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38–582 PDF 2007

2010 CENSUS: RECRUITING, HIRING AND TRAINING

A DIVERSE WORKFORCE

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY,

CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT

AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

JULY 26, 2007

Serial No. 110–29

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 OVERSISGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California, Chairman

TOM LANTOS, California

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York

PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania

CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland

DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio

DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois

JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts

WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri

DIANE E. WATSON, California

STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York

JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky

BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of

Columbia

BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota

JIM COOPER, Tennessee

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland

PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire

CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut

JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland

PETER WELCH, Vermont

TOM DAVIS, Virginia

DAN BURTON, Indiana

CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut

JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York

JOHN L. MICA, Florida

MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania

CHRIS CANNON, Utah

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee

MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio

DARRELL E. ISSA, California

KENNY MARCHANT, Texas

LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia

PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina

VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina

BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California

BILL SALI, Idaho

JIM JORDAN, Ohio

PHIL SCHILIRO, Chief of Staff

PHIL BARNETT, Staff Director

EARLEY GREEN, Chief Clerk

DAVID MARIN, 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

JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky

PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire

MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio

CHRIS CANNON, Utah

BILL SALI, Idaho

TONY HAYWOOD, Staff Director

(III)

C O N T E N T S

Page

Hearing held on July 26, 2007 ............................................................................... 1

Statement of:

Kincannon, Charles Louis, Director, U.S. Bureau of the Census; and

Mathew J. Scire`, Director, Strategic Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office .................................................................................................. 14

Kincannon, Charles Louis ........................................................................ 14

Scire`, Mathew J. ........................................................................................ 21

Rosales, Rosa, national president, League of United Latin American Citizens; Leigh A. McGee, Chair, Census Advisory Committee on the American Indian and Alaska Native Populations; Dr. Bernie Miller, Chair,

Census Advisory Committee on the African American Population;

Deeana L. Jang, policy director, Asian and Pacific Islander American

Health Forum; and Stephen J. Pemberton, chief diversity officer and

vice president, diversity and inclusion, Monster Worldwide, Inc. ............ 50

Jang, Deeana L. ......................................................................................... 90

McGee, Leigh A. ........................................................................................ 59

Miller, Dr. Bernie ...................................................................................... 75

Pemberton, Stephen J. .............................................................................. 100

Rosales, Rosa ............................................................................................. 50

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

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

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

Davis, Hon. Tom, a Representative in Congress from the State of Virginia, prepared statement of ........................................................................ 13

Jang, Deeana L., policy director, Asian and Pacific Islander American

Health Forum, prepared statement of ........................................................ 92

Kincannon, Charles Louis, Director, U.S. Bureau of the Census, prepared

statement of ................................................................................................... 16

McGee, Leigh A., Chair, Census Advisory Committee on the American

Indian and Alaska Native Populations, prepared statement of ................ 61

Miller, Dr. Bernie, Chair, Census Advisory Committee on the African

American Population, prepared statement of ............................................. 77

Pemberton, Stephen J., chief diversity officer and vice president, diversity

and inclusion, Monster Worldwide, Inc., prepared statement of .............. 103

Rosales, Rosa, national president, League of United Latin American Citizens, prepared statement of ......................................................................... 53

Scire`, Mathew J., Director, Strategic Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office, prepared statement of ........................................................... 23

Turner, Hon. Michael R., a Representative in Congress from the State

of Ohio, prepared statement of .................................................................... 9

(1)

2010 CENSUS: RECRUITING, HIRING AND

TRAINING A DIVERSE WORKFORCE

THURSDAY, JULY 26, 2007

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 p.m., in room

2247, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Clay, Turner, and Maloney.

Also present: Representative Davis of Virginia.

Staff present: Tony Haywood, staff director/counsel; Jean Gosa,

clerk; Alissa Bonner, professional staff member; Nick Ballen, intern; Leneal Scott, information systems manager; Jennifer

Safavian, minority chief counsel for oversight and investigations;

Keith Ausbrook, minority general counsel; Jim Moore, minority

counsel; Allyson Blandford and Jay O’Callaghan, minority professional staff members; Benjamin Chance, minority clerk; and Bill

Womack, minority assistant clerk.

Mr. CLAY. The Information Policy, Census, and National Archives Subcommittee, Oversight and Government Reform Committee will come to order.

Today’s hearing will examine the Census Bureau’s effort to recruit, hire and train a diverse work force in connection with the

2010 census and related issues.

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 of the

committee who seeks recognition.

Without objection, Members and witnesses may have 5 legislative days to submit a written statement or extraneous materials for

the record.

I will now start with my opening statement and welcome everyone to today’s oversight hearing on Recruiting, Hiring and Training

a Diverse Workforce for the 2010 census.

In its strategic plan for 2005 to 2007, the Census Bureau states

that ‘‘As the Nation becomes more diverse, the Census Bureau’s

staff must reflect the increasing diversity of the American population if it’s to do its job effectively.’’

The purpose of today’s hearing is to help Congress evaluate

whether or not the Census Bureau is on target to achieve this statVerDate 11-MAY-2000 14:26 Dec 10, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\38582.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1
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ed goal. We will examine the Bureau’s plan to ensure a diverse

work force from the enumerators to its senior level management.

Nineteen percent is African American; 5 percent is Hispanic/

Latino; 1 percent is American Indian/Alaska Native; and less than

1 percent is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

Currently, the Bureau has 13,761 employees with minorities

comprising 2,246 of the Bureau’s total work force. The statistics are

equally disappointing for the senior levels, grades 13 through the

senior executive service, where minorities make up only 28 percent

of this group, and there’s not one Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander according to the Bureau’s recent work force profile.

We will also review the agency’s record involving minority con- tracting. GAO estimates that of the $11.3 billion to be spent on the

2010 census, $1.9 billion or 17 percent will be spent on the 7 largest contractors. This is a significant expenditure of taxpayer dollars. Therefore, Congress is obligated to ensure that minority businesses fully participate in contracting and subcontracting opportunities for the decennial census.

I want to thank in advance all of our witnesses for appearing

today and look forward to their testimony.

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

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Mr. CLAY. Now I will yield to the distinguished ranking member,

Mr. Turner of Ohio.

Mr. TURNER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank you for

your leadership in holding this hearing considering the Bureau’s

goal of recruiting, hiring and training a diverse work force for the

2010 census.

Today, we will examine a key challenge facing the Census Bureau, the importance of producing a large, diverse and qualified

work force to implement the 2010 census. This is a significant step

in achieving as complete and accurate a census as possible.

Hiring and training the nearly 600,000 workers needed for the

upcoming census will be one of the largest and most complex tasks

undertaken by any entity, public or private, in our Nation. It will

make the Census Bureau temporarily one of our country’s largest

employers.

As the Nation is becoming more diverse, it will need a more ethnically diverse census work force especially in the so-called hard to

count communities where there are varying language and cultural

barriers.

One of the proven success stories from the 2000 census was the

partnership and outreach program which was credited by many for

helping to achieve an accurate count in culturally diverse communities. Establishing partnerships within these areas is proven to reduce costs and improve accuracy. As we prepare for the 2010 census, we will need to buildupon the successes of the 2000 program.

GAO recently issued a report outlining challenges in hiring, recruiting and training workers for the 2010 census. This report

called into question many of the Bureau’s plans and strategies as

it pertains to the 2010 decennial work force. I am concerned that

many of the recommendations made by the GAO have not properly

addressed by the Bureau.

Mr. Chairman, there are many stakeholders that sit in our hearing today. As you know, the results of the decennial census will affect all levels of government and the private sector. As a result, it

is important that we look at the Bureau’s plan for hiring, retaining

and training the 2010 work force, and I look forward to a productive hearing.

I also want to apologize in that I am participating in markup discussions in another committee, so I won’t be able to stay. But I

have the written testimony, and I will certainly be looking forward

to reviewing the testimony.

I do appreciate the chairman’s leadership in what is a very important issue. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Hon. Michael Turner follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. Turner.

We know that Mr. Davis of Virginia will be joining us shortly,

and he can fill in adequately. Thank you.

The subcommittee will now hear testimony from the witnesses

before us today. On our first panel, we will hear from the Honorable Charles Louis Kincannon, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau,

and Mathew Scire`, Director of Strategic Issues at GAO.

Thank you, Director Kincannon and Mr. Scire`, for appearing before the subcommittee today.

I will stop there and recognize the ranking member who has

joined us today, Mr. Davis of Virginia for an opening statement.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. We

just concluded another hearing downstairs. I want to thank you for

holding the hearing.

At its root, the census in 2010 will be an opportunity for the Federal Government to talk to America. This is our once-in-a-decade

chance to learn how many Americans there are and where they

are. Congress then uses that information to apportion seats to each

State for the following decade, to drive Federal grant formulas and

for a myriad of other purposes.

So it is very important when the Bureau goes out to talk to

Americans that they speak America’s language. The Census Bureau has to understand America’s neighborhoods and act in respectful and trustworthy ways in those neighborhoods. In a nutshell, that is why diversity matters in hiring and training at the

census.

In some circles, diversity has taken on a bad connotation. Others

see it as mired in political correctness. But the American business

community has learned neither of these perspectives is accurate.

Diversity today isn’t about social activism. It is about developing

the best possible business strategy.

It isn’t about meeting quotas. It is about providing the highest

quality customer service.

It isn’t just about being responsive to the community. It is about

being innovative in the national marketplace.

My hope is that the Bureau is developing the best business strategy possible to reach their diverse customers. I hope they are planning to provide unparalleled customer service despite some obvious

time constraints. Most important, I hope the Bureau is being innovative as they think about how to have this essential decennial

conversation with America.

I look forward to hearing from these witnesses today as we discuss these important issues.

Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Hon. Tom Davis follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you very much, Mr. Davis.

It is the policy of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to swear in all witnesses before they testify.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. CLAY. Let the record reflect that the witnesses answered in

the affirmative.

You both will have 5 minutes to make an opening statement.

Your complete written testimony will be included in the hearing

record.

The yellow light, as you both are familiar, will indicate you have

1 minute remaining. The red light will indicate that your time has

expired.

Thank you. Director Kincannon, you may proceed.

STATEMENTS OF CHARLES LOUIS KINCANNON, DIRECTOR,

U.S. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS; AND MATHEW J. SCIRE` , DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC ISSUES, U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

STATEMENT OF CHARLES LOUIS KINCANNON

Mr. KINCANNON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity

to discuss the U.S. Census Bureau’s commitment to diversity.

Diversity is who we are as a Nation and underscores the fundamental cultural values of our people. It is vital to the quality of

the data we produce to maintain public trust and cooperation,

starting with a work force that looks and sounds like America.

To ensure the Census Bureau fulfills its commitments with regard to diversity, we have undertaken a number of organizational

changes such as the establishment of a Diversity Program Office

and the Diversity Council as well as other efforts.

One of the most important long term strategies of ensuring a

highly qualified, motivated and diverse work force is through opportunities specifically with recruitment and internships. The Census Bureau maintains a robust college recruitment program. Annually, we visit more than 70 colleges, nearly half of which are minority-serving institutions, to recruit entry level candidates for mission

critical positions. Of those successfully recruited last year, nearly

one-third were from minority-serving institutions.

The Census Bureau uses internships to build a pipeline of diverse, highly qualified talent at the entry level. We have successfully worked with several organizations to reach out to minority

students including Oak Ridge Associated Universities and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. This year, we recruited 35 interns. Twenty-five percent of African American, 22

percent, Hispanic, and 4 percent are Asian or Pacific Islanders.

Our goal in recruiting these interns is to give them an opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way to our mission. Many interns have been surprised by the quality of their experience and

that they were given the opportunity to do real work alongside professionals at the Census Bureau.

Just as we are working to build this pipeline, we continue to recognize the importance of maintaining an increasing diversity

among our current work force. As we fill vacancies, especially at

higher grade levels, we are reaching out to stakeholders to promote

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these opportunities. Over the past 2 years, approximately 63 percent of the vacated SES positions were filled by minorities or

women.

At the Census Bureau’s current headquarters, nearly 30 percent

of the employees in the higher grades are members of minority

communities. Of these employees, approximately 70 percent are African American and 4 percent are Latino.

It is important to buildupon the progress we have made over the

past few years, especially as we begin gearing up for the decennial

census. Our recruiting strategy for the 2010 census includes proven

tools such as competitive pay, hiring exemptions, hiring locally

from the communities we are counting and a census recruiting Web

site and toll free jobs line.

It is important to emphasize the significance of local recruitment

and hiring. The Census Bureau intends to advertise jobs within

each community, working with partner organizations and the

media. In fact, we have posted a request for information in preparation for seeking small, disadvantaged businesses to help us purchase local media in order to place recruitment advertisements

throughout the country.

The Census Bureau is also working to emphasize diversity in our

major 2010 census contracts. The recipients of each contract will be

required to meet strong criteria for small, disadvantaged businesses which includes minority-owned businesses. For example, the

requirement for the field data collection automation contract is 8

percent.

We believe these aggressive strategies along with our outreach

and partnerships effort will contribute to a more accurate census,

especially in hard to count communities. We are relying on our

partners to help promote census jobs within their communities.

Our partnership and recruiting staff will be in close contact with

our partners as they seek to publicize jobs and to find convenient

and safe locations for testing and training.

In an ever-changing Nation, we must continue to implement

strategies that enhance our efforts to recruit a diverse and skilled

work force. The Census Bureau is committed to this goal and to ensuring that we have the right work force to count every person living in America. We believe this goal is consistent with the highest

ideals of our Nation and is ultimately the source of our strength

as a people.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your support of these goals, and I

would be happy to answer any questions.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Kincannon follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Mr. Director.

Mr. Scire`, you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF MATHEW J. SCIRE`

Mr. SCIRE`. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Davis, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss recruiting and outreach efforts of the Census Bureau.

A little over 1 year from now, the Census Bureau will embark

upon a huge recruitment campaign with a goal of hiring over

70,000 temporary field workers that will go door to door, verifying

addresses in community after community. In 2010, the Bureau will

hire over half a million field workers to followup on households

that do not return census survey forms. This represents the largest

ever peacetime mobilization.

Over the next several years, the Census Bureau will also be relying on the work of contractors to provide automation and technical

support, printing and other services as well as advertising and

marketing. Likewise, the Bureau will promote the census in partnership with community-based organizations and others.

We have reported that high-performance organizations are inclusive, drawing on the strengths of employees at all levels and of all

backgrounds. We laid out nine practices for diversity management

including the need for identifying and developing a diverse pool of

talent for an organization’s potential future leaders and attracting

a supply of qualified, diverse applicants for employment.

Our analysis of data from the Federal Personnel Data System

shows that the proportion of women and minorities among the Bureau’s SES ranks is in line with that for the Government as a

whole. Also, the proportion of the Bureau’s pool of GS–14s and 15s

from which the Bureau may draw future leaders also was in line

with that for the Government as a whole.

Earlier this year, we testified before this subcommittee on the

Bureau’s plans for recruiting and hiring of the massive work force

of temporary field workers. The Bureau’s priority is to reach out as

broadly as possible to the diverse communities in the country because in order to have hundreds of thousands of temporary workers, it must attract several million applicants. Put simply, the Bureau plans to recruit five times as many applicants than it hires

and hire twice as many people than it needs in anticipation of high

levels of turnover.

We agree that the Bureau’s recruiting approach should be designed to ensure it selects a sufficient number of persons to complete the census. However, we recommend that the Bureau take a

more targeted approach.

For example, the Bureau could do more to study the factors that

explain worker performance and willingness to stay throughout an

operation. This analysis would permit the Bureau to identify the

best approaches for attracting such workers, thereby reducing operational costs and recruiting and training expenditures by decreasing the need to recruit and hire additional workers. Likewise, such

an approach can be undertaken while continuing to attract a diverse work force.

The Bureau also plans a public awareness campaign as it did in

the previous census. This campaign has two major parts: a paid adVerDate 11-MAY-2000 14:26 Dec 10, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\38582.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1
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vertising campaign and a partnership program where the Bureau

works with governments, community-based organizations, the

media and others to elicit public participation in the census particularly among hard to count populations.

We reported that it is quite likely that the key census-taking activities such as recruiting temporary census workers and encouraging people to complete their questionnaires would have been less

successful had it not been for the Bureau’s aggressive partnership

efforts in 2000.

Currently, the Bureau is considering proposals from contractors

on carrying out a coordinated communications program. Among

other things, the Bureau reports that it will consider each company’s experience in reaching hard-to-count populations, as well the

extent to which it promises to use subcontractors that are considered small, disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses and other categories of small businesses.

In summary, Mr. Chairman, for the Bureau to leverage the benefit of its diversity and outreach efforts, it will be important for it

to follow through on its intentions to recruit a diverse work force

and utilize the experience of a diverse pool of partners, including

community groups, State and local governments and the private

sector.

As in the past, we look forward to supporting this subcommittee’s

oversight efforts to promote a timely, complete, accurate and costeffective census.

This concludes my opening remarks. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak today. I would be glad to take any questions you

may have.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Scire` follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much for that testimony.

I will start with Director Kincannon.

The Census Bureau uses the Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees to advise it on decennial matters related to minority groups.

The committees have made several recommendations regarding

hiring, training and promotion of minority employees and contracting opportunities for the 2010 census. Some view their work with

the Bureau as somewhat successful while others believe the Bureau is not moving fast enough to act on the recommendations.

Does the Bureau have a formal process for handling the recommendations of the REAC and, if so, please describe how it

works?

Mr. KINCANNON. Yes, Mr. Chairman, we do have a process

whereby the individual committees, making recommendations,

make those recommendations in writing. They are reviewed by the

appropriate staffs within the Census Bureau and up through the

levels of management of the Census Bureau.

In some cases, those are recommendations that go to the Secretary of Commerce, but we pay very close attention directly to

those ourselves. We respond in writing, trying to explain the best

we can, limitations we may have in some cases and instances

where we agree and think we can implement what they have recommended and perhaps some where we disagree and why we

might disagree.

Mr. CLAY. Can you provide with examples of recommendations

made by REAC committees that the Bureau cannot act on and how

the Bureau communicated its determination to the REAC members?

Mr. KINCANNON. Yes, sir, we certainly can.

Mr. CLAY. Give me an example. Can you give me one?

Mr. KINCANNON. No. I can’t tell you offhand one that we did not

agree with, but I can provide in writing, examples where we have

disagreed and the explanation that we gave back to the committee.

Mr. CLAY. Tell me this. What do you think? What would be some

of the limitations then of the Bureau to meet the recommendations

made by the REAC?

Mr. KINCANNON. Well, limitations might be laws or regulations

regarding hiring or limitations in our ability to provide certain

types of training. It is really difficult for me to say in the abstract.

I often sit in on the portions of the meetings where there is open

discussion of members. I usually do not sit in on the drafting of the

recommendations, but I try to catch the ideas that are being suggested and discuss those directly with staff so that they pay close

attention to them.

Sometimes a rationale would be that we have tried doing that in

the past and it did not work or conflicted with some other goal that

we had at the same time.

Mr. CLAY. Why do you believe there is a perception, real or otherwise, among at least some REAC members that the Bureau is

not responding to their concerns in a timely manner?

Mr. KINCANNON. We are not very prompt about responding to returns—that is true—to recommendations because of the process

that is needed to explore the significance of them. Sometimes we

have to undertake testing to see what the effect actually would be

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of implementing that so that we can make sure we know the basis

of our answer.

The process of going through that is lengthier than it ideally

should be, I am sure, but we do get back to them in writing about

what they have suggested.

Mr. CLAY. Mr. Kincannon, it is well established that GS–14 and

15 positions are in the pipeline for advancement to senior management. What actions has the Bureau taken to increase the number

of minorities in management, particularly at the GS–14 through

senior executive levels, and what are the retention rates for minorities in these grades?

Mr. KINCANNON. We have taken a variety of steps. First of all,

making sure that our pipeline of entry level recruits is well stocked

to the extent of our ability with members of minority groups so

that they can gain work experience and have the evaluation of different supervisors which prepares for their evaluation and either

additional training or promotion when opportunities occur.

I am glad to say that the number of minorities in GS–14 has

gone up over the last 5 years from 99 to 122. That is 20.5 percent

to 23.5 percent. That is a significant accomplishment, I believe.

In GS–15, the number has gone up from 34 to 46 or from 17.5

percent to 23.5 percent.

Mr. CLAY. How diverse is your organizational chart?

Mr. KINCANNON. Well, it looks pretty diverse. The organizational

chart are heads of divisions or offices, a good many of whom are

SES members and about a third are minorities or women and, of

course, there is an overlap between minorities and women.

Mr. CLAY. How diverse is the group of regional directors?

Mr. KINCANNON. Half of the regional directors are minorities or

women.

Mr. CLAY. I see. Thank you for that response.

Mr. Davis.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.

Director Kincannon, let me just start with you.

In a July 9, 2007 field hearing on reducing under-count in the

Hispanic community, the Bureau said it will encourage local hiring

efforts to ensure that it hires enumerators with the relevant language skills to work in the Nation’s diverse neighborhoods.

What were the challenges from census 2000 in hiring enumerators with diverse language skills and what are you doing different

in 2010.

Mr. KINCANNON. Large language groups.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Turn your microphone on.

Mr. KINCANNON. For numerous language groups, people who

speak Spanish or other fairly widely spoken languages, I think we

did not have severe barriers in hiring enough people locally to meet

those needs.

For isolated language groups—a small Indian tribe or a small

immigrant group concentrated in a big city—we might have more

difficulty, but I believe in every case we satisfactorily were able to

recruit the people needed to enumerate or explain the program to

others.

We continue that same theme of trying to make sure that we recruit locally and identify people with the right language skills.

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Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. You recently had dress rehearsal activities that have already taken place, is that correct?

Mr. KINCANNON. Yes, sir.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. In terms of hiring enough staff with relevant language skills, were any particular insights gained on how

that would be applied to future hiring practices?

Mr. KINCANNON. I haven’t seen the evaluation of the dress rehearsal. The only part we completed so far is the address canvassing part which does entail some interaction with the public but is

not the major demand on language needs.

In the phase that occurs next spring, where we have mailed out

questionnaires and then we have to respond, go back to households

that do not return them by mail, that is where the major need is

for language skills. I have not seen an evaluation based on the profile of those that we hired.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. For the 2000 census, the Bureau relied

on a regional partnership program, and I know you plan such a

program for 2010, but the Department of Commerce hasn’t allocated funding to this program for fiscal year 2008. What is the impact of not funding the regional partnership program for fiscal year

2008?

Mr. KINCANNON. Well, one has to deal with the overall priorities

of the Government and the constraints on money. If there were

enough money for everything everybody wanted to do, I would say

we should definitely start that program in 2008. But in the overall

scheme of things, that does not seem.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. You are doing a good job of defending the

Department. What is the impact? If you don’t fund it, what does

that mean?

Mr. KINCANNON. Only 6 percent of the funding for the partnership program was allocated in the year ending in 2008 for the previous cycle. So we are not about a major impact. We will just concentrate it mostly in 2009 and 2010.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Thank you.

Mr. Scire`, in the GAO’s April 2007 report, Census Bureau Should

Refine Recruiting and Hiring Efforts and Enhance Training of

Temporary Field Staff is the name of it. There were seven recommendations that were made to the Bureau to improve recruiting

and training for the 2010 census. The Bureau disagreed or recommended no new action on five of them.

Where do you think the Bureau still needs improvement in this

area based on its responses to the GAO’s recommendations?

Mr. SCIRE`. The principle or core recommendation of the report

was that the Bureau assess the factors that explain worker performance and the willingness for a worker to stay throughout an

operation. For that recommendation, we think there is more that

the Bureau could do to assess those factors, to do basically a statistical analysis that might help it understand why some workers do

well and why some workers stay throughout an operation.

As I was saying in the opening statement, the Bureau tries to

recruit five times as many as it hires and hires twice as many as

it ultimately may need because of the turnover.

My understanding in the address canvassing part of the dress rehearsal, the Bureau has had some difficulty attracting eligible

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workers. So with that kind of information, with the kind of analysis

that we are talking about, they could do a better job of targeting

that set of workers that are most likely to be interested in census

work and do well with it.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. My last question is if you could describe

how the Bureau trains enumerators once they have hired them.

How do they train them?

Do they use videos or lectures and how long does it and what did

your observers say when they attended these training session?

Mr. SCIRE`. Yes. It depends on what the operation is, how long

the training. We observed training that took I believe it was 5 days

worth of training, and it essentially is a verbatim technique where

those that are hired first become crew leaders and they actually

conduct the training. They read from a manual verbatim.

The Bureau believes it is important to maintain that sort of consistency in the training across the country. We think there is more

that the Bureau can do to tailor the training to the circumstances

of the local area.

For example, we understand that in Austin, TX, and we observed

training there, that enumerators were being trained on how to enumerate mobile homes. Conversely, in Cheyenne, SD, enumerators

are also getting training on mobile homes, but in addition to that

training on how to enumerate in city blocks. So we think that they

could devote more time within their training to what the local demands are.

There also, I think, is a need for a greater emphasis in training

on dealing with reluctant respondents. This is particularly true for

non-response followup where, at the outset, you are working with

a group of persons who have decided not to return a survey form,

so there is going to be some reluctance at the outset.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. But it is a 5-day period, right?

Mr. SCIRE`. Yes.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. Davis.

Mr. Scire`, you know that the Bureau’s succession plan is tied to

the Federal Government’s opportunity to change the diversity of

the SES corps through new appointments.

Were there best practices that you identified at other agencies

that could be applied at the Bureau? Can they be applied to hiring

activities for the 2010 census?

Mr. SCIRE`. I think it is important to look at the permanent work

force and the temporary work force differently. Some of what we

have read in the Bureau’s strategic plan recognizes the importance

of diversity. It establishes a means for trying to improve succession

planning in terms of diversity by recruiting at universities that a

diverse student population.

But beyond that, so far as the plans that they have for accomplishing continuing or increases in diversity or better diversity

within the SES corps and within the permanent work force, there,

one would expect to see detailed plans on how you move from the

strategy into accomplishing the goals that you set out for the agency.

For the temporary work force, we think the Bureau has been

pretty aggressive in 2000, and their plans, their goals for 2010 are

the same. I mean they really are trying to reach out within the

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local communities to hire within that community for the temporary

work force, and we think that is important, that does help with

eliciting support in response to the questionnaires and also can be

helpful in terms of recruiting.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you.

GAO recommended that the Bureau take steps to make the partnership program more accountable and performance-oriented. In

your opinion, what changes are necessary to accomplish this, particularly with respect to recruitment and hiring?

Mr. SCIRE`. Well, for the recommendations that we made on the

partnership program, we are focused more on the monitoring of the

individual programs that are conducted in each of the LCOs and

by the regions, and so we thought there is more that the Bureau

could do in terms of monitoring those activities, keeping accounts

what were funded by in-kind contributions.

We also thought that there was an improvement in terms of

training that they could do for the partnership specialists on what

are some of the better practices that worked in the partnership

program across the country.

Mr. CLAY. Let me ask you about the contracting issue. GAO has

reviewed the Census Bureau’s RPF for the communications contract. The Bureau believes the current requirement that a contractor have expertise in advertising to minority communities is sufficient to ensure the inclusion of minority contractors. Do you agree

with that?

Mr. SCIRE`. I think that is just a starting point. There are a couple things. One, there is that provision that there is a requirement

in the contract that the prime contractor and the subcontractors

have experience in marketing and reaching out to a population that

is traditionally under-counted, and so I think it is important for the

Bureau to carefully review and weigh what evidence these offerers

have to support that argument.

The other is so far as subcontracting goals that are laid out, that

is a factor that they are considering in reviewing the various proposals. So we think it important that the Bureau weigh carefully

those, what the prime contractors are promising, but maybe even

more importantly is to monitor what they are actually doing and

to keep close track of what accomplishments the prime contractor

is reaching with regard to the subcontracting goals.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that.

As a followup, Director, is there a process or system in place that

will adequately monitor not just the advertising, the communications contract, but also other contractors, prime contractors with

the census?

Mr. KINCANNON. Yes, sir. In the case where there are requirements for a certain proportion to go to smaller, disadvantaged businesses, if the contract, the prime contractor fails to achieve that

goal, the amount paid to that contractor will be reduced. So their

profit margin will be reduced if they fail to meet that goal.

Mr. CLAY. As you are probably aware, in the 2000 communications contract, there were instances where the prime contractor

had actually established their own minority subcontractor. In some

circles, that is called a front company. I would hope that there

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would be any shenanigans like that in this 2010 communications

contract.

If that was the case in 2000, which you had no responsibility for,

I would hope that was just a one time occurrence and that it won’t

be a habit as far as the 2010 and future censuses are concerned.

Mr. KINCANNON. It certainly won’t be. It won’t be a habit of ours

in overlooking that, and I will review the plans we have made to

make sure that we are dealing with reality and not some kind of

Potemkin firm.

Mr. CLAY. Let me ask you about the Federal acquisition regulations which require Federal agencies to measure attainment of the

goals that contractors set forth in their subcontracting plans. Generally, if a contractor award is expected to exceed $550,000,

the contractor has to establish a subcontracting plan. In the plan,

the contractor has to agree that small businesses, veteran-owned

small businesses, service disabled veteran-owned small business,

HUD-owned small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses and

women-owned small businesses will have the maximum practicable

opportunity to participate in contract performance consistent with

this efficient performance.

The FAR also states that the contractor’s failure to make this effort results in an imposition of liquidated damages.

How does the Bureau track its contractors implementation of

subcontracting plans and goals?

Mr. KINCANNON. Mr. Chairman, I don’t know the details of how

that is tracked, but we have a very conscientious procurement office that follows the guidelines laid down by the Commerce Department and I am sure all of the FAR regulations as well. I will look

into that, and if you want some followup information on that, I will

make sure we get the experts down there.

Mr. CLAY. Would you provide this committee in writing with the

process and procedure of how the followup will take place and how

it is taking place now with the contracts that have already been

let?

Mr. KINCANNON. Yes, sir, we will.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you.

Mr. Director, it has been recommended that the Bureau do an assessment of its needs and resources for the 2010 census and develop a plan that includes a recruitment plan. Has the Bureau conducted such an assessment?

Mr. KINCANNON. Well, we have assessed our planned and anticipated workload and the number of people of different types of skills

in different parts of the country that we are going to need, and we

have a recruiting plan that responds to that in that detail. We have

to be prepared in that way. We can’t just go out and start asking

people if they want to work for us.

We know we have to advertise in certain kinds of channels. We

know we have to get down to community groups to talk to local

leaders including local elected officials about our needs so that they

can encourage and direct, bring people’s attention to these jobs and

that they can fulfill them.

Mr. CLAY. And so, that has been integrated into your overall

plan?

Mr. KINCANNON. Yes, sir.

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Mr. CLAY. At the subcommittee’s hearing on April 24th, you stated that to meet staffing needs for the 2010 census, the Bureau

would seek a waiver for non-citizens as was done for the 2000 census.

This subcommittee has since learned that the Bureau has decided against seeking the waiver. Can you explain why, as well as

how the Bureau plans to meet its recruiting and hiring goals without the waiver?

Mr. KINCANNON. I may understand this imperfectly, Mr. Chairman, but I did not think we needed the waiver if we needed, had

special skill needs such as language that could not be filled without

that kind of exemption.

Mr. CLAY. All right. Thank you very much.

Let me thank this panel for your testimony and your responses.

This panel is excused, and we will call forth the second panel.

Mr. KINCANNON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you.

It is the policy of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to swear in all witnesses before they testify.

[Witnesses sworn.]

Mr. CLAY. Let the record reflect that the witnesses answered in

the affirmative.

You will each have 5 minutes to make an opening statement.

Your complete written testimony will be included in the hearing

record.

The yellow light in front of you will indicate you have 1 minute

remaining, and the red light will indicate that your time has expired. If you don’t notice the light, I will notice it for you.

On our second panel, we will hear from Rosa Rosales, national

president of the League of United Latin American Citizens

[LULAC], and welcome.

Ms. ROSALES. Thank you.

Mr. CLAY. Leigh A. McGee, Chair of the Census Advisory Committee on the American Indian and Alaska Native Populations,

thank you for being here.

Dr. Bernie Miller, Chair of the Census Advisory Committee on

the African American Population, welcome.

Deeana Jang, policy director for the Asian and Pacific Islander

American Health Forum, thank you for coming today, and Stephen

J. Pemberton, chief diversity officer and VP for diversity and inclusion at Monster Worldwide, Inc.

I welcome all of you and thank you for being with us today.

We will start with Ms. Rosales. You may begin.

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STATEMENTS OF ROSA ROSALES, NATIONAL PRESIDENT,

LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS; LEIGH A.

MCGEE, CHAIR, CENSUS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON THE

AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE POPULATIONS; DR.

BERNIE MILLER, CHAIR, CENSUS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON

THE AFRICAN AMERICAN POPULATION; DEEANA JANG, POLICY DIRECTOR, ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER AMERICAN

HEALTH FORUM; AND STEPHEN J. PEMBERTON, CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER AND VICE PRESIDENT, DIVERSITY AND

INCLUSION, MONSTER WORLDWIDE, INC.

STATEMENT OF ROSA ROSALES

Ms. ROSALES. Mr. Chairman and representatives of the subcommittee, my name is Rosa Rosales. I am the national president

for the League of United Latin American Citizens [LULAC], and I

am very honored to appear before you today to testify on behalf of

the LULAC members nationwide to discuss the Census Bureau’s

efforts to prepare the 2010 decennial census and achieve a diverse

work force.

LULAC is the oldest and the largest membership-based organization, civil rights organization in the United States. It was founded

in 1929.

LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment

and political influence, health and civil rights of the Hispanic

Americans through community-based programs, operating more

than 700 councils nationwide, concentrated in 32 States. In its 78

years of history, LULAC has worked to bring about many of the

positive social and economic changes that Hispanic Americans have

witnessed.

Throughout history, LULAC has fought for voting rights and full

access to the political process and equal educational opportunities

for Hispanic children. It has been a long and often struggle, but

LULAC’s proud record of activism continues to this day as LULAC

councils across the Nation hold voter registration drives and citizenship awareness sessions, sponsor health fairs and tutoring, and

raise money for LULAC’s National Scholarship Fund.

LULAC has also actively been involved in the Latino community

outreach for the 1990 and the 2000 censuses and has participated

in the Congress policy development and public education. LULAC

served as a designated partner for the Census Hispanic Advisory

Committee and provided advice at the development of the 1990 and

the 2000 census programs and promotional campaigns including

the Spanish questionnaire.

Since 2000, LULAC members and leadership have continuously

participated in voter registration drives across the country and especially within the States with growing Latino populations.

Throughout its existence, LULAC has forged together exceptional

nationwide partnerships with the Latino grassroots community and

with local, State and national political leadership. Specifically, our

lasting relationships with key government agencies, such as the

Census Bureau, have familiarized us with the types of social, political and economic difficulties that arise in data collected and undercounting segments of the Latino community.

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Mr. Chairman, I have been asked to speak to you today regarding the Census Bureau’s plan to diversify their partnerships and

work force, and provide recommendations as to how they can improve their efforts.

To begin with, the 2010 census must provide the most accurate

count possible for Latinos and other under-served communities. As

you are aware, the census not only serves to apportion congressional seats, but it also establishes billions of dollars in Federal

funds that set the level of services that are available for local and

Statewide.

The 2000 census counted 35.5 million Latinos in the United

States, an increase of 13 million from 1990. Since the release of the

last census, the Latino population has surged, becoming the largest

minority group at 44.3 million people. Our community also remains

the fastest growing segment of the American populace. By 2050,

the Latino population is expected to top 102.6 million people, constituting a quarter of our Nation’s population.

Now, more than ever, the Census Bureau must develop an accurate and effective method of counting to ensure that our Nation’s

largest minority group is properly represented in government, that

our voting rights are secure, that our community receives an appropriate allocation of government funding for schools, for hospitals,

for housing, veterans benefits and other urban and regional planning programs.

For that purpose, LULAC proposes that the following concrete

steps must be taken: No. 1, the Bureau must fully engage communities that are hard to reach such as migrants and non-speaking

Spanish populations.

I fear that the anti-immigrant rhetoric, large-scale raids and

local targeted legislation that have been taking place in the last

year have created an additional challenge that the Bureau must

take into account. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of migrant families have been broken apart and millions more continue to live

every day as it might be their last day in the United States.

Local immigration ordinances have denied a wide range of government services including medical care, the right to schooling and,

even closer to home in Prince William County, the access to libraries. Restrictions such as these inevitably lead to more discrimination against Latino citizens and undocumented populations.

In a climate of fear and mistrust of all government agencies, the

Census Bureau must respond by doubling its efforts to reach out

to the most vulnerable members of our community.

No. 2, in order for the Census Bureau to regain the trust of the

Latino migrant community and attain an accurate count, it must

develop effective written messaging and public service announcements in Spanish that raise awareness of the census and its importance and guarantees confidentiality and privacy mandates

throughout the process.

If the community is alerted that they are protected by the Federal statutes, then it will be far more likely to fully participate in

the census count. This message must be spread through radio and

television programs. It must also create easy to read materials for

appropriate under-counted populations and languages.

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Community-based organizations such as LULAC can provide the

extra assistance to the development of culturally sensitive tools and

written materials.

No. 3, the Bureau must also negotiate with the Secretary of

Homeland Security and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE], to halt its enforcement raids throughout the census process.

The raids will dramatically undermine the counting process.

ICE’s predecessor, INS, committed itself during the last two censuses to adapt their enforcement in the appropriate manner.

LULAC calls on ICE to do the same for the 2010 census.

No. 4, part of the Bureau’s to partner with the community-based

organizations must consist of strategies to eliminate the undercounting of minority communities.

The Census Bureau has estimated that it under-counted at least

3 million Latinos in the 2000 census. While we commend the Census Bureau for improving its performance on the 1990 under-count

by 4.9, the under-count still varies dramatically in troubling ways

between geographic areas, particularly in the areas of predominantly minority neighborhoods. Such was the case in the city of Los

Angeles, CA, as investigated by Paul Ong and Doug Houston in

their Center for Regional Policy Studies.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Rosales follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Ms. Rosales, we are going to stop you there, OK, and

I appreciate it.

Ms. ROSALES. Oh, I am sorry.

Mr. CLAY. I appreciate it.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Your statement is in the record.

Mr. CLAY. We have your entire statement, and I want to give the

rest of the panel a little time to present theirs.

Ms. ROSALES. Yes, that is fine. I want to thank this committee,

and I didn’t realize I was taking so long. My apologies.

Mr. CLAY. I realize you have to leave early, but thank you so

much for that testimony.

Ms. McGee, you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF LEIGH A. MCGEE

Ms. MCGEE. Good afternoon, Chairman Clay and members of the

committee.

My name is Leigh Ann McGee, and I am honored to represent

my committee as the chairman of the Alaska Native and American

Indian Populations Advisory Committee.

I thank you for this opportunity to share our perspectives regarding the Bureau’s recruitment, training and hiring strategies for

2010. These strategies have consequences vital to the successful

national enumeration of our population.

We are compromised of unique peoples and cultures. This requires unique strategies in achieving an accurate count. No other

group of U.S. citizens has a comparable relationship with the Federal Government. The diverse cultures, languages, geography and

socioeconomic situations of our people reflect the complexity and

challenges faced by the Bureau in 2010.

Our committee recognizes work force diversity as a vital component to achieving an accurate count of our population, and we appreciate today’s focus.

I have three keys points. First, our committee has made recommendations to the Bureau concerning staffing and partnership

strategies for the 2010 census. I highlight a few of those key ones.

Presently, the Bureau’s total work force is just over 13,000 of

which 146 or 1.1 percent are American Indian/Alaska Native. This

level has been increasing slightly since 2005. Our committee recommends an increased American Indian/Alaska Native staffing at

all levels of the organization.

During two studies, the Bureau gained information directly from

tribal representatives about the partnership program and about

enumerators and interpreters. I highlight those two studies.

First, the Denver region’s 2003 focus group study found consensus that communication between the Bureau and tribes could be

improved by making the partnership specialist a permanent position and more tribal consultation. Next, the Bureau’s findings in a

2006 census test at the Cheyenne River Reservation aided in a better understanding of the need for tribal liaison specialists in hiring

and training Native enumerators and interpreters.

This information informed our committee’s recommendations

which follow: Our committee recommends the hiring of partnership

specialists no later than the beginning of 2008. Our committee recommends an increase of Native enumerators for 2010. We believe

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that the enumerators and the partnership specialists are the critical link and without them the work of the Bureau is largely ineffective in our communities.

Our committee recommends regional office hiring of interpreters

as a top priority for the 2010 census, especially on Indian reservations and in rural villages.

Our second key point is that the Bureau has worked conscientiously with our committee, demonstrating responsiveness to our

concerns, requests for information and suggestions for strategies.

Key evidences are the leadership commitment that we have seen,

the highest level of the organization has informed our committee’s

work, and they are personally involved in the link between the Bureau and the tribes.

Tribal consultations, the Bureau has planned at least 12 consultations that are going right now in preparation for 2010 and

also the Bureau’s American Indian/Alaska Native policy statement

which recognizes tribal sovereignty and focuses the Bureau’s commitment to work with federally recognized tribes.

My last key point is that our committee recommends that the

Bureau utilize multiple networks, old and new, to recruit, hire and

train qualified American Indian/Alaska Native enumerators who

know the local Native communities and know them culturally, socially and linguistically.

Our first point under that area is to begin targeted recruitment

efforts now. It takes time to build staff in our hard to reach communities.

Next, work with established and new partners on a national, regional and local level. For census 2000, the Bureau successfully

used outreach efforts and partnership relationships to reach our

communities. Many of these relationships have been sustained, and

now is the time to renew the efforts.

The census resources at regional and local levels should be committed now for planning, implementing and monitoring the hiring

of Native qualified individuals. Tribal consultation should be followed up. The Bureau should use the tribal consultation meetings

to ask how to best find qualified enumerators and followup on

these recommendations.

And, finally, use an ongoing communication channel about the

opportunities available through local media and contacts.

In conclusion, I hope that my testimony is helpful to this committee’s oversight of the Bureau’s hiring practices. We have accomplished many objectives by working together, but much work remains.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This concludes my remarks.

[The prepared statement of Ms. McGee follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Ms. McGee.

Dr. Miller, you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF BERNIE MILLER

Dr. MILLER. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity. Good

afternoon to you and also the Ranking Member Turner, who I

think he stepped out, and other distinguished members of the subcommittee.

My name is Bernie Miller. I am the pastor of New Covenant Fellowship Church in Chattanooga, TN, as well as chairman of the

Census Bureau’s African American Advisory Committee.

I am honored to have the opportunity to testify before the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and the Committee on

Oversight and Government Reform on the critical issue related to

the challenges and the opportunities that we face implementing the

Census Bureau’s recruitment, training and hiring strategies for the

2010 census that promotes development and the advancement of

minorities within the U.S. Census Bureau.

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World

War II, earned a reputation as the king of the verbal comeback. He

loved verbally sparring with his main political adversary, Lady

Astor.

On one occasion, Lady Astor told Churchill, ‘‘Sir, if I were your

wife, I would put arsenic in your tea’’ to which Churchill responded, ‘‘Lady Astor, if I were your husband, I would drink it.’’

[Laughter.]

No one was armed with a better comeback than the Census Bureau’s Director, Mr. Louis Kincannon. At our 2007 May meeting, I

personally asked Mr. Kincannon why wasn’t Marvin Raine’s position, Associate Director of Field Operations, filled with another African American. His comeback was there was no one qualified that

was Black available.

His comeback was shocking and incomprehensible. Why are

there no qualified Blacks?

The Bureau prides itself in its recruiting abilities. If no one is

qualified to fill the lowest level senior position, whose fault is it?

Who is responsible for preparing the work force for these openings?

If the Bureau wanted to fill vacancies with qualified Blacks, they

need not look any further than from within. Inside the Bureau,

there are over 25 Blacks qualified and classified rather as GS–15

employees. There are 186 male and 390 female employees in the

GS–7 through 12 category.

I applaud the Bureau for having an African American in charge

of the Bureau’s facilities. I applaud the Bureau for having an African American in charge of human resources. I applaud the Bureau

for having an African American in charge of budgets.

These are great support positions, but unfortunately these heads

have no say in what goes on in the major programming areas of

the census such as the 2010 decennial, the ACS, the community

partnerships, demographics or geography. There are currently no

Blacks in leadership positions in those areas. Those are programming areas.

The lack of African Americans representing the interests and

concerns of our community in these decisionmaking positions with

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the Census Bureau has long-term consequences for the quality of

life of our population. The implications of the situation are much

larger than quotas or racial balance, and are the benchmark by

which all discussions, decisions and policies are made that will impact our people for decades.

The need for the recruitment and promotion of minorities into

decisionmaking roles, outreach, as well as the need for contracting

opportunities that help small, Black-owned businesses was raised

at our 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2006 and again at our

2007 spring meeting in May.

Like Winston Churchill, the Bureau has always been armed with

a quick comeback.

The Bureau has devised a great strategic plan that calls for

maintaining a highly qualified and motivated work force. Unfortunately, many Blacks are not motivated to apply for various executive level positions because the perception is they will not be seriously considered.

The FBI has a little motto within its ranks of members and it

said, it is this: Better a hook than five in the book.

They may have a five rating, but unless they have a hook on the

executive level, someone that they know that can bring them into

the Bureau, they will not be hired. I believe that is the same case

that is permeating the Census Bureau.

There is a saying, cream rises to the top. Regrettably, at the Census Bureau, the cream of the crop African Americans employees

aren’t rising as fast and/or as far as their White counterparts or

Hispanic counterparts. There seems to be a glass ceiling of some

sort.

The Bureau also stated that it wanted to recruit, inspire, manage

and retain a highly qualified diverse work force at entry level, mid

career and senior levels. If that is true, why didn’t they find a

Black to replace Mr. Raines?

I have much more to say, but it is in the record.

I would like to conclude with this. To achieve an objective and

a strong work force, we are asking that the Bureau hire qualified

African Americans in decisionmaking positions in the following

areas: the community partnerships program, senior executive service or manager on the 2010 decennial and the ACS, American Community Survey staff.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The prepared statement of Dr. Miller follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Dr. Miller.

Ms. Jang, you may proceed.

STATEMENT OF DEEANA L. JANG

Ms. JANG. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members,

for the invitation to comment on the Census Bureau’s recruitment,

hiring and training for the decennial census.

My name is Deeana Jang, and I am the policy director for the

Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, a national advocacy organization based in San Francisco, whose mission is to

improve the health and well-being of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

The Census Bureau in conducting census 2000 worked hard on

outreach initiatives in collaboration with many national community

education outreach projects. While these efforts proved to be effective and are to be commended, there are lessons to be learned from

implementation of those initiatives.

Planning and preparation for the census 2010 will also have to

address the changing demographics the United States has experienced since the last census, including the rapid growth of recent

immigrants particularly in areas of the country where there were

none before. These emerging communities of recent immigrants

will be particularly hard to reach.

Another challenge to consider is in the aftermath of September

11th and the growing number of States and local governments

seeking to further restrict immigrants from accessing government

services; many immigrants are reluctant to seek services or disclose

personal information to the government. The Census Bureau will

need to affirmatively address these factors in its planning and

preparations for census 2010. We, therefore, make the following

recommendations for the Census Bureau.

First of all, strong leadership with a commitment to a diverse

work force, community partnerships and building trust with hardto-count communities is absolutely necessary.

The Census Bureau should establish national staff positions to

act as liaisons to the Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities as well as the other minority groups.

Similar positions were created during the 2000 census for Latinos,

including a position that served as the primary liaison between the

Bureau and the Latino community.

The Census Bureau should be commended for establishing the

Racial and Ethnic Advisory Committees. These advisory committees are extremely useful in establishing a relationship and mechanism for these communities to interact with the Bureau and share

information.

The Census Bureau needs to ensure that the communications

contractor for the 2010 census includes ethnic media outlets and

subcontracts with community-based organizations, small businesses and individuals experienced in outreach to diverse racial

and ethnic communities for recruitment and hiring of census personnel for the 2010 census.

We are concerned that the Bureau has decided to use a single

communications contractor. While requirements that the contractor

utilize subcontractors with experience in reaching diverse racial

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and ethnic communities can be written into the contract, the Bureau will have limited ability to monitor whether the contractor is

effectively utilizing these subcontracts.

Having direct contracts with community-based organizations,

small businesses and individuals with demonstrated experience

and established trust with hard to count communities, including

ethnic and racial minority groups, will be much more effective.

The Census Bureau should immediately request a waiver from

the Office of Personnel Management to allow the hiring of workauthorized non-citizens to meet the need for bilingual personnel.

Given the challenges of reaching recent immigrant communities,

including language barriers and lack of trust with government

agencies, it is essential that the Bureau make efforts to reach out

to a large pool of potentially qualified applicants from these communities, who have the necessary language skills.

The Census Bureau should ensure that the test required to be

taken by applicants for census jobs are translated to the primary

languages spoken most frequently by limited English-proficient

persons in the United States, taking into account regional needs for

specific languages.

In order to ensure a diverse and culturally competent work force,

the Bureau should conduct an assessment of its needs and resources and develop a plan that includes strategies to recruit a

work force to meet these needs. The Bureau should consider the demographics of the populations most under-counted in the 2000 census and the demographics of each community.

Recruitment and hiring plans should be developed and monitored

by senior officials in consultation with the advisory communities

and minority-serving organizations that take into account the

needs and current resources of each region, and identify local community partners to help identify the most effective ways to reach

qualified individuals from the targeted communities.

Community partnership is essential in the development of the

outreach and recruitment plans, and the Census Bureau needs to

begin these partnerships now. We support robust funding of the

community partnership programs starting in fiscal year 2008 to ensure that the Census Bureau’s recruitment and hiring goals are

met.

The Census Bureau acknowledges the value of a strong partnership program. However, it has not provided a specific plan other

than to say it will be addressed in fiscal year 2009. Waiting until

fiscal year 2009 is unacceptable as the relationships that need to

be built need to be created immediately in order to have the most

successful recruitment and hiring of local workers especially in

emerging communities.

In conclusion, while the Census Bureau has built a basis for an

improved count in 2010 from its experience in 2000, it needs to

step up immediately to address the changing demographics and environment of fear and mistrust of government that will jeopardize

the goal of full participation by all persons in America.

Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Jang follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Ms. Jang.

Last but not least, Mr. Pemberton of Monster, Inc., and it is pretty evident that he is not a member of REAC or within government,

but we wanted to present this perspective from outside of government to hear just how the private industry tackles these issues.

Please proceed.

STATEMENT OF STEPHEN J. PEMBERTON

Mr. PEMBERTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and distinguished

members of the subcommittee, for the opportunity to testify before

you this afternoon.

My name is Steve Pemberton. I am chief diversity officer of Monster.com, the leading global online careers property. I also serve as

vice president of diversity inclusion for the company and in that capacity have full operational responsibility for the diversity and inclusion business unit specifically focused on helping employers diversity their work force.

I have been specifically asked to describe private sector best

practices in the hiring, training and utilization of human capital

resources. In my dual role at Monster, I have the wonderful opportunity to see how organizations approach this very important topic

but an equally valuable opportunity to represent how the diverse

work force itself approaches this topic, and certainly that is one of

the first best practices I can share.

Successful organizations do not look at the issue of diversity and

inclusion simply in the context of who they must serve but in the

transcendent nature of becoming a better and stronger organization.

When I consider the context of our discussion today, I am mindful of a great debate that occurred in these hallowed halls in 1874.

It was regarding the constitutionality of this Nation’s first civil

rights bill, a bill so important in its time that we would not see another for over 80 years. It was a source of great anxiety in a Nation

still struggling to come to terms with the debilitating effects of

slavery, and yet there was one voice that rose above the din.

His name was Robert Elliott, a Representative from South Carolina. By those in opposition, he was charged with self-interest, believing that his ardent support of the civil rights bill could quite

possibly only stem from the fact that he was of African descent. His

response was the following: ‘‘I regret, sir, that the dark hue of my

skin may lend a color to the imputation that I am controlled by motives personal to myself in my advocacy of this great measure of

national justice. Sir, the motive that impels me is restricted by no

such narrow boundary but is as broad as the Constitution. I advocate it, sir, because it is right.’’

We don’t talk that way very much anymore, but the lesson the

Representative was trying to import upon us has not lost its relevance. What we discuss here today is fundamentally a matter of

internal consistency, a message that might be reflected in a simple

question. Are we in deed what we say we are in purpose?

Were he living in today’s time and if he worked in the private

sector, Representative Elliott would surely have amended this observation. One of the strongest realizations the private sector has

come to in the last 5 years is that securing and maintaining a diVerDate 11-MAY-2000 14:26 Dec 10, 2007 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00104 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\38582.TXT HGOVREF1 PsN: HGOVREF1
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verse work force is not simply a matter of the right thing to do.

The right thing to do is indeed a powerful axiom, eloquent in its

nature, timeless and boundless in its calling.

However, there is a more practical question. When hasn’t diversity and inclusion been the right thing to do? When haven’t the

issues of access, equality and opportunity been important?

They have always been here in this great Nation of ours, and yet

we clearly have lost our way.

The private sector no longer sees diversity and inclusion through

the narrow and blinding lens of corrective action but through the

broader and more detailed view of competitive advantage. As the

CEO of Procter and Gamble observed, ‘‘My 30 years in business

and my 23 years of Procter and Gamble have convinced me that

a diverse organization will out-think, out-innovate, and out-perform

a homogenous organization every single time.’’

The 21st century has brought with it a new reality for corporate

America. They are in the business of diversity whether they want

to be or not. If they intend to maintain and acquire new customers,

if they intend to extend shareholder value and increase market

share, they will have to learn how to reach this emerging consumer

segment that is more diverse and has greater purchasing power

than any generation before it. Any organization ignores these realities at their own peril.

Private sector organizations that succeed with diversity and inclusion start simply by talking about it differently. Those that are

progressive see a diverse work force as necessary. Those that do

not treat it as optional.

Progressive organizations believe this should be owned by the

collective, regardless of whether or not diversity is in their title or

responsibility. Those who do not believe that progress lay with a

singular individual who often has little resources.

Those who succeed see diversity as a strategy for which there is

significant accountability. Organizations that struggle see diversity

and inclusions primarily as a matter of tolerance for which there

is little accountability.

And perhaps most importantly, successful organizations see diversity as a way of achieving maximum productivity and innovation, for while it has always been true that great minds think alike,

it is equally true that one of those minds is redundant.

You will not hear a successful company in the private sector say

there is not diverse talent available. Indeed, most will do the primary and secondary research that shows this is a myth. Even if

they believe this to be true, they will go create the pipeline that

they feel they need as one company in the banking industry did

when they launched a new scholarship for undergraduate students

that rewards those who can create the most practical and inspirational ideas for innovation and improvement in the fields of business, science or visual arts.

In other words, private sector best practices aren’t really best

practices at all. They are next practices.

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This concludes my oral statement. Again, I thank you for the opportunity to testify before the subcommittee today, and I look forward to answering any questions you might have regarding commercial best practices.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Pemberton follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Mr. Pemberton, and I want to

thank the entire panel.

Ms. ROSALES. I have to excuse myself. I have plans.

Mr. CLAY. You may. I am sorry you couldn’t stay around, but

thank you.

I will defer to my friend from Virginia, the ranking member. He

has a previous engagement. Proceed.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Thank you. I have to leave, but I did

want to take this opportunity to ask a couple questions.

Let me ask Mr. Pemberton. How many resumes do we have on

USA Jobs or on the OPM lists that we have, any idea how many

resumes?

Mr. PEMBERTON. I do not and don’t have that data available to

me.

I can tell you that through the Monster.com Web site, again it

is one of the strategies I think that we see a lot of corporations undertake, simply mainstreaming diversity into core processes.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. How many resumes do you have on Monster.com?

Mr. PEMBERTON. We will have anywhere from 5,000 to 7,500 diversity resumes a day. Twenty-five percent of the traffic coming to

Monster is diverse, one the most diverse online career properties.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. That is on a day. So if you search it from

a list, how many diverse resumes would you have on there total?

Mr. PEMBERTON. Three point six million.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Any knowledge why the Census Bureau

isn’t utilizing and tapping into this for particularly temporary hiring but for some of the other positions we talked about?

Mr. PEMBERTON. I do not know.

I can tell you that perhaps that is a reflection of Monster. We

have a recently just mainstreamed diversity and created that resume data base.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. I think the reason we wanted you to be

here today to show diversity is good business. It is not an entitlement. It is just good business. It is good business for the census

if we want an accurate count. Doing the same old, same old isn’t

going to get us where we need to be.

If you have that many resumes on there at one time, diverse resumes, you ought to be able to find somebody somewhere to do the

job almost anywhere in the country, wouldn’t you think?

Mr. PEMBERTON. I would particularly when we consider why the

diverse work force itself goes to Monster. The Internet provides a

level of anonymity and opportunity and equality, so.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Has Monster had to work with national

organizations and companies to do like a national and local hiring

project before?

Mr. PEMBERTON. It is our business. Our corporations hire Monster specifically to help them find the qualified and talented work

force, and we have seen in the last couple of years in particular a

specific focus on diversity.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. You have heard the testimony from the

Census Bureau, and you have heard from some of the other groups

that are up here that want to get an accurate census and recognize

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the only way to doing that is to get a diverse work force for a number of different reasons.

Drawing from your experience with Monster, what steps do you

think the Government and the Census Bureau in particular could

be taking to accomplish and enable our goal of getting a more diverse work force?

Mr. PEMBERTON. Certainly, the perspective perhaps I have not

heard so far in the testimony is going online in particular. If we

looked at the Hispanic population, they are migrating online faster

than any other segment of the population, particularly when we

look at the objectives that are before the Bureau around scale and

in particular trying to find a passive candidate.

Those that will go to Monster.com are looking for an opportunity.

It has been part of our strategic initiative to make sure that we

find those who might not necessarily be thinking about opportunities and provide them contextually relevant.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. I was intrigued by your drawing the distinction between having equal employment opportunities and having a diverse work force. They are two different things. One is hey,

you come in, we will give you a fair shake. The other is going out

and actively recruiting in different communities.

In the case of the census, it is only good business to do that. We

have to communicate with a wide array of people that we are not

going to be able to do it with just an average work force. It is going

to have to be diverse. It is going to have to be multilingual. It is

going to have to be able to talk to people.

Does Monster work with private sector companies who grow a

work force and maintain a diversity pipeline on a routine basis?

Mr. PEMBERTON. We do. We do.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Do you think these same strategies could

work with the Federal Government? Any reason that you know of

why they couldn’t?

Mr. PEMBERTON. I do not.

Whether it is an earlier strategy of working, starting as early as

the eighth grade which is when we really ought to start talking

about career progression, I think education, branding, awareness.

Some of those strategies that have worked in the private sector,

particularly in the last five to 7 years, when they have gone

through a phase of things simply not working and once they undertook, I think, a bit more tactical approach, becoming much more

grassroots, having measurability and accountability, things

changed for them. A lot of that was driven by their business opportunities as well.

Mr. DAVIS OF VIRGINIA. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, it just looks to me if it is to be a 21st century

census, we need to get 21st century technology and practices to get

it in. Once again, being an equal opportunity employer isn’t

enough. We need to outreach. It is going to mean the net and all

these others.

I thank you for your testimony. I thank the other witnesses too.

You have underscored something that I think on both sides of this,

we recognize, and that is we need to have a very, very diverse work

force, very multilingual work force to identify if we are really going

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to get people to, in some cases, come out of the shadows and be

identified for an accurate census.

So thank you very much.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you too, Mr. Davis, for your participation in today’s hearing.

Mr. Pemberton, as you may know, a GAO examination of diversity management practices found nine leading practices including

top leadership commitment to the vision of diversity, accountability

of leaders through the linking of performance assessment and compensation, and succession planning to identify a diverse pool of candidates for future leadership positions.

How much weight would you assign to each of these factors and

how do you think they impact the Federal Government?

Mr. PEMBERTON. Mr. Chairman, to the degree that I can represent not just the private sector and their best practices but also

the work force that we are trying to attract, the factors that you

just listed are, from their standpoint, the primary questions they

have.

I can tell you that in my own hiring within my own company,

I would not sit in front of an Hispanic applicant whom I was looking to attract to my work force without talking with them, to them

about how their career could advance within my organization. They

are coming to me with that question already, and my failure to answer that is in essence opening the door for another.

I think there is a tendency at times to look across agencies, look

across businesses for best practices. I really think we ought to go

to that work force we are looking to attract and have them tell us

what matters to them.

So an organization that does not have diversity in the senior levels of the organization is, in essence, making a statement to that

work force that they are trying to attract, and succession planning

is a natural companion to that.

Mr. CLAY. How successful do you think Monster, Inc. could be in

matching up not just at the Census Bureau but I guess throughout

the Federal Government—and maybe you do this now—applicants

that have the requisite skills at the Bureau and other agencies require for core positions?

How successful could Monster, Inc. or a company like yours be

in matching up these individuals with positions in the Federal Government?

Mr. PEMBERTON. As perhaps you might expect, I am gong to say

unequivocally. Prior to Monster, the notion of going online and

looking for a job simply did not exist.

I think it is part of the culture and the character of the organization that anyone in the world can come to Monster, looking for an

opportunity. What we find is that the actual diverse work force is

one of the primary reasons they come to Monster. If you are concerned that you are not going to be counted or that your gender

or race is going to be held against you, you can be as anonymous

as you choose to be online.

So our intention and motivation has been now to not only

present the diverse work force but to convince them that organizations, be it the Bureau or other companies, are genuine in their

commitment to diversity. We have succeeded at that. That is not

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philosophical or theoretical on my part. It is simply what we do

every single day.

Mr. CLAY. I guess you have had to deal with the issue of hard

to employ populations where the unemployment rate tends to be

higher than within the general population, and I guess you have

to be sensitive to that too.

Mr. PEMBERTON. We have to for a couple of reasons. When you

consider the business that Monster is in, that is exactly what our

clients, in all candor, pay us to do, to provide, to convince and to

inform.

Mr. CLAY. So they come looking for diverse work forces now?

Mr. PEMBERTON. They absolutely do.

Mr. CLAY. Really?

Mr. PEMBERTON. As does the work force itself. We look within

specific industries who know. They do their own availability analysis of populations. They, like the Bureau, are really trying to locate.

Well, where are these individuals? What is motivating them in particular?

Conversely, I think there is a tendency to equate diversity online

and perhaps assign that primarily to issues of access, but if you

think about what being online provides you. Any of us here can access just about anything that we want, any type of information.

Opportunity exists online which is why it attracts a diverse work

force and particularly coming to Monster because you come there

to look for a job.

Mr. CLAY. I do an annual career fair in my home district in St.

Louis, and I think I will engage Monster, Inc. in the concept of a

year-round way to help those hard to employ constituents. We will

take that up at another day, but thank you so much for your responses.

Ms. McGee, the advisory committee recommended that the Bureau hire interpreters as a top priority.

You stated that Cathy Lacy Illian, the Denver Regional Director,

in responding to this recommendation at a meeting, said she understood the importance of hiring and training American Indian

and Alaska Native enumerators and interpreters, and that she had

the authority and would hire the AIAN interpreters immediately if

the need arises during the 2010 census. Does the AIAN have a plan

for monitoring this effort?

Ms. MCGEE. No, sir, we don’t have a plan to monitor it. It did

come up in our May discussion, and of course our committee was

very concerned that during the census that you cannot wait when

you need an interpreter. You have to have them now.

So she did assure us that she had the authority and would hire

them on the spot and that was throughout the census, all regional

directors would have such authority to do so. But we do not have

a way of tracking that.

Now we do have a meeting hopefully coming up, all REAC committees in October, and we plan to followup on each of the recommendations we made in May. So that would be one way to followup.

Mr. CLAY. I would hope that you all would develop evaluation

criteria by which to measure the success of the Bureau’s strategy

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and share that success or whatever the outcome with this subcommittee.

Also, in response to the AIAN recommendation that the Bureau

work with colleges to recruit AIAN employees, the Bureau stated

in part that most tribal colleges do not support the academic requirements for the Bureau’s mission critical positions. So the Bureau’s recruitment visits have been limited to feeder colleges.

Has the advisory committee worked with the Bureau to identify

those tribal colleges that have the academic requirements set by

the Bureau?

Ms. MCGEE. Yes, sir, we have followed up. We recommended that

the Bureau work with the organization that oversees the tribal colleges—I am looking for that now to get the name right—and the

census did followup and meet with that organization of tribal colleges. We have not followed up, though, since then to see if

progress has been made on changing the curriculum or adding to

the curriculum at those colleges.

However, we did also ask the census to expand the net. There

are several other colleges that have populations of Native students,

and we have asked them to recruit at those as well where the curriculum was what the census needed.

Mr. CLAY. You were informed by the Bureau that it will reinstate

the tribal liaison program for the 2010 census as part of the partnership effort and utilize American Indian specialists to work one

on one with tribal leaders.

How successful was the tribal liaison program for the 2000 census. Can you comment on it?

Ms. MCGEE. Mr. Chairman, I was not on the committee at that

time. However, several of our committee members worked directly

with the census and census numbers and so forth. What has been

part of the discussion during the committee meetings was that in

2000 many of our members that the partnership was the most critical of all programs that the census utilized.

Also in the 2003 focus group that the Denver region did, there

were 31 individuals that represented 30 tribes that stated that the

partnership program was what they thought was key to the connection to the tribes in the Denver region. So that is why we have focused a lot on the partnership program, and that is also why we

emphasized at our last meeting, we don’t want the census waiting

to hire these partnership specialists. They are key to our success.

Mr. CLAY. They need to ramp up now then?

Ms. MCGEE. We want them to ramp up now.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that response.

Ms. Jang, I share your concern about the impact of the data

breach of confidential information about Japanese Americans during World War II. I have expressed my concern about this indiscretion to Director Kincannon and the Bureau.

Let me ask you. What impact do you think the data breach could

have on the Bureau’s recruitment efforts when it comes to the data

breach and how it impacted that segment of our population?

Ms. JANG. I am not sure how much impact. I am not sure how

much impact it may have on the recruitment for the personnel, but

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nities because unless they are assured of confidentiality, they are

going to be suspicious.

The incident with World War II is just one of many instances

where confidentiality has been breached in the government context.

For example, in the Chinese Confession Act during the fifties, it

was like an amnesty program where people were invited to come

forward and legalize their status, and people were deported as a result of applying for that program. So once word spreads, the community is less likely to want to have contact with the Government,

and that could impact the recruiting as well.

Mr. CLAY. To your knowledge, has the Bureau reached out to national organizations that provide services for Asian American communities for advice on how to address any potential adverse impact

that what the Bureau does has on these communities?

Ms. JANG. Not to my knowledge.

Mr. CLAY. That would probably be a good recommendation to the

Bureau then, wouldn’t it?

Ms. JANG. Yes, I would agree. I would agree that outreach should

include addressing that issue.

Mr. CLAY. We will address that through this committee with the

Bureau, that they make an effort to the Asian American community because apparently there has been a serious breach of trust

here on the part of Bureau toward that community. I have not witnessed much apology either in all of this or at least saying the Bureau is sorry or that it admits that it made a mistake.

Ms. JANG. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I think it has broader impact beyond the Asian American community because as I said because of

the events of September 11th, similar fears exist in the Muslim

community, the Arab community, etc. So I think that concern goes

beyond the Asian American community.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that.

Dr. Miller, in your statement, you spoke of an encounter or statement that Director Kincannon made about the replacement of

Marvin Raines. Was that a direct quote from the Director?

Dr. MILLER. Yes, sir.

Mr. CLAY. That was a direct?

Dr. MILLER. The Director said there was no one. The exact statement, exact quote was, there was no one; ‘‘There was no qualified

Black available.’’

That is what he said, and I repeated it to him, and I immediately

repeated it to a chief that was there. I said this is what the Director said, and is that true? They started laughing at me, and then

they got angry.

Mr. CLAY. Well, this committee will make inquiry with the Director for him to explain to us in writing just what the contents of

that statement were about and perhaps give us a clear explanation.

Dr. MILLER. We were at lunch. He had all the REAC chairs.

They have a private lunch during our spring meeting, and he

brings us in. We can talk very candidly about things, and I raised

the race issue then. He pulled me aside after we were dismissing,

and he walked with me out. He just unloaded and very candidly

said, well, you know, there were no Blacks qualified.

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Mr. CLAY. Has the advisory committee worked with the Bureau

to find or locate qualified African Americans and recommended

them to it.

Dr. MILLER. We don’t get that opportunity. We get e-mail blitzes

regarding openings, but we don’t have an opportunity per se to advise anyone directly because they have to go online and they have

to fill out an application online which prevents us from intervening.

I did at one time ask for one of the Bureau executives if they

would look at an applicant for me who happened to be African

American, a very qualified young lady, and I introduced them. He

told her to go online again and fill out an application.

Well, I mean if I am on the advisory committee and I am coming

to you, asking you to interview this person, at least talk to them

about a possibility of an opening to get to know the person. I

thought it disingenuous that you would send them online.

I could have sent them online, but I thought that because I knew

someone at the Census Bureau in a capacity that could help her,

that she could be helped.

Mr. CLAY. Let me ask. Has the African American advisory committee recommended that the Bureau formalize and expand the recruitment program with historically Black colleges and universities? The Bureau’s response was that it is working with HBCUs

to facilitate enabling Goal 5 of the Bureau’s strategic plan to maintaining a highly qualified and motivated work force.

However, you believe this goal is not being met because African

Americans at the Bureau are not motivated. How did you arrive at

the conclusion that African Americans at the Bureau were not motivated?

Dr. MILLER. Simply because when you bring somebody into the

system, into the Bureau, it takes 15 years for that new recruit to

come in, learn and then be in a position to excel. They have a great

recruitment program, but the folks that are there, for instance, Teresa Anqueira.

Teresa Anqueira came in at the same time as another African

American who his name is Jimmy Scott. Both of them were employed at the very same time, but Teresa Anqueira, she is now the

associate on the associate level. Jimmy has never had an opportunity.

They have taken Teresa Anqueira, sent her out to various places

to help her learn her job so that she could be in a position to advance. That is great. I mean that is great for Teresa, and I am glad

that they did that for her.

But why just do it for Teresa Anqueira? Why not do it for Jimmy

Scott?

Why not do it for other African Americans? Why not do it for others that are minorities serving?

I think that the whole idea here is to get more people that look

like America on the executive levels, and they do this for some select people. It seems that you have to have an inside with someone

on the executive level in order to be considered, be sent to seminars

to learn more, so that when they do promote you, you already have.

They have an opportunity to fail more than we do. Several of

them have failed several times. Teresa, if you look at her record,

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several times she has failed, but they kept picking her up, giving

her another opportunity to succeed.

But they have not done that for African Americans. When we fail

at the Bureau, we are not given an opportunity. We are not picked

up and given another opportunity to succeed on the level that other

folks are.

Mr. CLAY. You also stated in your testimony that the Advisory

Committee on the African American Population requested information from the Bureau on the 2000 census contract agreements and

rules and evaluations or studies on decisionmaking dates for census 2000.

You made a request in 2005 but have not received any information. Was more than one request made?

Dr. MILLER. Yes, another request was made in 2006 which probably will come out soon. The Bureau will respond to it.

They did respond in particular. I don’t know if I have that in my

notes here.

In 2006, we recommended that the Bureau grant multiple

awards for advertising contracts, identify minority-owned businesses. Is that the one you are referencing?

Mr. CLAY. No. It was another one, but anyway that was my next

question.

Here is what I want you to do is to get with committee staff and

tell us what they have not responded to, and we will make the official request for the information as you requested initially.

On the communications contract, Dr. Miller, what explanation

did the Bureau give you about separating the contract?

Dr. MILLER. They said it wasn’t feasible is what I concluded for

the outreach. Let me see here. Yes, the outreach.

Basically, they said that the 2010 Census Communications Acquisitions Team concluded that it would not be feasible for the Bureau, Census Bureau to serve as an integrator of separate contracts

for various components such as a time-sensitive campaign, i.e.,

public relations, advertising, multimedia, interactive marketing,

etc.

It says that the Census Bureau will rely on the expertise of a

prime contractor with demonstrated experience integrating projects

that are similar in size, scope and complexity to the 2010 census

communication campaign.

Great comeback, great. I mean it sounds great.

There is a term that they use within the Bureau that I think you

may be familiar with called critical buy. A critical buy is when I,

as a person on my advisory committee, can call the Bureau and

say, look, in my community if you would do a critical buy with this

minority newspaper, I believe that we can get them to maybe put

in a story that would be geared toward helping the census get an

accurate count from the hard to reach population. That is called a

critical buy. They will, in turn, take some moneys and direct it to

that minority businessman.

Right now, we don’t have that pipeline. We don’t have that twoway communication to make that happen right now for various reasons, one, because the money has not been appropriated and, two,

the partnership program is kind of up in the air. It takes 15

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months in order to get the partnership program off the ground, and

to start in 2009, you know we are behind the eight ball.

It takes 15 months to develop these relationships. I believe that

Deeana had the best suggestiion, and that was to make those partnership positions, partnership specialist positions permanent, a

permanent piece of the Census Bureau. Why go out every year and

try to find a partnership specialist when you know you are going

to need them even during the ACS?

I mean we are taking a snapshot every year of about 3 million

people. You do need somebody out there that can go into the community to reach the hard to count persons. So why just wait every

10 years?

Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that.

Ms. Jang, the Asian advisory committee has made several recommendations to the Bureau regarding the recruitment and hiring

of Asian American candidates including collaborating with strategically selected higher education institutions with high Asian enrollment to establish a work force diversification pipeline program.

This recommendation was made in April 2005.

In your opinion, has the Bureau made significant progress in implementing the recommendation?

Ms. JANG. Again, not to my knowledge. According to their response to that advisory committee report, they said they had. I believe they said they had gone to three colleges with significant

Asian American populations.

Mr. CLAY. Three colleges.

Ms. JANG. Yes.

Mr. CLAY. What factors are essential to the Bureau’s efforts to

recruiting and retaining Asian American employees? What do you

think is a successful formula for the Bureau at this point?

Ms. JANG. Well, I think if they did have a permanent community

partnerships program, that would really help in bringing members

of the community into the Bureau. That would definitely be a significant step in that direction.

Mr. CLAY. So that would help with the diversification of that

work force at the Bureau at all levels?

Ms. JANG. Yes, and they also need better data on the Asian

American populations. I am not. I haven’t seen their data, but I

know as presented in the testimony earlier, we are very concerned

about the Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and the lack of

even any kind of representation at all.

In terms of Asian Americans, I think they also need to even

disaggregate further into specific ethnic groups that are not being

reached by the census. So there may be an overabundance of Filipino or Chinese census workers, but in terms of some of the other

newer populations, Southeast Asians and South Asians, for example, they may not have good representation.

So I think they need to do a better work force analysis of their

Asian American as well as Pacific Islander work force.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that.

Mr. Pemberton, in the Census Bureau’s strategic plan, they state

that in order to meet with major strategic objectives, they must

first accomplish their enabling goal to maintain a high quality and

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motivated work force, and provide the environment to support

them.

Drawing from your experience with Monster, what steps should

the Bureau take to accomplish the enabling goal and what pitfalls

should the Bureau and Congress be looking to avoid as the staffing-up process begins for the 2010 census?

Mr. PEMBERTON. Certainly, what we see through the private sector is a linking of the four steps that organizations go through in

securing a diverse work force. You brand yourself as an employer

of choice to a specific community.

From those branding activities, you have a measure, return on

investment. I have spent these dollars, and I expect this to have

specifically contributed to the diverse slate of candidates.

The third stage is then hiring. So I branded myself and from that

has come an applicant pool. Now the third phase is, well, how effective have I been in hiring these individuals? I have heard that referenced several times here in the testimony.

Then the last stage is perhaps arguably the most critical one because it does influence and impact all others which is retention because one’s ability to retain a diverse work force, I think, has a direct correlation and impact upon recruitment. Clearly, if you have,

regardless of background, if you have a very satisfied work force,

they become a source of employee referrals and can therefore recommend others.

In terms of pitfalls, I said this quickly prior, but I do think jumping right to recruitment and retention without gaining an understanding and an assessment of the environment itself. Corporations

frequently will, and to me it is perhaps a very simple question. If

I were to walk into any organization or agency and just picked out

anyone and said and asked them a simple question: Why does diversity matter in this organization? What is your story?

What would I hear? Would I hear the same things regardless of

who I ask or would I hear different things?

I think often times just jumping immediately to recruitment

without getting an understanding of how receptive the environment

is to diversity, whether or not they are on the same page relative

to diversity.

I think a companion to that is obviously the lens of corrective action. That is perhaps the single biggest change we have seen in corporate America. They have, regrettably so. They call this an economies of learning which is just a very clever way of saying we have

made mistake.

They have been down the road of looking at things simply

through corrective action, and they have been burned quite a few

times. Like the soft drink company that decided to literally translate a new ad slogan into Japanese, not realizing that they were

promising these hard-to-win consumers that their product would be

bringing their ancestors back from the dead. That elicits a smile.

Some aren’t so humorous.

So they have been down this path, and they have learned the

hard way that there is a difference between diversity and inclusion.

Diversity is simply a reflection of how many people are in the organization. Inclusiveness is a reflection of whether or not those individuals are at the table, making decisions and in the private sector

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whether they are at the product table, the sales table, the marketing table. Certainly, that is where the diverse work force is looking

as well.

Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much for that.

We have been joined by our colleague from New York, Mrs. Carolyn Maloney, a member of this subcommittee.

Mrs. Maloney, proceed if you have questions.

Mrs. MALONEY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I apologize. We were in a markup in Financial Services.

I want to applaud your leadership and for working hard to get

us an accurate count. Nothing is more important in terms of proper

allocation of funds to State and local governments and really redrawing the seats, apportionment seats for Congress. It is a major

investment that we make, and it takes place every 10 years.

I want to congratulate the leadership of the chairman. I told him he had a $40 million day. Yesterday, was it? He had a $40 million

on the floor when we worked to restore to the census $40 million

that is being cut out of it, and we achieved that in defeating one

amendment and getting a consensus on both sides of the aisle to

restore another $30 million that had been cut out in the committee

processes. So I want to commend the chairman. I haven’t had many $40

million days, but that was an important day for the census, and we

worked hard together to make that happen.

I want to be here to support his efforts on an accurate census

and on having a diverse and inclusive one. Another area that we

have labored together on is discrimination against women and minorities. To the extent that we can control that in terms of Federal

agencies, particularly one that is as important as the census that

must go out and count so many people and be sensitive to so many

communities to get them to work with us to get the most accurate

count possible.

I just commend him for calling this hearing and for having this

GAO report.

I appreciated the gentleman’s comments that there is a big difference between inclusive and diverse. I just would like him to

elaborate further. We can go out and demand the census and other

agencies be diverse. That is right. But how can we make it inclusive so that women and men and minorities are all at the same

table and equally at those tables and that their voices are equally

heard?

What are some initiatives that we could do to foster inclusiveness? We can demand a head count. We have done that.

But how can we foster a management mentality that includes

and then strengthens themselves by having the viewpoints of everybody at the table?

Mr. PEMBERTON. Yes, I think for the private sector, they have

answered that question by saying they will make ownership of this

issue collective.

I have the humblest distinction of being the chief diversity officer

for Monster, but as my wife and daughter often remind me, I am

not quite the feminist that I think I am. So while I have an ability

perhaps to represent the African American population and even

then not be wholly so, I think this notion somehow that you can

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hire a single individual and expect them to speak to all things diverse is a perilous path.

I think accountability being broadly dispersed starting from the

top, which is how organizations themselves operate, there is a very

high level of accountability.

I also think that they are very aggressive about creating environments where individuals who are perhaps not familiar with a particular culture, gender, language have the ability to say simply, I

do not know. I think that there is a distinction between simply not

knowing and then acting on a certain level of ignorance.

So aggressive training is how I would quickly answer that.

Mrs. MALONEY. I would invite every member of the panel if they

would like to speak up on this issue. Thank you.

Dr. MILLER. Yes, I would.

Mrs. MALONEY. Dr. Miller.

Dr. MILLER. If you have an opening at a company and you know

that you need an African American or Hispanic or whatever, get

the six qualified folks in the room, the top, the last or the six qualified people that have risen to the top for that particular position.

Get them in the room. You know that if you choose one of those

six people that one of them will be great for that position.

If you know you need an African American, have six in the room.

Have one African American, have one that happens to be female

or whatever the persuasion, and I think you can really put somebody in a place without really offending anyone. You know that all

six are qualified, and you can choose from the six.

You can have HR send me the top six and make sure that I have

the top six look like this. If the top six look like that, then you can

choose from the top six.

You can say, well, look, I need to have an African American.

Well, here are the top six. Well, from that six, you know you can

choose that African American or you can choose an Asian or Hispanic or whatever. I don’t think it is rocket science. There is a way

you can do it.

Mrs. MALONEY. Any other comments?

Now if the women don’t speak up, I am going to be disappointed.

Ms. JANG. I just want to say I am really glad people made the

distinction between equal employment opportunity and inclusion

because I think you have to be intentional if you are going to meet

your goals of diversity. Just saying everyone has equal opportunity

is not going to work.

So I think strategies that really are intentional and designed to

welcome that pool of qualified applicants because there are qualified applicants out there who are from communities of color is really an important ingredient.

I want to correct something I said on the record earlier. I found

the notes about which colleges that the Census Bureau has been

to, and they responded to the Asian advisory committee that they

visited over 70 colleges and universities each semester to recruit

for their core occupations and that includes 13—I missed the first

one—13 schools that have significant Asian American student populations.

Mr. CLAY. I see. Thank you.

Mrs. MALONEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you.

Just one last question for Ms. McGee. One last question, in your

testimony, you cite several examples of how the advisory committee

is working with Bureau staff to facilitate the recommendations of

the committee.

One was the sharing of information about higher grade staff

openings. The Bureau sends announcements to the members of the

committee, and committee members pass along the information to

individuals and organizations who might be interested in the positions.

Have you received any feedback on how successful this effort has

been?

Ms. MCGEE. No, sir, I have not received any information back,

and in fact these questions about the feedback and followup, I have

made several notes.

I think that it is definitely a problem for our REAC committees

and our conversations with the census. We really don’t have a good

process for doing this followup, and we try to get our former recommendations and go through them, but so much happens so

quickly. I have made a note to make sure that we set a process and

do better followup.

I was wondering when I was preparing that testimony. Has anybody been hired from the census that we forwarded information to?

Has anything ever come of this? And I do not know the answer to

that.

Mr. CLAY. We should probably explore that.

Let me thank the entire panel for your participation in this hearing.

Ms. MCGEE. Thank you.

Mr. CLAY. As you heard the bells go off, this is like school. That

is an indication that we have to change classes now. We are going

to vote. [Laughter.]

I want to thank the panel again for shedding light on what I

think is an important subject, which if we are successful with our

efforts to actually diversify and include in the Bureau’s structure

throughout, we will have a more successful 2010 census than 2000.

This will not be the last that you hear of this issue.

So thank you very much for your participation today.

That concludes this hearing.

[Whereupon, at 4 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

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