Local Census Volunteers Prepare to Hit the Streets

Their goal is to make sure everyone is counted.

By Paul Aranda Jr., EGP Staff Writer

With the first U.S. Census questionnaire set to arrive in households this Monday, March 15, members of the East Los Angeles Complete Count Committee have scheduled a series of events to encourage residents to return their forms. For committee members, the time for high-profile press conferences featuring local and federal officials is gone. Now, they must hit the streets, go door-to-door, in order to ensure everyone that the Census is both vital for local social services and safe from any privacy concerns.

Councilmember (D-14) Jose Huizar encourages district residents by walking the streets and speaking to the community to ensure they answer the 10 simple questions on the Census form. Photo courtesy District 14 Office

As the March 15 Census kickoff day approaches, anxiety is high among both local officials and Census workers to ensure a much improved outcome than the 2000 Census when the East Los Angeles district recorded the 2nd highest undercount in the nation. An undercount occurs when residents, regardless of their financial or legal status, are not included in the official population count. The decennial Census is used in large parts to determine how over $400 billion in federal funds is appropriated each year to communities throughout the nation. An undercount can reduce the amount of such funds Los Angeles County receives for both public infrastructure and social services residents use every day.

David Vela, a field representative for Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, took an active role at the latest committee meeting in Montebello on March 5. His efforts signal the active role Molina has taken to ensure that communities in her district receive a higher participation rate, and in turn, an accurate amount of federal funds for local services. Next Wednesday, on March 17, the committee will join with its volunteer counterpart in the Florence/Firestone Complete Count Committee, for a canvassing event at the La Alameda Shopping Center. The event also serves as the official County kickoff to the Census. Committee members will then return to the East Los Angeles Civic Center and canvass around local neighborhoods.

After the March 1 Census press conference in Boyle Heights, US Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA34) told EGP she was concerned that not enough census workers had been hired, but was hopeful residents would return their forms promptly through the mail, so census workers “will only go out to the homes of people who did not send them back.” EGP photo by Gloria Angelina Castillo.

Through door-to-door canvassing, committee members hope to reach residents deemed most likely to not return a Census questionnaire form. The Census has identified the key attributes of people who fail to return a form. The six categories included: language barriers, poverty, high density, high-crime areas, recent immigrants and seniors.

With every weekend reserved for canvassing through April, committee members will also outreach to local businesses. This outreach highlights the efforts of two UCLA graduate students who are spending their final months in school as volunteers for Pan American Bank. Jesse Torres, Pan American president and CEO, included Arnulfo Delgado, 26, and Raul Lugo, 25, as committee representatives for the East Los Angeles-based community bank. Delgado and Lugo provided the committee with several databases of over 600 businesses registered in the greater East Los Angeles region. The committee will use the database to contact each business to see if Census-related materials can be dropped off. This would provide another forum to reach local residents.

Delgado and Lugo are classmates at UCLA where they will complete their Master programs in Urban Planning in June. Delgado credited an article EGP News published on a Pan American Bank event in December 2009 for his current involvement with the bank and the Census.

“I really like his approach,” Delgado said on Torres’ efforts to increase participation between Pan American and local non-profit organizations.

“I contacted him and wanted to know how we can we help the community,” he added.

Since that meeting, Torres has provided Delgado and Lugo opportunities to work on various efforts in the area. In addition to the Census, Delgado and Lugo assist Pan American’s efforts with the Golden Gate theatre revitalization project, the bank’s East Los Angeles financial literacy task force and the Cityhood for East Los Angeles Campaign. Delgado said that even as they prepare for their final exams, they have volunteered between 15 to 20 hours for the Census so far. After their finals are completed on March 17, the two will join the committee’s canvassing efforts.

“We need to verbally inform people about the benefits of completing their Census forms,” Delgado said, on the need to canvass door-to-door. “We need to reach the people wherever they are.”

Lugo said residents should see the Census as an important tool to generate the change in their communities.

“Learning about the Census is one way for people to understand the reality of their communities,” Lugo said. “We want to show people that through the Census there is a way to get your voices heard.”

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Local Census Volunteers Prepare to Hit the Streets

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