Census Campaign Launched

In an effort to avoid losing $600 million in public funds during the next decade, Los Angeles County officials Wednesday launched a multifaceted campaign to ensure that everyone stands to be counted in next year’s census.

Because the 1990 census undercounted county residents by an estimated 3.8%, federal and state agencies gave the county less than its fair share for such crucial services as health care, education and housing, officials said.

Officials and community organizations hope that their information campaign will overcome fear, apathy and misunderstanding about the census among those who have been loath to participate.

“In the Asian American and Hispanic communities, there’s the fear factor,” said Chris Foley, who is running the Complete Count campaign of the county’s Census 2000. In some immigrants’ native lands, Foley said, governments can use a census as a control mechanism.

Aggravating the problem is language--the census form will be printed in six languages to be distributed in a county that speaks 200--as well as the concerns about privacy harbored by legal and illegal immigrants.

“Many Asians are afraid of giving this information, of people knowing their residency status,” said Norman Hsu, president of the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District, who plans to perform outreach in the Asian community.

Confidentiality will be just one theme of the campaign, which will broadcast its message from informational tables at county offices, as well as at schools, churches and community organizations.

Because of the undercount in 1990, the county lost about $120 million for the following decade--during which it neared bankruptcy.

“What happens when a person’s not counted,” said Foley, “is we’re still providing services and not receiving funds.”

In addition, said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles), “businesses use this data to make decisions about where they decide to locate their offices. It impacts job creation and economic development.”

Statistical sampling, which might have given a more complete count of California’s population, was struck down for the purpose of congressional reapportionment by the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

Since the ruling was limited in scope, the city and county of Los Angeles will file a lawsuit to force Washington to use sampling data to allocate federal funds. In addition, the city will mount its own “get counted” campaign.

The county campaign kickoff, in the Hall of Administration courtyard, provided a concrete example of an undercounted group--the homeless.

“We rely on this count to provide most of our services in L.A. County,” Supervisor Gloria Molina said. Suddenly, a homeless woman stepped in front of the podium and started mumbling something to her.

“We know we have been shortchanged [for services] in the past, like this [woman] here,” said Molina, smiling slightly. Then Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson) quietly led the woman off the stage.