Up for the count: Effort encourages Berks County Latinos to take part in census
Jason Brudereck
Reading Eagle
Feb 8, 2010
Latinos in poor communities are among those who stand to benefit the most from the 2010 Census, and yet they are the group that is least likely to participate.
So local census volunteers and community activists are attempting to educate Latinos about the census, what it means to them and why they should participate.
The message, simply put, is that funding for social services and other government programs that benefit Latinos will be hurt if fewer Latinos are counted.
Many of those programs receive funding based on population.
In 2000, 3.3 million people - mostly in low-income and minority communities - were not counted and cost $4.1 billion in federal funding for social services and other resources that impact the quality of life, especially in the poorest neighborhoods, according to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
But many Latinos distrust the government, and some may even fear being brought to the attention of immigration officials.
That's a particular concern of migrant workers in agriculture, said Isabel Monterrosa, a co-coordinator of the Berks Complete Count Committee.
A stand promoting the 2010 Census was visited by a few of the more than 100 farmers at the Southeast Pennsylvania Crops Conference in The Inn at Reading, Wyomissing, held Jan. 28. But the stand didn't contain material about the importance of farmers encouraging their migrant workers to take part in the census.
That will be addressed by census workers during one-on-one visits with farmers that will be made as Census Day - April 1 - approaches, said Richard Kauffman, Berks County Cooperative Extension director and a member of the Berks Complete Count Committee.
It's important for farmers to encourage employees to participate because population determines funding for many social service programs used by migrant workers, Kauffman said.
It can be difficult to approach farmers regarding migrant workers because - though the farmers legally employ the workers - the potential of mistakenly employing illegal immigrants is controversial.
"It's still a touchy subject," Kauffman said.
Also, farmers as well as the migrant workers are suspicious about what the government will do with census information and must be convinced the information will not be shared with other agencies, he said.
That fear is unfounded since census workers are barred, under penalty of fines and imprisonment, from sharing any collected information with other agencies, Kauffman and Monterrosa said.
"There is distrust among the undocumented about giving information to authorities," said Bernardo Carbajal II, a staff attorney at the Reading office of MidPenn Legal Services, a nonprofit, public-interest law firm that serves 18 counties. "Recent immigrants and the poor have a hard time believing the government is working for them."
Trying to widen reach
Carbajal is among several Latinos on the Reading Complete Count Committee, an effort similar to the Berks committee. Both groups are recognized by the Census Bureau as a way to promote the census to hard-to-count populations.
Those who are "hard-to-count" include undocumented workers, homeless, additional residents not authorized to live in public housing units that have been assigned to others, highly mobile renters and the mentally ill and disabled.
The 25-person committee has recruited those who are of several racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as the disabled, so the committee accurately reflects the city's makeup, Carbajal said.
Carbajal, whose legal work often includes landlord-tenant disputes, said he sees families who change addresses three times in a year.
"And those aren't unique situations," he said. "The poor populations are highly mobile."
They are trying to educate those residents at churches, homeless shelters, food pantries, public housing agencies and schools.
"They are more amenable to participating once they are convinced an undercount might hurt their kids," Carbajal said.
Educating children is key to reaching their parents because kids like to show off their knowledge, said Janice Paulino, a committee member and Berks County coordinator of the Latino Juvenile Justice Network, a Latino civil rights and advocacy group.
"I have an elementary school child, and one of the greatest things for her is to feel she is teaching me something," Paulino said. "It's a highlight for her. This will be one of the best ways to convince parents of the importance of the census."
RIZE, an anti-violence and pro-arts program, received a $2,999 grant from the Census Bureau to promote the 2010 count by handing out T-shirts, hats and other promotional census items, said Edna Garcia, head of the program.
Children are advised to tell their parents to participate in the census so Reading gets its share of federal funding, Garcia said.
"Once they are educated about what the census is about, they are open to participating," she said.
Lining up census jobs
The committee also wants to make sure that hundreds of temporary census jobs go to local residents, said Gabrielina Polanco, senior organizer at the Reading office of Democracia USA, a national nonpartisan Latino voter registration and civic engagement organization.
A dozen to 20 or so residents gather every Thursday for a test administered by U.S. Census officials to evaluate potential temporary census employees at the Democracia office at 502 Walnut St.
"We want to make sure the census provides economic relief to the community where people need those jobs," Paulino said.
Hundreds of census workers will earn $11 to $14 per hour for weeks at a time, she said.
On a recent night of testing, Carlos Luna said he's interested in a census job but not because of the pay.
"I'm new here - I've been here for three years - and I'm already interacting with only the same people," said Luna, 36, a native of the Dominican Republic. "I talk with people from the Dominican, from Puerto Rico. But I'd like to talk to more people, like Haitians, Germans."
He works as a computer programmer and is finishing an associate degree in computer technology at Reading Area Community College.
"The money for doing the census job will be spent at a store and it's gone," Luna said. "It's working with people that matters."
