With the 2010 Census currently taking place, efforts all across the nation are underway advocating for city participation.
On the UCLA campus, students such as Brian Chiu, a fourth-year international development studies student, are doing their part through outreach and education of the 2010 Census.
Chiu, who works in the Asian American Studies Center, said as of right now, the UCLA area shows a 42 percent participation rate. The ultimate goal of being counted is to try and surpass the 72 percent national participation rate that was shown in the 2000 Census.
According to the Census Web site, mail participation rates are the percentage of forms mailed back by households.
An interactive map has been set up to show these rates all across the United States.
However, during the last Census count, UCLA was designated as a “hard-to-count” area, he added.
A 2010 Census training manual identifies a hard-to-count area as one with concentrations of populations that make counting the area difficult.
Characteristics that made UCLA a hard-to-count area can include various things including miscommunication and miseducation about participating, Chiu said.
“Frankly, with the students that are here, a lot of them do not realize they have to fill (the Census) out,” Chiu said. “They probably think they will be counted at home.”
Chiu said the Census is meant to count students where they are currently living. Therefore, if students live at school or if they live at apartments or dorms, they need to be counted at those locations.
Chiu said he hopes to inform students on the importance of being counted while they are on campus and going to school.
“It is hard to get them to understand how the Census is relevant to them,” Chiu said. “The Census data that is collected … is used to determine federal funding for all kinds of programs and institutions.”
As a city, Los Angeles currently holds a 51 percent participation rate, according to an interactive map on the 2010 Census government Web site. And just as UCLA has experienced some obstacles among students, Los Angeles is experiencing some obstacles because of the large diversity of its residents.
“The Los Angeles region is the largest, most complex region to count in the country,” said Henry Mendoza, U.S. Census 2010 partnership specialist for UCLA.
Mendoza said the complexity of Los Angeles creates cultural and language issues that are currently being addressed.
According to Sandra Alvarado, media specialist with the 2010 Census, hotlines have been set up to address language issues for those who do not find a Census questionnaire in their language.
Currently, the Census questionnaire is offered in English, Spanish, Chinese (simplified), Vietnamese, Korean and Russian.
Melany Dela Cruz-Viesca, director of the Asian Pacific American Community Development Census Information Center housed in the Asian American Studies Center, is optimistic about the work being done by the center to acquire higher participation rates for this 2010 Census.
Outreach tactics include sending out e-mail blasts as well as having workshops with students on campus talking about the Census.
As far as whether or not the participation rates for Los Angeles will surpass those from the 2000 Census, Dela Cruz-Viesca said there will be a better idea on what the participation rates will look like by the end of April.