cardenas said Thursday. Forty of those employees are bilingual, he said.

Freytez said he doesn't trust that figure, largely because it's based on self-reporting.

All census applicants are tested on their skills in reading, working with numbers, organization and interpreting. They also must pass a background check.

They can indicate on the application if they're bilingual and what languages they speak.

Given the nation's economic state and unemployment rates, the temporary census jobs are attracting highly educated people with strong skills that's pushed the hiring bar higher for everyone, not just Latinos, Cardenas said. Even people with near-perfect scores aren't getting job offers, he said.

Census officials have opened an office in Lincoln and expect to open offices in North Platte and Omaha in October.

Current employees have the option of staying on through 2010 operations when they'll be going out to homes and following up on unreturned census questionnaires. Census officials say that is when they'll have greater need for Spanish speakers.

But critical to the process, too, are the partnerships they've established with community and advocacy groups like the Mexican-American Commission. Cardenas said census officials need to continue developing those partnerships.

Recognizing that more focus was needed, census officials also hired a Nebraska-based partnership specialist to handle outreach to Latino communities, Cardenas said. She started this past week, taking over duties that were previously handled out of Denver, including during the 2000 census.

Freytez criticized the timing of that decision, saying partnership specialists for other communities were hired long ago.

Benjamin Avila, who started working in the Lincoln census office in December and has spent time on recruiting, said officials aren't doing enough to hire Latinos and Spanish speakers. He said hiring criteria has been set too high, and he called the testing process unfair. It's particularly difficult for bilingual people who speak a Spanish dialect different from the one the test is based on, he said.

In Nebraska, more than 94,000 Latinos were counted in the 2000 census - or about 5.5 percent of the state's population. Freytez estimates about 25,000 people were left out, citing information he received from Avila.

Overall, the state had a 75 percent response rate, according to census data. Only Iowa had a larger portion of its residents participate in the census.

Census counts are used to draw congressional districts and allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding for schools, roads and other services nationwide. State and local governments also use the figures in their decision-making.

Hiring people who reflect the realities of Nebraska today is a crucial first step - and one that appears needs some righting, Freytez said. He also urged census officials work more closely with groups like his.

"We need to move forward," he said. "We need to be represented."

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Benjamin Avila, who started working in the Lincoln census office in December and has spent time on recruiting, said officials aren't doing enough to hire Latinos and Spanish speakers. He said hiring criteria has been set too high, and he called the testing process unfair. It's particularly difficult for bilingual people who speak a Spanish dialect different from the one the test is based on, he said.

HUH?!?!?!Then those people are too stupid to do the job! I mean if they have a hard time with the questions, how effective would they be at translating???

I speak Spanish, but certainly not the gibberish that passes for spanish.

"There's something wrong in Nebraska, and we need to address it," Freytez said.

You're right Freytez, too many illegals.

Shouldnt these "immigrants" have at least a basic command of the English language? Yes they should if they were legal.

Deport them using the census information that would solve the problem.

Does the whining ever stop?

Our forefathers never anticipated that we would allow millions of illegal immigrants to stay in this country and be counted by the federal census. The census should only count legal citizens. Counting illegals totally screws up the possibility of fair representation and favors states such as California, New York, Texas, and New Jersey.

We desparately need an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to fix this obvious problem.