| Communities in Action
Mujeres Latinas en Acción
CHICAGO, IL
Pilsen organizers hoping community won't be penalized in new census as it was in 2000
By Allison Clark | Medill Reports
February 17, 2010
Funding cuts. Program cuts.
That’s what Pilsen residents say happened when about 55 percent of its nearly 44,000 residents didn’t fill out the 2000 Census form.
“We’ve seen less funding for transportation, public schools, after school programs and other resources,” said Ana Soto, census campaign supervisor of Mujeres Latinas. “Besides funding, the census determines our political power with redistricting that’s based on population numbers.”
What does it take to get Pilsen’s residents counted 10 years later? It’s not through a new innovative technology, but rather a more traditional form – door knocking.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is leading the efforts behind Pilsen’s census campaign. The coalition is working closely with the community’s well-known organizations, Mujeres Latinas en Acción and the Resurrection Project, to ensure more residents fill out the 10-question census form, said Resurrection Project campaign leader Sarah Knapp.
“We are trying our best to explain the benefits of being counted,” Knapp said. “Sixty percent don’t know about the census or know about its importance.”
The possibility to gain more funding for infrastructure and community programs is among the benefits of having more Pilsen residents fill out the census form this year.
“We can’t gloss over the importance of funding and the resources it will provide to Pilsen and its immigrants if more people are counted,” said Flavia Jimenez, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Right’s New American Initiative program director.
The coalition is one of the hundreds of the U.S Census Bureau’s Complete Count Committees that do community outreach about the census in areas that were undercounted in 2000, said Lydia Ortiz, who works with the U.S. Census Bureau.
The face-to-face interaction in this outreach effort the volunteers have with the community members seem to be a more meaningful and effective way of explaining the census to residents.
“I believe we are helping a lot,” said Patricia Villalobos, Pilsen resident and Mujeres Latinas volunteer. “We have had good reactions. People are responding.”
This is also the first year bilingual material is mailed to neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations, such as Pilsen, Ortiz said. Even without language barriers, misinformation often prevents immigrants from filling out the census for fear of deportation, organizers say.
“Pilsen is not like a lot of other communities because there is a mistrust of the government,” Jimenez said. “There are still raids and deportation in the community and many are misinformed.”
Beyond the numbers, the census will reveal much about Pilsen’s ethnic landscape.
“Pilsen faces gentrification, so the Pilsen of 2000 isn’t the Pilsen of 2010,” Jimenez said. “Where are the immigrants going? That’s why we’re on the ground early to gauge where the shift is and where the immigrants’ households are moving so we can educate them about the census,” Jimenez said.
Pilsen’s campaign will switch from the streets to more conventional ways in March. Volunteers will make calls reminding residents the forms should be mailed by April 1. Volunteers also plan to make announcements in churches and schools so that more people are informed.
“We are trying to make them understand everyone counts,” Knapp said. “We all use this community’s resources and it doesn’t matter if you’re documented or undocumented.”
2010 © Medill Reports
Mujeres Latinas census campaign volunteer Rosario Coronado helps a Pilsen resident fill out his 2010 census form.