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Coalition Working with the Census Bureau

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 1:39pm — dclacadmin


For the past few months, the D.C. Language Access Coalition has been working hard with the U.S. Census Bureau to reach out to limited English proficient or non- English proficient communities in the District. In the 2000 Census, these groups were undercounted in D.C. as well as nationwide and we are trying to reverse this trend through our 2010 Census education campaign.

Census participation is vital to ensuring that local organizations can continue to provide the services upon which we depend. The federal government distributes over $400 billion dollars in funding to states based on census data. In D.C., this translates to $3,500 per person counted that can be used to build new roads, expand local health clinics, improve school facilities and support other projects to meet community needs. In addition, the 2010 Census gives the government a better picture of who lives in our city so that it can more efficiently deliver its programs.

The Coalition has trained volunteers to give presentations about the census to our members, ESL schools and other community organizations. We have also been canvassing at various locations throughout the District. We are preparing for our Questionnaire Assistance Center to open on March 19th, which will give local residents access to a bilingual English- and Spanish-speaking worker that can answer their questions about the census form. The center will be open on Tuesdays from 1-5 PM, Fridays from 1-7 PM and Saturdays from 11-4 PM through April 19th. Guides will be available in 61 languages, and the center will have forms translated in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian and Vietnamese.

Help us raise census participation rates in the District by mailing your form in by Census Day on April 1st! You should receive your census form in the mail the week of March 14th and some residents of Ward 1 will be sent a bilingual English-Spanish form. In mid-April, census workers will begin the process of following-up with households who have not already mailed in their questionnaire.