With advertisements in 13 Asian languages and promotional materials in many more, the Census Bureau today provided an overview of the historic campaign it is conducting to encourage all members of the Asian community to fill out and mail back their 2010 Census forms.
“The Census Bureau’s Asian campaign is historic and multifaceted,” said Paul Watanabe, a member of the Census Bureau’s Asian Advisory Committee. “Not only are there more materials available in more Asian languages than in any previous census, but all materials are created in consultation with relevant Asian community leaders to ensure cultural and language relevancy.”
Outreach efforts targeting the Asian community include the following:
¥ Advertisements in 13 Asian languages, including 24 television spots, 62 radio spots and 46 print advertisements. This is first known advertising campaign to produce such a wide range of customized, targeted, in-language advertisements featuring actors from each Asian community.
¥ Staff from a wide range of Asian cultures who speak the language and understand their community’s unique concerns.
¥ Partnerships with local Asian community organizations, such as the Korean Churches for Community Development (KCCD) in Los Angeles and the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) in Washington, D.C.
¥ Asian media briefings in key cities to provide an overview of the 2010 Census and updates on regional activities related to the 2010 Census.
¥ A confidentiality campaign, designed to educate communities that the census is safe and that all data collected will be kept completely confidential.
¥ ‘Portrait of America’ Road Tour participation in different Asian parades, festivals and community events, such as the Chinese New Year Parade and Festival in San Francisco.
The official 2010 Census form is available in six languages, including simplified Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. Language assistance guides, intended to help Asian community members fill out their census questionnaires, are available in a total of 59 languages, including Chinese (traditional), Japanese, Laotian, Thai, Khmer/Cambodian, Hmong, Burmese, Nepali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu.
More than 30,000 questionnaire assistance centers throughout the country, including many in Asian communities, will help members of the public fill in their forms, and toll-free in-language lines will be made available to the public.
“It is vital that all Asians in the U.S. participate in the Census so that our voices can be heard,” Watanabe said. “Filling out and mailing back your 2010 Census form is one of the most important things we can do as a community. The questions on the form are basic, your responses are strictly confidential, and the data the census produces will help determine congressional representation and how more than $400 billion in federal dollars are distributed to communities every year.”
The 2010 Census is a count of everyone living in the United States and is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Census data are used to distribute congressional seats to states, to distribute more than $435 billion in federal funds to local, state and tribal governments each year and to make decisions about what community services to provide. The 2010 Census form will be one of the shortest in history, consisting of 10 questions and taking about 10 minutes to complete. Strict laws protect the confidentiality of respondents and the information they provide.
For more information about the 2010 Census, please visit www.2010census.gov.
Paul Watanabe Selected for Census Bureau’s Asian Advisory Committee
Paul Watanabe, director of the Institute for Asian American Studies and associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has been selected by Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke to serve on the U.S. Census Bureau’s Advisory Committee on the Asian population.
As a member of the nine-person committee, the South Weymouth, Mass., resident will advise the Census Bureau on ways to achieve a more accurate count of the Asian population in the 2010 Census.
“The Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees provide a continuing channel of communication between the Census Bureau and race and ethnic communities,” Census Bureau Acting Director Tom Mesenbourg said. “The committees play a vital role in ensuring that we make the best effort possible to reach race and ethnic groups, not only during the 2010 Census, but also the American Community Survey that is conducted throughout the decade.”
Watanabe’s principal research and teaching interests are in the areas of American political behavior, ethnic group politics, Asian-Americans and American foreign policy. He is the author of “Ethnic Groups, Congress, and American Foreign Policy: the Politics of the Turkish Arms Embargo” and principal author of “A Dream Deferred: Changing Demographics, Challenges, and New Opportunities for Boston.” He regularly contributes analysis and commentary to national and local television, radio, newspapers and magazines.
He has served on several boards of nonprofit organizations, including the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, Political Research Associates, the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence, the Harvard Community Health Plan, the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund, and the Asian American Policy Review.
Watanabe was born in Murray, Utah. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Utah and master’s and doctorate degrees from Harvard University.
Five race and ethnic advisory committees — African-American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander — advise the Census Bureau on issues affecting minority populations. The committees are assembled from the public at large and representatives of national, state, local and tribal entities, as well as nonprofit and private sector organizations. Members of the committees are academicians, community leaders, policy makers and others interested in an accurate count for their communities.
the asian category needs to include middle easterners, who are west/southwest asians. this is the way canada counts them. currently, they are considered “white” but they are a major group of ethnic minorities largely ignored by the census.