Community Leaders Reach Out to Hispanics for Census Participation

By Jacqueline Sit, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Many of Oklahoma's Hispanic community feel targeted and confused by the census, leading many to refuse to participate.

The goal of the U.S. Census is to count every single living person across the country. But that can be a challenge with certain groups of the population.

A local U.S. Census recruiter said reaching out to the Hispanic community is a challenge because there is some resistance from those not educated about the census, but efforts are being made.

"They're here illegally in the U.S. and don't want to be counted, but they still live in our communities and we still need to get funding for those communities that are badly needed, especially in the south side of the community," said U.S. Census examiner Amador Paredes.

Oklahoma City's Hispanic population was undercounted in the 2000 Census and that's why committees have formed to spread the word about the census, said David Castillo, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce executive director.

They will visit local schools and churches and give out pens, mugs and fliers about the importance of the project.

"We've been educating them about the value of filling out the census form and turning them in as quickly as possible," Castillo said.

There are concerns that filling out a census questionnaire could tip off immigration on their whereabouts, even though the answers are confidential.

The results will determine what will happen for the community in the next decade, which makes participation key.

"The Latino community was drastically undercounted not just in Oklahoma, but in the U.S. So what we're doing is hoping that everybody gets counted so we can get the state money, federal money that belongs to Oklahoma," Castillo said.

"We want to make sure our schools, our potholes get fixed, our streets get fixed. We can't do much complaining if we don't get counted. It's just like voting, we want to make sure you vote and get counted in the census," Paredes said.