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THE 2010 CENSUS: HOW COMPLETE COUNT

COMMITTEES, LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, PHILANTHROPIC ORGANIZATIONS, NOT-FOR-PROFITS

AND THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY CAN CONTRIBUTE TO AN ACCURATE CENSUS

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY,

CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT

AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

DECEMBER 2, 2009

Serial No. 111–71

Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html

http://www.oversight.house.gov

(II)

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York, Chairman

PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania

CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland

DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio

JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts

WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri

DIANE E. WATSON, California

STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts

JIM COOPER, Tennessee

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia

MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois

MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of

Columbia

PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island

DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland

HENRY CUELLAR, Texas

PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire

CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut

PETER WELCH, Vermont

BILL FOSTER, Illinois

JACKIE SPEIER, California

STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio

JUDY CHU, California

DARRELL E. ISSA, California

DAN BURTON, Indiana

JOHN L. MICA, Florida

MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee

MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio

LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia

PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina

BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California

JIM JORDAN, Ohio

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska

JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah

AARON SCHOCK, Illinois

BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri

ANH ‘‘JOSEPH’’ CAO, Louisiana

RON STROMAN, Staff Director

MICHAEL MCCARTHY, Deputy Staff Director

CARLA HULTBERG, Chief Clerk

LARRY BRADY, Minority Staff Director

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES

WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri, Chairman

PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania

CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of

Columbia

DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois

STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio

DIANE E. WATSON, California

PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina

LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia

JOHN L. MICA, Florida

JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah

DARRYL PIGGEE, Staff Director

(III)

C O N T E N T S

Page

Hearing held on December 2, 2009 ........................................................................ 1

Statement of:

O’Hare, William, senior fellow, Annie E. Casey Foundation; Melanie

Campbell, executive director, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; David Williams, Chair and planning director, Gaston County

Complete Count Committee, Gastonia, NC; Yvette Cumberbatch, coordinator, NYC 2010 census, New York City government; and Mercedes

Lemp Jacobs, director, Office of Latino Affairs, Washington, DC, government .......................................................................................................... 7

Campbell, Melanie ..................................................................................... 26

Cumberbatch, Yvette ................................................................................ 41

Jacobs, Mercedes Lemp ............................................................................. 47

O’Hare, William ......................................................................................... 7

Williams, David ......................................................................................... 35

Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:

Campbell, Melanie, executive director, National Coalition on Black Civic

Participation, prepared statement of .......................................................... 28

Clay, Hon. Wm. Lacy, a Representative in Congress from the State of

Missouri, prepared statement of .................................................................. 3

Cumberbatch, Yvette, coordinator, NYC 2010 census, New York City

government, prepared statement of ............................................................ 43

Jacobs, Mercedes Lemp, director, Office of Latino Affairs, Washington,

DC, government, prepared statement of ..................................................... 50

O’Hare, William, senior fellow, Annie E. Casey Foundation, prepared

statement of ................................................................................................... 9

Williams, David, Chair and planning director, Gaston County Complete

Count Committee, Gastonia, NC, prepared statement of .......................... 37

(1)

THE 2010 CENSUS: HOW COMPLETE COUNT

COMMITTEES, LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, PHILANTHROPIC ORGANIZATIONS, NOT-FORPROFITS AND THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY

CAN CONTRIBUTE TO AN ACCURATE CENSUS

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS, AND

NATIONAL ARCHIVES,

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM,

Washington, DC.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:45 p.m., in room

2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Clay, McHenry, Westmoreland, and

Chu.

Staff present: Darryl Piggee, staff director/counsel; Jean Gosa,

clerk; Yvette Cravins, counsel; Frank Davis, professional staff

member; Charisma Williams, staff assistant; Adam Hodge, full

committee deputy press secretary; Leneal Scott, full committee IT

specialist; Adam Fromm, minority chief clerk and Member liaison;

and Chapin Fay, minority counsel.

Mr. CLAY. The Information Policy, Census, and National Archives Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform

Committee will now come to order.

Good afternoon and welcome to today’s hearing entitled, ‘‘The

2010 Census: How Complete Count Committees, Local Governments, Philanthropic Organizations, Not-for-Profits and the Business Community Can Contribute to an Accurate Census.’’

Without objection, the Chair and ranking minority member will

have 5 minutes to make opening statements, followed by opening

statements not to exceed 3 minutes by any other Member who

seeks recognition. And, without objection, Members and witness

may have 5 legislative days to submit a written statement or extraneous materials for the record.

The purpose of today’s hearing is to examine exactly what the

title says: we want to explore how the contributions of all of you

can contribute to an accurate census. That has to be our singular

focus. We need the efforts and cooperation not only of you in this

hearing room, but those of everyone. We need everyone to get this

done. I am very passionate about this, as I am sure you are also.

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This hearing will focus on Complete Count Committees. The subcommittee will explore all aspects of the CCC, including, but not

limited, to diversity of membership, activities, funding alternatives,

and special initiatives in rural and urban settings. The Census Bureau’s interaction and cooperation with local and county governments and stakeholders will be explored.

Additionally, this hearing will track the efforts underway by local

governments to actively encourage census participation. The subcommittee will also hear testimony on activities specific to ‘‘Hard

to Count Communities.’’ The subcommittee is also interested in the

lessons learned from past census activities in developing a ‘‘best

practices’’ guide for future census outreach.

We want to make sure that we work with the Bureau through

the Regional Partnership Program. The program is credited with

attributing to the success of the 2000 census. It is the Regional Offices of the Census Bureau that is key to your work on the ground.

They are empowered to assist you in an incredible number of ways.

Work closely with them.

I thank all of our witnesses for appearing today and look forward

to their testimonies. I now yield to the distinguished ranking member, Mr. McHenry, of North Carolina.

[The prepared statement of Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay follows:]

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Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for

your leadership on the census and all the other issues that you

have been working on this Congress, including on Financial Services, which we both serve together on as well. I want to thank the

panel for testifying today. In particular, my fellow resident of Gaston County, NC, Mr. Williams, for being here today and traveling

to Washington.

The Census Bureau is conducting an unprecedented outreach

and awareness campaign for the 2010 decennial census. While its

own advertising initiatives and partnership programs with various

national organizations and institutions are certainly crucial to improving the overall response rate, the success of the count is largely

dependent on the work being done in the trenches, in small communities and neighborhoods across America.

By forming partnerships with local governments, civic groups,

and religious institutions and cultural organizations, the Census

Bureau is better able to navigate the social and physical landscapes of individual neighborhoods throughout the United States.

These partnerships, known as Complete Count Committees, are

comprised of local individuals with strong community standing who

are best equipped to reach out to everyone in their area and make

sure they get counted by the Bureau.

Each county, town, or community is different from one another.

The same cookie cutter approach to conducting outreach in promoting participation simply cannot work for every one of these communities. It is up to these Complete Count Committees to develop best

practices for their own regions and communicate effectively with

the Census Bureau in their successes and failures.

Some States, such as my home State of North Carolina, are well

ahead of the curve in the formation of Complete Count Committees

for the 2010 census. Others have yet to take the initiative and

begin preparations for local outreach efforts for the decennial census.

It is my hope that today’s hearing will provide this subcommittee

with valuable insight into the progress being made to prepare the

census and our communities to challenges yet to be faced and how

Members of Congress and the Census Bureau can best assist local

governments and civic organizations in preparing for the 2010

count.

I want to thank the witnesses for testifying today and for coming

to Washington, DC.

And at this time, Mr. Chairman, if I can introduce my fellow

resident of Gaston County, who is here before us today. He is in

the middle of the panel before two nice ladies, and they will be nice

to you, I hope.

But David Williams is the Director of Planning and Development

Services for Gaston County, NC. He has served in the department

for 13 years and as its director for about the last 4 years. Mr. Williams is Chair of the county’s Complete Count Committee for the

2010 census and also worked on the Complete Count Committee in

2010. The father of two daughters in Gaston County, he and his

wife live in Gaston County. He is an Appalachian State graduate.

Appalachian State, Mr. Chairman, they have actually had a couple championships, football championships. Three? Three in a row.

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Pretty amazing. We actually beat Michigan State, so thankfully

neither one of us have any Michigan ties, so we are all right with

that, right, Mr. Williams?

So thank you, Mr. Williams, for testifying today and for making

the trip.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. McHenry, and thanks for that notable

sports history, as well as introducing us to Mr. Williams and introducing him to the subcommittee.

Let me also recognize the rest of the panel. We will first hear

from Dr. William O’Hare, senior fellow of the Annie E. Casey Foundation since October 1993. Dr. O’Hare has directed the Kids Count

Program at the Annie Casey Foundation. Dr. O’Hare has a Ph.D.

in sociology demography and 30-plus years working in non-profits

with a focus on disadvantaged Americans. Thank you for being

here.

Our next witness will be Ms. Melanie Campbell, executive director of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation. In 2000,

she was recognized as one of Washington, DC’s, Top 40 Under 40

Emerging Leaders, which we note she is still under 40. [Laughter.]

She currently serves on the Board of the Black Leadership

Forum.

Our fourth witness is Ms. Yvette Stacey Cumberbatch, coordinator of New York City 2010 census, New York City government. Ms.

Cumberbatch previously served as chief of staff of the New York

City Housing Authority, assistant New York State attorney general, and chief of staff special counsel to the city of New York deputy mayor for legal affairs. Thank you also for being here.

Our final witness will be Ms. Mercedes Lemp, director, Office of

Latino Affairs, Washington, DC, government. Ms. Lemp Jacobs

served for 4 years as the executive director of Language, Etc., a

non-profit organization providing English as a second language and

the other services to mostly Latino immigrants. She serves as the

director of the Office of Latino Affairs. Thank you also for being

here.

Welcome all of you to the hearing.

It is the policy of the subcommittee to swear in all witnesses before they testify, and I ask all of you please stand and raise your

right hands.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. CLAY. Thank you. You may be seated.

Let the record reflect that all the witnesses answered in the affirmative.

Each of you will have 5 minutes to make an opening statement.

Your complete written testimony will be included in the hearing

record. The yellow light will indicate that it is time to sum up; the

red light will indicate that your time has expired.

Dr. O’Hare, you may begin.

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STATEMENTS OF WILLIAM O’HARE, SENIOR FELLOW, ANNIE E.

CASEY FOUNDATION; MELANIE CAMPBELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COALITION ON BLACK CIVIC PARTICIPATION; DAVID WILLIAMS, CHAIR AND PLANNING DIRECTOR, GASTON COUNTY COMPLETE COUNT COMMITTEE, GASTONIA, NC; YVETTE CUMBERBATCH, COORDINATOR, NYC

2010 CENSUS, NEW YORK CITY GOVERNMENT; AND MERCEDES LEMP JACOBS, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF LATINO AFFAIRS, WASHINGTON, DC, GOVERNMENT

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM O’HARE

Mr. O’HARE. Thank you, Chairman Clay and Ranking Member

McHenry. I am pleased to be here today to represent the Funders

Census Initiative and the many foundations that are part of that

collaborative effort. I am a demographer and a senior fellow at the

Annie E. Casey Foundation, and also a consultant with the

Funders Census Initiative. My involvement in the decennial census

goes back several decades and includes experience as a data user,

as well as a Foundation program officer who supported efforts to

educate stakeholders on the importance of the census.

I believe foundations have several important attributes that put

them in a unique position to help the Census Bureau get an accurate and fair census. For example, foundation program offices are

embedded in organizational networks which allow them to easily

reach hard-to-count communities with a message about the importance of the census; they can provide a critical link between the

Census Bureau staff and the trusted voices in local communities;

they are in a good position to foster public-private partnerships like

those involving the Census Bureau and local grassroots organizations; and, of course, foundations can often provide funding for activities to promote census awareness and participation in hard-tocount communities.

I will focus my comments today on three topics: the development

and mission of the Funders Census Initiative, FCI’s activities related to the 2010 census, and, finally, some recommendations. I have

submitted a longer written version of this testimony that provides

more details regarding the points I raise here.

The Funders Census Initiative is an ad hoc coalition of foundations and philanthropic community groups focused on getting an

accurate and fair and complete 2010 census. Foundations have supported census projects in the past, but this is the first time they

have formally shared strategies and information, pooled resources

in an organized campaign. It represents a major step forward in

terms of involvement of foundations in promoting the decennial

census.

FCI’s mission is straightforward: to stimulate interest in the

2010 census among foundations and their grantees; to mobilize

philanthropic resources for census outreach; and to facilitate census

engagement through resource development, information sharing,

strategic advice, and direct consultation. A wide range of foundations and affinity groups from national to community-focused are

participating in the initiative, and we invite you to visit our Web

site to learn more about FCI.

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In terms of the activities, over the past year, the Funders Census

Initiative has launched a wide range of activities. They have established a Web site for Funders to share information and ideas and

best practices; organized conference calls, Webinars for Funders

and their grantees; coordinated Funders and grantee activity with

the Census Bureau; analyzed the distribution of hard-to-count populations; and briefed journalists on several occasions.

Foundations are supporting a Brookings Institution analysis of

Federal programs that allocate funds based in whole or in part on

census data, and this information has proved very useful in helping

local communities understand why the census is important. The

Initiative is also funding development of a free online interactive

mapping tool to help pinpoint hard-to-count areas in every part of

the country.

Foundations have invested millions of dollars in grants to organizations that are reaching deep into hard-to-count communities to

underscore the message that the census is easy, it is important,

and it is safe. Detailed examples of coordinated philanthropic efforts in Illinois, California, Massachusetts, and Long Island are

provided in my written testimony.

Let me highlight here one early and unprecedented effort that

has served as a model for philanthropic investment and census

over the past year. In many ways, it constitutes a best practices

model.

Led by the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, Funders formed the Illinois 2010 Census Initiative and raised over $1.2 million. They

launched a Count Me In campaign. In late summer, following an

RFP process, the collaborative announced 26 grants focused on

boosting census response rates in the State’s hard-to-count communities.

The Census Bureau is working hard, but they cannot accomplish

their goal of a fair and accurate census in isolation. Census messages often resonate best when they are conveyed by trusted voices

and through known organizations, and these are often grassroots,

non-profit organizations. But these non-profit organizations need

resources to fulfill this role. This is funding that the Census Bureau does not provide, and State and local governments cannot provide in sufficient amounts, particularly in these recessionary times.

Philanthropy has helped fill this resource gap.

Let me close with three recommendations as we look to our 2020

census and beyond. First, that the Census Bureau should look beyond Complete Count Committees in ways to engage local communities in the census; second, that Congress should examine ways

for the Census Bureau and the Federal Government broadly to provide financial resources for non-profit organizations engaged in census outreach, perhaps through a public-private partnership with

philanthropy; and, third, recommend that the Census Bureau continue its partnership program throughout the decade to keep lines

of communication open.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts about philanthropy’s role in supporting the 2010 census, our Nation’s largest

and most inclusive civic event. We at FCI look forward to working

with the subcommittee in the future. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Mr. O’Hare follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Dr. O’Hare.

Now we will hear from Ms. Campbell. You may proceed.

STATEMENT OF MELANIE CAMPBELL

Ms. CAMPBELL. Thank you Chairman Clay, for your leadership

and for this opportunity to submit written and verbal testimony on

behalf of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, as

well as our Unity Diaspora Coalition [UDC].

The Unity Diaspora Coalition is an unprecedented network of organizations working together in Black communities made up of African-Americans, African, Caribbean, and Afro-Latino leadership to

forge a comprehensive agenda that includes: promoting, motivating, and mobilizing the Black population to fully participate in the

2010 decennial census; two, to advocate for a complete and accurate decennial 2010 census count; targeted efforts to protect the political power of the increasing numbers of those displaced by disaster and economic dislocation which are disproportionately Black

and low income; ensuring equitable redistricting plans in key

States with significant Black populations; and advocating for critical changes in the 2010 census, including adding country of origin

for the Black population and changing methods of counting prisoners.

Historically, the Census Bureau has under-counted America’s

most vulnerable population groups, including racial minorities, immigrants, children, and the poor, leading to inequality for political

power, access to publicity, publically supported services and private

sector investment in communities where these population groups

live and work.

The Census Bureau openly acknowledges it has to develop partnerships with the community-based groups to reach out to these

and other hard-to-count populations. Effective partnerships can

help address these looming factors in 2010 outreach efforts: the significant growth of hard-to-count populations, escalating fear of government in immigrant communities, and displacement of families

due to the housing economic crisis and natural disasters, such as

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Further, the current economic crisis has added a new challenge,

as my colleague just mentioned, and one of the things that we

know that we have a concern about is the fact that, Congressman,

I spent a lot of years in Atlanta, GA with the late Maynard Jackson’s administration. For the 1990 census I was living in Atlanta

and in 2000 was here, and many times the city governments would

augment what happens, and that is not happening in many cases

because of what is going on with the economy. So for the Black

population, which is the hardest to count population of all demographic groups, yet the Blacks have accepted collectively that many

of my colleagues are really not getting the kind of resources that

we know we need to try to help augment that. So we are really,

really glad that you have the philanthropic community here and

really working with them to try to help bridge some of the gaps in

resources for our community.

The Unity Diaspora Coalition is made up of several key Black organizations. The national coalition is the convener; it is made up

of the NAACP, the National Urban League, we have the Practice

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Project, Fair Count, Fair Share, and many, many other organizations that are listed within my written testimony. The Coalition,

with our partners, are currently serving as effective national community partners for the Census Bureau—many of us are national

partners already—and have preexisting relationships and networks

in the Black communities.

I want to thank you, Congressman. I think it was March 2009

that you came and hosted us for our census summit, as well as the

Praxis Project hosted an organizing meeting in September 2009.

And from both of those discussions and many of the meetings we

have been having to try to organize a cohesive coalition, we have

three main recommendations. One falls under 2010 census partnership program. Many of the Census Bureau’s national local partners

are not-for-profits. We have small budgets and have been adversely

affected by the economic downturn, and we believe the Census Bureau should encourage reasonable allocation of resources to national partners.

Recommendations that we also have for foundations and corporate funders include: linking historically under-counted groups to

other funders; funding viral media campaigns; funding Black organizations and community organizing efforts for long-term impact;

identify non-cash assistance such as offering groups techs and technology support.

A couple other things. I know I am almost at my time, but I

think it is really important. You asked us to talk about forming effective partnerships and Complete Count Committees. One of the

things that we know, the Black population, the diversity of the

Caribbean African community is that we are really encouraging

community Complete Count Committees to make sure, for the

Black population, that it includes African-American, Caribbean,

Afro-Latino, and African populations so that really has a full effect.

And I will wait for the rest of this for questions and answers.

Thank you, sir.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Campbell follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much for your presentation.

Mr. Williams, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF DAVID WILLIAMS

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Chairman Clay and Ranking Member

McHenry and members of the Subcommittee on the Census for inviting me to testify before you today.

Again, my name is David Williams. I am the director of planning

for Gaston County, NC and also the Chair of the County’s Complete Count Committee. On behalf of the Gaston County Board of

County Commissioners and the Gaston County manager, I will discuss the activities of the Gaston County Complete Count Committee in my testimony. I have kept my written testimony in bullet

form and will instead speak in more detail on those issues.

Gaston County’s philosophy and goal, No. 1, is to achieve an accurate count; count everyone, that includes urban and also rural

areas. We are interested in also increasing response rates. In Gaston County, we have kind of an urban versus rural landscape and

we have a certain amount of population in the urban area and also

in the rural which makes us interested in counting the entire county and make sure we have strategies for both. Our municipal population estimate, according to the latest census, is 126,000; our rural

population estimate now within the city limits is approximately

78,000.

In census 2000, we developed a strategy using the Complete

County Committee, and that committee was primarily made up of

governmental staff. Some of the best management practices that

we used for Gaston in 2000 created a slogan called I Count. We

wanted to personalize this process to make sure that people understand that it wasn’t so much about government wanting count; we

needed accurate count. We wanted to make sure we wanted to involve them and they take ownership of the process.

The Gaston County Commission funded approximately $16,000

for marketing to show its commitment to this process. We also used

the LUCA Program, which is the Local Update of Census Address

Program. We examined that process and we discovered that there

were missing addresses, so we had a technical side to it and we

were able to reconcile those addresses and increase our count in

Gaston County.

We have also used our Long Range and Current Planning Program. With comprehensive planning and accounting, we often do

long-range plans. It gives us an opportunity to get out and meet

people and understand the community, and understand those gatekeepers and understand who those folks are. So when we are trying to determine what those hard-to-count areas are, we know the

people to go to because of our Long Range and Current Planning

Program.

We also use our subdivision process. When developments come in

to the county and we know they are large developments, we can

keep an eye in terms of that development, where we are in the beginning, also where we are in terms of build-out. That allows us

to make sure that we are not missing those new developments that

are coming into the county, both urban and also suburban.

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In census 2000, we also created a video called I Count video. We

were able to run that, Mr. Chairman, on our government access

channel in our county, which covers a vast majority of our county

and is seen by a lot of individuals through our county.

Now, for census 2010, being involved in census 2000, obviously,

I have had an opportunity to get some more experience. The census

2010 strategy, again, establishment of a Complete Count Committee. This committee is more diverse than in 2000 because it was

made up primarily of governmental staff. This is made up of the

community.

So we feel like with a diverse committee we are going to be able

to reach out and reach other people. Part of the committee, we

have a technical outreach and diverse special populations managers at the county level so we can understand the system a whole

lot better.

The slogan for this 2010 census is It Counts to be Counted. We

are also going to have a Census Awareness Week. That has been

recommended to begin on February 2010, right before they begin

to send out the census forms.

We are also going to be assessing our response rates in urban

and rural areas, and part of that, in our urban census track, our

lowest response rate was 37 percent; the highest was 76 percent.

In our rural census track, the lowest was 43.5 percent and the

highest was 74 percent. We want to understand what that number

means.

One thing that I always employ to our committee, when we go

out and talk to community groups and we say we missed 36 percent, most folks can’t identify what 36 percent is. We want to say

that means a certain amount of people. And what we do is one person, I think, is estimated about $1,000, that is what our community

could lose over a 10-year period. So that is something that we want

to do when we are trying to get the word out; we want not personalize it and make sure that people understand.

Mr. Chairman, if I can yield just a little bit more time, I’m running over.

We are also working with our city and county planning directors.

We have a luxury, I guess, of having 14 towns in our county, which

allows us to go out to some of those rural areas to meet with those

planning directors. We also are going to use all governmental

buildings for census questions so people can go out to those centers.

And, again, in closing, we are going to develop another census

2010 video to be shown on local government access channel. We are

going to work with local newspapers and also go out to some of the

corner grocery stores and those types things, get out where the people are. And we are going to have an art contest with some of the

local schools.

So some of the general concerns that we have is just at the urban

and also rural areas are mistrust, and we think the way to do that

and try to remedy some of that is through education and outreach.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Williams follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you for your presentation. One note. Be sure

you use Mr. McHenry in your video.

Mr. WILLIAMS. OK. Yes, sir.

Mr. CLAY. Ms. Cumberbatch, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF YVETTE CUMBERBATCH

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Good afternoon, Chairman Clay and Ranking

Member McHenry of the subcommittee. My name is Stacey

Cumberbatch, again, and I was appointed on April 7th as New

York City’s 2010 census coordinator. I have over 20 years of experience in public service, philanthropy, and the law. Thank you again

for this opportunity to talk about efforts underway by Mayor

Bloomberg to complement and supplement the efforts of the U.S.

Census Bureau to ensure a full and accurate count of all New

Yorkers.

First, I want to provide an overview of New York City’s population. The challenges of conducting a complete count——

Mr. CLAY. Ma’am, would you pull the mic closer to you? That will

work.

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. OK, now it is on.

I first want to provide an overview of New York City’s population, the challenges of conducting a complete count in a city as

dynamic and complex as New York, and what the city is doing to

help address some of these challenges.

First, as many of you know, New York City is the most ethnically

diverse city in the United States, with a population of 8.36 million

people as of July 2008. Over 3 million New Yorkers are foreignborn. About one-fifth of those folks, about 600,000, have arrived in

New York City since 2000. The top 10 foreign-born populations hail

from the Dominican Republic, China, Mexico, Jamaica, Guyana,

Ecuador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, India, and Colombia.

While New York City is divided into five boroughs, almost 58

percent of its population, two-thirds of all its immigrants actually

reside in two boroughs, that of Brooklyn and Queens. That is about

4.9 million people.

New York City has the largest Chinese population of any city

outside of Asia. More people of Caribbean ancestry live in New

York City than any city outside of the Caribbean. Over 2.27 million

Hispanics live in New York City, more than any other city in the

United States. New Yorkers of African descent number 1.95 million, more than double the count in any other U.S. city.

More than 200 languages are spoken in New York City, with almost half of New Yorkers speaking a language other than English.

The top five languages are Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Italian, and

French Creole.

So the city’s diversity has always been its strength, but it also

poses a challenge to making sure that everyone is counted in next

year’s census. Recognizing the importance of this, the mayor of the

city of New York created the NYC 2010 Census Initiative.

While the city’s population exceeded 8 million for the first time

in 2000, only 55 percent of New York City households mailed back

a completed census form, much lower than the average national

mail-in response rate of 67 percent.

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As stated earlier, Queens and Brooklyn are home to 58 percent

of the city’s population, and those two boroughs had actually the

lowest mail-in response rate of all of New York City. In fact, several neighborhoods in those boroughs had response rates lower

than 40 percent.

So we know there are many different reasons why people do not

participate in the census. For example, families living double to tripled up in one family home may fear that information provided on

the census form will be shared with the city agencies, such as

buildings and fire departments. Some people simply don’t know

what the census is. Others don’t know that this information is important for enforcing civil rights laws, including the Voting Rights

Act. Many immigrants in the city are fearful that their undocumented status might be disclosed to Federal authorities if they

complete a census form.

So the city is trying to undertake a variety of initiatives to try

to supplement, as I said, what the Census Bureau is doing. We are

leveraging our city resources to get the word out, to build the relationships with our community leaders from various sectors.

Some of these initiatives include working with our city agencies,

such as City Planning. We have a mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, a mayor’s Community Assistance Unit, the New York City

Housing Authority, and other offices of elected officials to first

identify hard-to-count groups and neighborhoods in the city and try

to work to overcome some of the barriers to participation I mentioned earlier.

We are working with five of the borough president’s offices to create borough-based Complete Count Committees comprised of diverse stakeholders from every community. Three of our five borough presidents have already created those committees. We work

with them; they are comprised of faith-based leaders, communitybased organizations, business leaders, a variety of sectors.

We are using our 311 system to receive inquiries regarding the

census and provide timely updated information to the public. We

have a Web site online, NYC.gov. It is basic information about the

census. It is translated into 18 languages. It also includes maps of

every borough and how those particular neighborhoods did in the

2000 census, as well as pertinent links to other information.

We are working with the Department of Education in New York

City that is 1.1 million children are a part of our educational system, so we are introducing census in the schools.

And I will sum up very quickly.

Our work is ongoing. There are a lot of challenges to conducting

a complete count in New York City given our diversity and our

density, so it really requires really mapping out the city basically

neighborhood by neighborhood to identify community leaders from

all sectors and engage them. We are working closely with the regional Census Bureau, but, as you can imagine, New York City is

very complex and it requires a real on-the-ground effort to get that

word out.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Cumberbatch follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much for your presentation.

Ms. Lemp, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF MERCEDES LEMP JACOBS

Ms. LEMP. Good afternoon, Chairman Clay, Ranking Member

McHenry, members of the subcommittee. It is an honor to be here

today, and I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you

on such a vital issue to Washington, DC’s, Latino community.

My name is Mercedes Lemp. I serve as the director for the mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs here in Washington, DC. The mission

of the office is to improve the equality of life of the District’s Latino

population by providing community-based grants, advocacy, community relations, and outreach services to residents so they can

have access to a full range of human services, education, health,

housing, economic development, and employment opportunities.

The population that is served by the office includes over 50,000

Latinos living and working in D.C., and they account for approximately 1 of every 10 D.C. residents.

As part of our mission is to ensure appropriate resources are

available to the Latino community, the 2010 census is of vital importance to our office.

While Mayor Fenty and the District as a whole have launched

the D.C. Counts Initiative, an aggressive campaign to ensure a full

count of the city’s residents, OLA has expanded on this effort

knowing that the population we serve is especially hard to count

and, at the same time, especially in need of the services and resources that will result from an accurate count.

Many Latino families share homes or apartments and may not

all be identified as residing in these shared dwellings. In addition,

they are also more likely to move from place to place and have

short-term living arrangements. Most are lower income, have little

formal education; many have children and speak little English.

Twelve percent of D.C.’s population is foreign-born and 50 percent

of the District residents speak a language other than English at

the home.

Washington, DC, has been identified as one of the hardest to

count municipalities. Fifty-five percent of the D.C. census tracks

are designated hard-to-count. With the Latino community, we face

the challenges described above, in addition to a fear of government,

immigration authorities, and a general distrust of government

based on experiences from their home countries.

Starting with our fiscal year 2009 performance plan, the office

included partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau as a key initiative. My staff and I began communicating and working with the

Washington, DC, census representatives in the fall of 2008, and

since then have collaborated in several ways. We have worked with

the Census to help reach out to potential D.C. Latino Census workers; we hosted an employment training and employment tests in

our office, a location the community knows well and is comfortable

with; we have hosted additional meetings and workshops at the office and now in the community as well.

OLA and the census, as partners, have presented at several majority Latino resident apartment buildings to tenant groups about

Complete Count Committees. We have planned a workshop for case

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managers and front-line staff of agencies and non-profits that

served Latinos. A majority of Latino serving organizations in the

city have served the community for many years and are seen as

trusted resources.

We have connected with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and will partner with them to reach out to Latino student

associations across the city, and are working with Latino churches

through the organization, the Downtown Cluster of Congregations.

Our staff member in charge of educational outreach will focus a

majority of her time for the next few months leading up to April

1st on educating Latino parents, English as a Second Language

teachers and counselors, and setting up Complete Count Committees in Latino majority schools.

Key to our success in communicating is culturally and linguistically appropriate materials. Outreach must be done using culturally and linguistically appropriate messages. Simple translations of materials will not suffice. Information must be developed

specifically for the community, specifically targeting the education

levels and particular situations for the community. With the financial assistance of the census, we created our own materials in this

manner and they are now the centerpiece of our presentations and

census talks we have been holding at community centers, clinics,

schools, homeless service providers, street corners where men wait

for work, etc.

Both the materials and the presentations focus on a few key

items beyond the dates, forms, and other essential information

which is key to our community: the fact that this information will

not be shared with any other agency under penalty of fine and potential incarceration to the census worker, the importance of the

community services they currently utilize being adequately funded

should an accurate count be done, and the importance of taking action through the simple 10-minute questionnaire. We have also

stressed that this is an opportunity to stand up and be recognized

in their new country and they are just as deserving to be counted

and served by their new government as any other U.S. resident.

As partners, OLA and the census have been able to better reach

the community and more effectively deliver the message of the importance of the census. As a trusted member of the community

working with community leaders and front-line workers, we have

been able to give census access based on a trusted relationship that

has been developed over 30 years of working with the D.C. Latino

community.

As director of the office, I also serve on the city’s D.C. Complete

Count Committee, in addition to chairing the Latino Complete

Count Subcommittee. The subcommittee includes members of the

Latino Community Development Commission, a commission made

up of Latino leaders from the city, with the mission of advising the

mayor and the office on Latino issues. My presence on the city’s

Complete Count Committee ensures that not only is my office focused on reaching the city’s Latino community, but that the city’s

overall campaign also considers our Latino residents and the best

way to reach them.

Starting a relationship with the census early, working closely

with community-based organizations and front-line staff, using culVerDate 11-MAY-2000 15:42 Oct 08, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\58133.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE
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turally and linguistically appropriate materials, meeting the community where they are, and ensuring a Latino voice in the city’s

overall campaign we hope will lead to a full count of the D.C.

Latino community.

Again, I thank you for this opportunity and want to especially

thank Rita Castillo and Ron Claiborne, both partnership specialists

with the U.S. Census Bureau, for reaching out to us early in the

process and continuing to do great work with us throughout the

process. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Lemp follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Ms. Lemp, for your testimony, as

well as the entire panel.

We will now move to the question and answer period. I will operate under the 5-minute rule. I will begin with a panel-wide question.

I have heard from my colleagues that represent rural areas,

some that represent urban and suburban areas, that a lot of Americans are leery about giving information to the Census Bureau for

conspiracy reasons, fearing that they will share this information

with other Federal agencies. What is the best way, in your opinion,

to communicate to people that the information that they provide to

the Census Bureau is confidential? What is the best way to communicate? Anybody on this panel can take a shot at it. We can start

here and just move. Mr. O’Hare, do you want to offer?

Mr. O’HARE. I think one is showing people what the Census Bureau asks for. A lot of people have misunderstandings about what

is really asked on the Census Bureau questions, so making clear

that the kind of information asked is pretty simple and demographically focused is one thing.

The other, I think, is talking about the Census Bureau’s record

that, for decades, they have collected this data with very few problems, and I think resting on that record is another way to kind of

enforce this. But I would underscore this as maybe the biggest

problem the Census Bureau faces in 2010, different than 10 or 20

years ago.

Mr. CLAY. Ms. Campbell, do you have any thoughts?

Ms. CAMPBELL. The only thing I would add to that is it also has

to do with who the messenger is in taking that into the community.

I am also a small town girl from Mims, FL. In April I was home

when the person knocked on my mother’s door. He was an older

gentleman of a different persuasion, doesn’t live in the neighborhood. I happened to be home, just happened to be home for her to

say, ‘‘well, I thought you said’’—you know, I talk to my mother a

lot and, you know, ‘‘I thought you said people were going to be

hired from the community. He’s not from our community.’’

So that is going to be very, very important. You keep say trusted

voices, trusted voices. Who are those trusted voices? That is what

is going to be able to break that. The churches are going to be able

to break that. The conversations even our barber shops and beauty

shops, the conversations about what this is, because since 9/11,

quite frankly, there is a lot that has to do with what has happened

with people’s privacy, people’s concern about the government.

There are a lot of things out there.

And I think also government being able to say it, but community

leaders being able to reiterate that this is something you need to

do, and that is why people—just like we do with the vote. ‘‘Why do

I need to vote?’’ ‘‘It doesn’t have anything to do with me.’’ Yes, it

does. It has to do with the kind of message, making sure it is culturally specific and making sure the messengers are people that

our people trust.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you.

Mr. Williams, any comment?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I echo Ms. Campbell’s comments and I would add to it I think that you asked a great quesVerDate 11-MAY-2000 15:42 Oct 08, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\58133.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE
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tion, and that is the kind of question I think that we, as individuals who work with the census, have to understand. So part of the

reason why, part of our committee, we wanted a technical outreach

manager and an outreach manager, and also a special and diverse

populations manager, because we have urban; and what is done in

urban may be a little different in the rural.

So we have to understand the questions that each area faces, and

sometimes I don’t know some areas as hard to count in urban and/

or rural, but we have to find those people who do. And that is the

reason I was saying earlier, through our planning program, we can

get to know who those gatekeepers are, because, like Ms. Campbell

said, if you find out who those individuals are, they may trust that

particular individual, and you have to go through that individual.

Another point is I talk to a lot of my friends, for example, about

the census. It is not that they mistrust; sometimes they just don’t

know. So what I do is—and they say, ‘‘David, you know, you are

kind of passionate about this stuff,’’ you know. I say, ‘‘well, it is important because, No. 1, if you don’t return your census form and

if you are not counted, we don’t get enough money to fund schools,

hospitals, and roads, for example. We don’t get all the money that

we get. So it takes away from our community.’’ So I think when

you personalize it and you connect with that individual, it is kind

of like voting, like Ms. Campbell was talking about. If you don’t

vote, it is hard for you to be counted; and if you don’t fill out your

form, then do you count?

Mr. CLAY. Exactly. Thank you for that response.

Ms. Cumberbatch.

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. I would echo everything that has been said

so far. It does come down to education, people understanding what

it is, actually seeing the form; that it is not intrusive, that it is confidential, it does not ask citizenship, it does not ask income, two

concerns of most people. Connecting it with the importance of driving Federal funding to our localities for a variety of programs, that

is a way of personalizing it, about schools, roads, etc., having that

conversation. Again, all of this has to be in the context of trust.

Mr. CLAY. Right.

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. And it comes down to the trusted voices and

is it—you know, in New York City, as I said, there are some instances where folks are living double, tripled-up in a one-family

home. That home is only going to get one census form, but there

are three families living there. So those other two families either

have to take it upon themselves to go to a be counted site to get

a form or the one family that is there has to include them on that

form. But that is a risk to them because they are saying, ‘‘well, who

is going to get this information.’’ ‘‘Is local government going to find

out that there are two other families that live here and it is really

a one-family home?’’ If I am in a family and I have a sibling who

is undocumented, do I put them on the form? So all of those factors

a person is in a decisionmaking process about what are the benefits

to providing some basic demographic information, and am I really

going to see those benefits, versus is there a risk about something

in my household being disclosed that I don’t want someone to

know.

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So, again, it is about trusted voices, enrolling a lot of diverse

stakeholders and leaders in our local communities. You can imagine New York City is very complicated. We are very diverse. We

have to reach out broadly and deeply to get that message out, and

at the end of the day we get the message out, but come mid-March,

when the forms are out in households, that is the call to action,

that is when the real work starts to get people to actually fill it

out and mail it back.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that response.

Ms. Lemp, how do we get them to overcome their fear of filling

out the form?

Ms. LEMP. Well, in addition to everything that was said, definitely the trusted voices in the Latino community, that is even

more important; the churches, the non-profits that the community

works with. And I think the message about the value, because you

get this form and what is in it for you; and I know in D.C. the

value per capita for the 2007 allocation of funds was $3,500. So are

you willing to walk away from $3,500 that goes to a concrete example of an organization or a way that it is benefiting that community? So this church or this organization or your school, by filling

out this simple form, it means $3,500.

Mr. CLAY. And with the Hispanic community in some parts of the

country, they are very fearful about even talking to anybody, anyone from Government.

Ms. LEMP. Right.

Mr. CLAY. So what is the best practices there, to send people

from that community?

Ms. LEMP. Absolutely. Absolutely. Right. So a mass campaign on

TV is not going to work, it has to be one-on-one conversations with

those leaders in the community that are trusted, basically what everybody has been saying over and over; and it is really a conversation, me talking to you, it is not even necessarily a poster or a flyer

or whatever that might be; it is really just the one-on-one conversation, I am doing it, you should do it, and this is why.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much.

I thank the whole panel for their responses.

Mr. McHenry, you are recognized.

Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you all for your testimony. Let’s continue with this discussion here about mistrust of government or distrust, because I have

a constituency where, in the mountains of western North Carolina,

if you are not from that holler, as they would say it, you are not

from here. And that may mean that you grew up 10 minutes down

the road, literally 10 minutes down the road, and you are not from

here. So, you know, you could take that same—what Ms. Campbell

said, the person who knocked on your door and you say you are not

from here. And we have a panel who obviously all five of you all

are going to answer your census form, and if you are having that

reaction, just imagine those people that have never responded.

So if we could just start from Ms. Lemp, if you want to go from

there and we will just go across the panel. If you can delve in a

little bit more about what are the best practices for Complete

Count Committees so that we can break through that.

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Ms. LEMP. And it is those conversations require Complete Count

Committees because that is the only way, and it has to be Complete Count Committees, again, with the folks that have been dealing with these communities from the beginning. So a perfect example would be, in Washington, DC, there are a lot of non-profits, a

lot of clinics.

Even with health care, a lot of the Latino community doesn’t necessarily go to a traditional doctor, they are going to go to the clinics. That is who they trust; that is where they have been. So meeting them exactly where they are. And the Complete Count Committees allow you to have those conversations, spreading the work of

the census throughout these Complete Count Committees and allowing many feet on the ground to have these conversations.

Mr. MCHENRY. It is interesting. Mr. Williams’ testimony, our discussions before, as head of the planning for the county, you know

where the next subdivision is going in or a semi-complete subdivision that wasn’t on the map. What are those secrets that you could

share with people, what you find that works? Ms. Cumberbatch

and we will kind of keep going across. But I am looking for that

something you found that kind of works that we can communicate

to other people.

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Right. I mean, this is helpful because it is experiences from different areas of the country, rural, smaller cities,

etc. You know, New York City is so large, so diverse, and obviously

I have been looking for that magic thing to work in New York City.

Honestly, there is not one magic thing.

The approach that we have taken is to first try to map the city

and understand how the city did in the last decennial census in

terms of mail-in response rate, which is a good indicator on where

there might be some challenges. But then to fast forward and look

at some of the American Community Survey data that recently

came out so we can see where new immigrant groups, because New

York City is 40 percent foreign-born, where they have settled within the city in different communities so that we can anticipate that

there might be some need to really do some serious outreach in

those communities as well.

So that was the first level of kind of analysis. And then trying

to map out, OK, who is working within these communities in terms

of community-based organization, faith-based leaders, elected officials, etc., to go out and speak to them about this is coming up, this

is what went on in the past in the community in terms of mail-in

response rate; here are a lot of new people that have settled in the

area.

What can we do now, early, to come together and bring our resources to leverage them to not only get the word out, but get the

word out in a meaningful way to people, whether that is through

their ethnic media, through ads, whether that is convening town

hall meetings. But it is very labor intensive and it really does come

down to that kind of organizing, mapping it out, and that kind of

one-on-one conversation.

The ad campaigns, newspapers, etc., are all important because

that is an echoing of the message about this is an important thing

to do. But, at the end of the day, people are going to trust because

you have had a meaningful conversation with them about what

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they see in their future for their community and how this connects

to that.

Mr. MCHENRY. Mr. Williams.

Mr. WILLIAMS. I would add everything that has been said and I

would go back to the Complete Count Committee. One thing, as

chair, that I am employing is that the volunteers, they need training and they have to understand. It is one thing to have a volunteer that will do anything that you ask them to do, but if they don’t

understand in terms of what community they are going into and

how to approach, then they are probably not going to connect.

So what we are employing is our Complete Count Committee to

understand the landscape of Gaston County, try to understand different communities. Some are connected, some are sprawled, kind

of spread out. May take a different approach. But they have to understand that so we will know what strategy to employ in particular locations.

The one thing I always hit on, again, I hit on earlier, is someone

mentioned a response rate, national response rate was 67 percent.

Now, if I am at the Y and I am playing basketball or working out,

I am talking to one of my buddies, I say, ‘‘you know, we had a 67

percent response rate.’’ That is more than 50. He might think that

is a pretty good rate, when actually some people didn’t get counted,

and that is significant for Gaston County. So when you begin to say

what does 1 percent mean, 1 percent means this in dollars. I think

you alluded to it earlier. One percent means this in dollars. And

when you begin to connect and explain it down to their level, see,

as planners and people that are working with census, sometimes

it is the jargon that we use and sometimes the language. We have

to try to bring it down, and that is one thing we are going to approach. And we feel that if we do that it will make a connection.

You mentioned in terms of language planning. We are going to

use every resource that we have. We will use our GIS system, Geographical Information System; we will use our Building Inspections

Department, not so much for them to go out and do, but tell us

where some tough areas are. We will use our Gaston count, we use

our police department to work with our community groups, community watch groups. They meet frequently, they know their community, and they really watch the community, and they can tell us,

‘‘hey, this is going to be a tough area.’’

So I think it was mentioned earlier it is going to be a myriad approach, but that Complete Count Committee is critical. But you

have to give them the tools and understanding of what they are up

against, so when they go out they are ready to make a difference;

and I think we will be able to do that.

Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you.

Ms. Campbell.

Ms. CAMPBELL. Well, three things. I mentioned in my testimony

that we made sure that we built a coalition that represents the full

Black population, with something that is a little bit more unique,

at least in my experience. So we have the African Federation, for

instance, who is focusing on the African communities, which are

very diverse, and making sure that the Complete Count Committees and what he is doing is, first of all, training folks on the

ground, but also being able to know when do you go have the conVerDate 11-MAY-2000 15:42 Oct 08, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\DOCS\58133.TXT KATIE PsN: KATIE
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versation. In a lot of communities, you may have to have the conversation in the evening. You can’t just do it at the church. If people have gathering places, where are those gathering places? When

is the time to have those really, really personal conversations to

really make a difference? The Institute of Caribbean Studies is

leading our efforts in the Caribbean community, and the cultural

specific, knowing when and where is really critical so the Complete

Count Committees are able to—there is no cookie cutter answer.

The other is the Black population, when it comes to the numbers,

is Black men and children 10 and under. So women, make sure

that your Complete Count Committee has a very strong target to

mothers, to women who are the caregivers, even to get to men, because in many cases it is the mother, it is the wife, it is the significant other in the home who is actually the one who is going to fill

that form out.

So it is just making sure that the Complete Count Committees—

we have something called the Black Women’s Roundtable that is

made up of diverse women. We are utilizing that group to help us

create the messages in local community. But the bottom line is

making sure there is a Complete Count Committee for the Black

population, which is my focus. It is very diverse based on what is

really going on and looking at those numbers in your community

to know that. It is all about relationships, relationships, trusted

voices, and making sure that you target women in a real, real way

to help bridge the gap for the Black population.

Mr. MCHENRY. Dr. O’Hare.

Mr. O’HARE. Let me respond by talking about a meeting that I

was at in North Carolina, and it kind of ties a couple things together here, I guess. In August, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation

had a meeting just outside of Raleigh, where they brought together

40 or 50 people from around the State involved in non-profit organizations and grassroots organizations; and throughout the day one

of the things that came up over and over again was the willingness, the eagerness of these groups to work on census issues, but

the lack of resources to do it.

And they are already pressed in so many ways that we all know

about that it was a frustrating experience for all of us because the

will was there but the resources were not. And I think it kind of

underscores what all of us in the Census Bureau knows: what is

really critical in getting people involved in this, getting people to

respond is these local trusted voices and the organizations that

they know.

That brings me to the recommendation I left with, I guess, early

on, is that I hope we can work together to find some way to get

these local groups the resources they need to do this job. I don’t

know if it will do it in time for the 2010 census, but I hope we put

it on the agenda for 2020.

Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. McHenry.

I would like to ask unanimous consent that one of our newest

Members to the House, Representative Judy Chu of the Golden

State of California, be allowed to sit on the panel today.

Mr. MCHENRY. I have no objection, but the gentlelady is OK to

come a little closer as well. [Laughter.]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that observation.

Ms. Chu, you are recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. CHU. Well, since my things are here, maybe I will just stick

it out here. But thank you so much. I appreciate it, Mr. Chair and

Mr. Ranking Member.

I especially wanted to come to this hearing because I did serve

6 years on the REAC Committee, the Race and Ethnic Advisory, for

the years leading up to the year 2000 census. I know what challenges there are. They are great in terms of trying to combat the

under-count. So I am so glad that you are here and working toward

an accurate complete count for this year 2010 census.

So let me ask this question to Dr. O’Hare or Ms. Cumberbatch. California has cut its census funding for outreach to $2 million,

which is a significant decrease from $24.7 million in 2000. I know

that LA City funding has plunged by half. And these are the areas

that are very difficult to count. In fact, LA is the No. 1 hard-tocount population in the country.

Now, I know that in New York Mayor Bloomberg challenged the census counts and secured $77 million in additional funding for

New York City alone. How was he able to get those funds and what

will be the implications of the lack of funds in California and LA

City?

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Just for clarification, so the city of New York,

the mayor created the NYC 2010 Census Office as an office within

the mayor’s office, and our annual budget for this census, to help

coordinate the city’s activities and work with the regional Census

Bureau, is actually $750,000. I wasn’t around in 2000. Different administration. I can’t say what it was then, but our budget for this

cycle is $750,000.

We currently have three staff people. I anticipate hiring two

more staff. And then we have a pot of money that we are looking

to figure out the best way to supplement and target either special

events, targeted ad campaigns toward certain areas within New

York City that are hard to count.

Now, I will tell you that, based on our indices, New York City

is probably the hardest to count city in the United States, with almost 71 percent of the census tracks being hard to count; and that

has to do with, obviously, our large immigrant population. We are

the most diverse city, but we are also a city of basically renters,

a lot of singles; all the other indices around hard-to-count.

So two things is, so $750,000 the city has committed directly for

coordination of census activities. But that doesn’t speak to the inkind support that we have leveraged in other city resources using

all of our agencies. So using our 311 system, which is our basic information system, using our intranet system, using all the agencies’

contracting opportunities.

So many of our agencies contract with CBOs on the ground to

provide social services. So we have used that network to disseminate information to directly enroll them in getting the word out to

their various constituencies. So we haven’t put a money value on

all that activity, but it is significant.

In addition, the State of New York put aside $2 million for census outreach throughout New York State. They put an RFP on the

street back in September. They are evaluating proposals. Some

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share of that money will go to non-profits on the ground in New

York City doing outreach work. I work with them, share all the

maps about response rate, where ethnic groups have settled so they

can, when they do those funding decisions, do them with some information about where there are going to be challenges.

In addition to that, a number of private foundations of New York

City have gotten together to coordinate some of their funding of

census outreach work. So we are kind of pulling together in these

difficult economic times a lot of different ways to leverage resources

on the ground in these hard-to-count, low response rate neighborhoods to increase the response rate in the first instance, and increase cooperation when folks do have to go—census takers do have

to go door-to-door to collect that demographic information for those

households.

Mr. O’HARE. If I am correct, I think you may be talking about

the challenge New York City made to the population, the post-census population estimates, so they raised the estimate and, therefore, New York City got more money——

Ms. CHU. Yes, actually, that is was it was——

Mr. O’HARE. OK. Well, I think that raises an important point be- cause those estimates, which drive much of the $450 billion that

are distributed each year on census data, are tied to the census

numbers from the beginning of the decade. So if places are undercounted, they get underestimated throughout the decade, and that

is the challenge that New York won and got millions of dollars

more because of it.

Ms. CHU. Right.

Mr. O’HARE. I will just mention, though, in California I know

there has been an enormous decrease in the amount of money the

State has made available. I just mentioned that some of the foundations like the California Endowment and the Grant Makers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugee, and the Border Philanthropy

Partnership have pulled together a couple million dollars to try and

fill in that gap, and in my written testimony there are some details

about that, if you are interested.

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. So let me just add. Thank you for clarifying.

One thing about New York City is we have a population division

within our City Planning Department. It is part of an agency, a division. A lot of localities do not have a staff of demographers and

experts to be able to evaluate each year census data that comes out

and to challenge it in terms of whether it is a low estimate or a

high estimate. Similarly, our Population Division is currently engaged in the LUCA Process, the Local Update of Census Address

list, to look at that address list to make sure that it is complete,

there weren’t deletions or the additions that the city had recommended earlier in the year are included.

So all of those things go to obviously helping us get an accurate

count, the technical aspects of getting an accurate count year to

year. But, again, that is something that the city has always budgeted in terms of a population division from our city tax levy money,

it is not—and that is an expertise that has existed in the city probably for the past 40 to 50 years, in terms of a department.

Ms. CHU. Well, it is great that New York was able to put together those sources to be able to improve their count.

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Let me ask this other question that has to do with bilingual

questionnaires. When I was on REAC, I was a big believer and

pushed very hard to have bilingual questionnaires distributed to

areas where people speak other languages, and I was very glad to

see, this year, for this census, that the Spanish language questionnaire is put together and is going to be mailed to places with high

Spanish-speaking populations. But I saw that for the other languages—Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Russian—it is being

translated, but not being mailed, and I think that is a huge deficit.

What can you do to overcome this—my goal would be for year 2020

to change this so that they are mailed, because it is easy to determine where you have such a high population that they are primarily speaking that other language, and, thus, you can do better

outreach for those populations.

This is for anybody.

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Well, I totally agree with you. We actually

know and have up on our Web site from 2000 the top five most spoken languages in New York City broken down by census track. So

you can actually look at a map. Now, it has changed since 2000,

but you can look at the map and you can see where there is a high

density of Spanish speakers or Chinese speakers or Russian speakers, etc. So obviously, yes, it would make sense to say that, yes,

they are mailing the form in Spanish to those census tracks with

a high concentration of Spanish speakers, but they could easily,

looking forward, look at other census tracks and other languages

that are spoken in different localities, particularly New York City,

and mail the form up-front to those households, in English as well;

and that would cut back on the need for a lot of non-profits and

community-based organizations to also then try to get the word out

to those different communities and say, ‘‘oh, if you need it in this

language, we have it or we can help you get it and you can come

in.’’ I mean, that would be a huge improvement in the process of

conducting the census for 2020, and I would look at an array of

languages, because the data is there. The data is even there in

more up-to-date terms in terms of the American Community Survey. So by the time 2020 comes, we are going to have a wealth of

data from the past 10 years about languages that are spoken by

census track to be able to do a decennial census that really, up

front, deals with some of the language issues.

Ms. CHU. Well, in fact, just to continue along those lines, it is

my understanding that the American Community Survey is not

translated in those same languages.

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Right. So that is an issue.

Ms. CHU. It is a huge issue.

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. That is a huge issue and that is something

that has to be changed in order to get accurate, and particularly

because it is a statistical sampling of the population. And in a

place like New York City where, as I indicated, almost half of our

population speaks a language other than English, it is a huge

issue. So it does go to the accuracy of all the data that we obtain.

So, yes, we would push for the American Community Survey

being in language based on the information we know about New

York City and all other jurisdictions, as well as helping, then, inform for the decennial census, since those forms are going to be

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mailed to every household, you know, where they should be in different languages or mailed in English and another language based

on the density of foreign language speakers in that particular census track.

Ms. CHU. I just hope that we remember the lessons for this census and push it for the year 2020, because I remember us pushing

this for year 2000. Here we are 2010, but the lessons haven’t been

fully implemented.

Mr. CLAY. We certainly appreciate the issue that you raise and

this subcommittee looks forward to your activism and interaction

with it. Thank you, Ms. Chu.

Ms. CHU. Thank you.

Mr. CLAY. I now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina

for 5 minutes.

Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know votes are coming up on the floor, so I will try to keep this short.

Mr. Williams, in our discussions you talked about forums with

the Complete Count Committee and then your relationships with

the individual towns and cities within Gaston County. I know others in the room won’t find this significant, but we have a county

with 200,000 people in it—it is in the top 10 in North Carolina population-wise—and we have 14 different municipalities, which kind

of blows your mind; whereas, one borough of New York is larger

than the population of North Carolina. So we have a little comparison here. But the difficulties of that in terms of reaching out to

these local governments, how do you overcome sort of that divide

of cities and then the rural areas as well?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, Congressman, we have what you call an

Elected Officials Seminar, where all the elected officials in the

county come together quarterly to talk about issues, and I think

Gaston County is doing a good job in terms of trying to build those

relationships from the elected side.

Also, from the staff side, we have started a group called GCAMP,

which the acronym stands for Gaston County and Municipal Planners Group, which is a diverse group of people, of planners, but

also people from affordable housing, housing, police, also from

emergency management. And that group has laid a foundation by

which we can address issues such as the census. So that is how we

work. So when something like this comes about, for example, in

Cherryville or in Mount Holly, for example, we already have that

connection.

So when there are difficult areas in and around those municipalities, they have an urban feel, but they are not as large as Gastonia,

for example, that is the largest municipality in Gaston County, for

example. However, they have a connection also to some of those

rural areas. So we can work through them. Again, it goes back to

who knows the community the best. So we go to those planning directors and that city staff, and they can help us. So that is what

works.

I would mention something—I don’t mean to digress, but something you were asking earlier I think was left out a little bit, and

that is, also, we plan to use the school system. I mentioned an art

contest and I had to kind of go through that quickly. But we see

the school system as an opportunity to involve elementary, middle,

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and high school. So if we can get them involved, hopefully they can

pass that information on to their parents, grandparents, relatives

and say, ‘‘hey, this is important for us to do.’’

But the number of towns can be tough in terms of planning and

zoning, having different zoning regulations throughout the county.

We worked on that process of trying to have one, but, at the same

time, we have something such as significant and vital as the upcoming census. Having those guys on the ground, those different

municipalities and those staff on the ground in those areas makes

it a little easier for me, as Chair of the Complete Count Committee,

to make sure that we don’t leave areas out, be it urban and/or suburban, rural, etc.

Mr. MCHENRY. Is that one way, working through the school system and working through the kids in getting the message out about

the census, is that a way that you found to break through the language barrier that some in our community have?

Mr. WILLIAMS. I think it will create an opportunity. I think so,

it will create an opportunity to have that discussion, that conversation with school teachers and to talk to their students about the

importance of census. So I think it would offer definitely the opportunity to enlighten their parents about it.

In terms of someone speaking a different language, say the

Latino population, you still may have some differences when the

child goes home to talk to the parent if the language is primarily

Spanish, so we are going to need to work on that. It is not going

to be easy, but I think the school system is still just another tool

that we can use to try to reduce the under-count and increase the

response rate.

Mr. MCHENRY. Absolutely. I certainly appreciate it and I appreciate you all on the panel, Mr. Williams and everyone else on the

panel for testifying. I know some of you are back for an additional

time, but we appreciate your testimony and your assistance, especially with such a vital function of government as the census is,

whether it is a large urban area or rural areas, and everywhere in

between. So thank you for your efforts and we would certainly appreciate any guidance or feedback that you could give this subcommittee to make sure that the census is the best that we have

ever had in our Nation’s history. Thanks so much.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. McHenry.

Ms. Cumberbatch, you indicated in your written testimony that

you have had some interaction with philanthropic organizations.

Have you secured any significant financial commitments and can

you expound in that in detail, what has been the role of philanthropic organizations in enumerating New York City?

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. There are a number of foundations in New

York City that have expressed an interest and put together some

funding to support. They haven’t announced those grants yet, but

have put together and coordinated their funding to organizations

that are going to do census outreach work.

What the city of New York did in that regard was to host a briefing early on in June of funders in collaboration with those private

funders, a briefing about the census, just basic information. We

had the Census Bureau there, we had community-based organizations that had worked on the 2000 census to talk about some of the

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challenges they had in doing outreach as a first step. So that gathering was a way to try to interest funders in obviously funding

community-based organizations.

Mr. CLAY. This being tough economic times, I would assume it

is a tough sale.

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. This being tough economic times, while many

private funders in New York City said yes, we see this as important, we see fantastic leverage—because for every person in New

York City that is counted, it amounts to $3,000 a year in terms of

Federal funding—that their funding is basically flat this year because their philanthropy is connected to the financial market. So

because they have an obligation to current grantees in their ongoing work, whether that be social services, etc., it was hard to supplement, this year, some of those activities of those non-profits to

specifically target census work. So it is a very limited pot.

Mr. CLAY. Dr. O’Hare, I assume other cities have also come to

you and come to the Foundation to ask for financial support?

Mr. O’HARE. Well, the Funders Census Initiative is kind of the

model that has developed these kinds of activities. I think Chicago

and the Joyce Foundation was probably the first to really take on

this kind of mission, where they assembled more than $1 million

from eight funders or so, and went through a process somewhat

similar to New York. The same has happened in Los Angeles and

some other cities. Certainly a move in the right direction. I think

we are all feeling frustrated because the need is so big and our dollars are not nearly enough.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that response.

Ms. Lemp, can you expound on your knowledge of a census boycott by some Latino groups and what additional problems does that

create? Please detail your findings and explain what creative tactics your office is utilizing to combat that.

Ms. LEMP. Right. The boycott was something that came out a few

months back, and I have to say that with our contacts in the local

communities—and connecting, just reiterating the message of this

not being connected to any immigration issues and connecting the

need to be counted to the funds and the resources that the city

would gain from being counted. It really wasn’t a big issue also because that message of boycotting was not a message from a local

organization, so it wasn’t necessarily a trusted voice in our D.C.

Latino community. So it wasn’t a big issue in Washington.

Mr. CLAY. Ms. Campbell, yesterday Census Director Groves and

I, along with St. Louis city officials, rolled out a Census in the

Schools Program. Do you believe this is an effective way to reach

under-counted children? And please be specific.

Ms. CAMPBELL. Oh, very much so. One of the things that I mentioned about targeting women, targeting mothers, targeting caregivers, and not connecting the fact that what I also wanted to say

was what we are focusing in on is developing not just—for coalition

10 years ago, we actually did a poster contest that targeted middle

school, elementary grade school. Now, the younger folks that are

part of our coalitions are saying we have the social networking

now. There are a lot of creative ways for young people to be able

to express themselves in the process. So with the Census in

Schools, working with community-based organizations, as well as

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the school system, the Census in Schools Program, but there are

also opportunities for the community-based organizations to participate. So we are really excited that, as a part of what we are

doing to be able to have young people express themselves culturally

around what does this mean, you know, how I count, if you will.

The National Conference of Black Mayors has an I Count. There

are several folks who have this I Count campaign. We have not

talked to each other. We had a conference call yesterday with our

coalition and two people on the call, who had not talked to each

other but were focusing on Black men and the conference, both had

I Count campaigns. So there is something about I Count and the

change message, especially with the young people being a part of

this change era we are in, to be able to express that. So part of

what we are doing this year is adding a part of our Census in

Schools efforts to utilize social networking, to utilize Facebook, to

utilize the YouTube and all the other social mediums that are out

there for folks to be able to express. So we saw what could happen

in the last election. And that is something that is low cost and people are able to express themselves creatively. And that same 81-

year-old mother was a school teacher for 50-plus years, so understanding how that impacts and how teachers have an impact on

young lives and the parents, more specifically, is definitely one of

the No. 1 things we are going to be doing.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much.

Dr. O’Hare, did you have something to say?

Mr. O’HARE. Yes. Could I add a comment on the Census in

Schools Program, which I wholly endorse, but I think it is important to recognize, when talking about children, which is the Casey

Foundation’s focus, is that the age group that has the highest

under-count rate based on the 2000 census was preschoolers. Kids

under age 5 had an under-count rate of 4 percent higher than people in their twenties and higher than school-aged kids. So I am

worried that somehow we think we have taken care of all the children under-counting by focusing on school-aged kids, and it is critical to remember that is not the group that is missed the most.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that point.

Mr. Williams, I am going to let you have the final word. Have

you interacted with your regional and local census director or your

regional director? Are you familiar with who they are? Have they

come by to visit your Complete Count Committees?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Chairman, they have. They have come by. We

have a pretty good relationship with our local bureau partnership

specialists is what they are called. They actually came to our first

Complete Count Committee meeting; they made a presentation,

they made all the material, handed that information out.

And, again, in Gaston County we try to set a standard in 2000

with the census, and as a result of it, the Census Bureau felt like

we had done a pretty good job in terms of promotion, so we already

had that relationship built up from 2000. So when this started

kicking off a couple years ago, they were ready to call us and see

what are some of the things we can offer to help them out. So, to

answer your question, yes, we do have a relationship with them.

Mr. CLAY. Very good.

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Let me thank the entire panel for your testimony today and

thank you for attempting to make ‘‘census 2010’’ the most successful that this country has experienced. I appreciate your work in

this area.

That concludes this hearing. Thank you.

[Whereupon, at 4:22 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

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