Census campaign in immigrant communities

CHICAGO: The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) along with partner organizations across Chicago and suburbs launched the "New Americans Count" campaign last week here to ensure that immigrants are counted in the Census 2010.

Announcing this at a ethnic media meet at Hema's Kitchen on Devon Avenue in Chicago, Flavia Jimenez, Director of the New Americans Initiative at ICIRR, said that "immigrant communities are traditionally undercounted  and the role of the census fellows is critical and will ensure a correct count of the local immigrant population, bringing vital resources where they are most needed."

At the beginning of January dozens of community organizations met to gather the tools necessary to ensure that immigrant communities get counted in this year's census. Fourteen young and determined individuals -Census Fellows - have been working for the past 4 weeks within local community-based organizations with high-immigrant populations. The goal is to reach out to 66,000 households and increase the count in immigrant community by at least 20,000 people, increasing resources coming in to the immigrant neighborhoods, and ultimately, the state. This will be possible with the help of the ethnic media and cooperation from communities.

The ICIRR's coordinated Census campaign "New Americans Count" is a partnership between ethnic Community based organizations, the State of Illinois, national partners, and the support of private foundations through the Count Me in Illinois 2010 Census Initiative. The campaign targets Asian, South Asian, Latino, Polish, and Arab communities across Illinois.

The event had the participation of Census Bureau representatives, State Senator Antonio Munoz, State Representative Maria A. "Toni" Berrios and Candidate Elect for Cook County Commissioner District 7, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Asian American Institute, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, along with national partners the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,.

"There has been no other time in our history that the presence and voice of the immigrant community has been so important for this State," stated Rep. Berrios. "We have become citizens, voted and now it is time to be counted so that we can write laws and implement policies that are representative of the cultural makeup of Illinois in 2010."

There are over $400 billion in federal funds that get reimbursed to states depending on the census count. For neighborhoods, this means that schools, clinics, libraries and many services are allocated depending on the count. "By supporting the 2010 Census, we will help raise awareness of this important initiative and work to increase the overall response rate among immigrants living and working in the United States, whether they are citizens or non citizens," said Juan Salgado, Board President of ICIRR.

"This effort will have direct repercussions in vital infrastructure but most importantly will have a tremendous impact on the legislative districts that are redrawn after the census, impacting the political power in the immigrant community."

Many immigrants may associate the word "census" with "fear" and "distrust" as the result of census taking methods employed in their homelands or they may have concerns that it is unsafe to provide responses to the Census Bureau, as a result of fears about deportation. "Many families in the areas where we worked are hesitant about filling out the forms, because of fear,"· said Fatrnah Tabally from Arab American Action Network, a census fellow working in the Southwest suburbs.

 "We are working really hard informing our communities about the positive outcomes that will come after they send the census forms back and assuring them that there is no need to fear because of the high level of confidentiality involved in the process."

Following the press conference, dozens of census fellows and volunteers wearing yellow vests hit the Pilsen area to knock doors and talk to immigrant communities about the importance of being counted.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is a statewide coalition of more than 100 organizations dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society. For more information, visit ICIRR's website at www.icirr.org