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ya es hora Campaign Calls for Complete Count of Latinos | 2010 Census

06/30/2009/in Hispanic Culture/by Target Latino

Campaign Calls for the Confirmation of Dr. Robert Groves to lead Census Bureau

ya es hora Campaign Calls for Complete Count of Latinos and Immigrants in the 2010 Census

LOS ANGELES, June 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — At a press conference today, the partners of the historic ya es hora !HAGASE CONTAR! (It’s Time, Make Yourself Count!) Campaign urged the Latino community to participate in the 2010 Census. In addition to announcing new partners, the campaign called for the confirmation of Robert Groves to head the U.S. Census Bureau, and condemned the efforts of a small group of organizations calling for a boycott of the enumeration as a strategy to achieve comprehensive immigration reform.

“The partners in the ya es hora !HAGASE CONTAR! Campaign are committed to ensuring a full count in the 2010 Census,” said Texas State Representative Rafael Anchia, Chairman of the NALEO Educational Fund. “This is only possible if we have the continued support of partner organizations across the country as well as leadership at the Census Bureau and the full support of everyone in the Latino community.”

“A full count of the Latino population will help Latinos build a better future for their families,” said Dr. Jesse Miranda, CEO of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC). “A full count is critical for the continued economic and political progress of the Latino community. An undercount of the Latino community will do serious damage to our families and our neighborhoods. By diminishing the representation of newcomers in our democracy, an undercount will also undermine efforts to achieve comprehensive immigration reform. Encouraging anyone not to participate in the Census is simply wrong.”

The U.S. Constitution requires a full count of all residents of the United States, including immigrants. Census statistics determine reapportionment and political representation, and are also used for allocating federal funding for many social and economic programs that benefit the Latino community and the entire country. Additionally, Census data are used for the enforcement of civil rights and anti-discrimination laws, including the Voting Rights Act.

The ya es hora, !HAGASE CONTAR! Campaign will focus on promoting the importance of the Census, educating individuals about filling out their Census forms and encouraging households to mail back their responses once they complete their forms. This phase of the coalition’s work builds on the success of the ya es hora !Ciudadania!Campaign of 2007, in which 1.4 million Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) applied for U.S. citizenship, and the success of the ya es hora !Ve y Vota! Campaign of 2008, in which a record 9.7 million Latinos exercised their right to vote in the presidential election.

The ya es hora !HAGASE CONTAR! Campaign is a coalition of national and local Latino organizations and Spanish-language media working to inform and motivate the nearly 50 million U.S. Latinos to fully participate in the 2010 Census. The campaign is lead by national partners, including the Dominican American National Roundtable, League of United Latin American Citizens, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, NALEO Educational Fund, National Council of La Raza, Service Employees International Union, and media companies Entravision, impreMedia, and Univision, and includes organizational partners at the national, state, and local levels.

In recent weeks, a growing list of organizations have joined the campaign, including: Comunidad Presbiteriana Hispana & El Pozo de Jacob / The Jacob’s Well; Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU); The Hispanic Federation; Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA); Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI); Hispanic Mega Church Association; National Hispanic Pentecostal Congress; Jesse Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership; Independent Sector; Latino Justice/Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Educational Fund; League of Women Voters USA; Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR); Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF); National Association of Evangelicals; National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP); National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA); National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC); National Latina Institute on Reproductive Health; National Puerto Rican Coalition, Inc. (NPRC); Colorado Immigrant Rights (CIRC); Consejo Nacional De Organizaciones Comunitarias(CBO); Connecticut Puerto Rican Forum Inc.; Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services Inc.; Los Angeles City College-Workforce Development; Los Angeles Southwest College-Bridges to Success; Pasadena City College-Community Education Center; S.O.S. Immigration International; The Idaho Community Action Network; International Institute; Unity For Dignity; Mexican American Opportunity Foundation; UFW Foundation; The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights; Latina Initiative; Intercambio de Comunidades; The Latin American Coalition; Tenants and Workers United; Hermandad Mexicana Nacional Oxnard; Hermandad Mexicana Nacional East Los Angeles; Hermandad Mexicana Nacional Fontana; Hermandad Mexicana Nacional Palmdale; Hermandad Mexicana Nacional Pacoima; LA Voice/PICO; Alliance for a Better Community; Mayor of Miami, Manny Diaz; Hispanic Unity, Miami; Organizacion Hondurena Integrada; Minnesota Council of Nonprofits; Contra Costa Faith Works!; Hispanic Women’s Organization ofArkansas; Mexican American Commission of Nebraska; Colombo Americans for Action.

About the ya es hora Campaign

The ya es hora campaign is the largest and most comprehensive non-partisan effort to incorporate Latinos as full participants in the American political process. The campaign had a dramatic impact on naturalization rates and spurred record Latino turnout in the 2008 presidential election.
Source: The Ya es Hora Campaign

Hispanic Christian leaders organizing boycott of census

06/29/2009/in Hispanic Culture/by Target Latino

Some Hispanic Christian leaders say they’ve waited too long for immigration reform so they are taking a controversial step — they want illegal immigrants to boycott Census 2010.

Census 2010 and Hispanics – Hispanic Christian leaders organizing boycott of census

The leaders are asking illegal immigrants not to fill out census questionnaires when they are sent to homes nationwide, said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, chairman of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders, a Washington, D.C.-based group organizing the boycott. Boycott proponents are pushing the effort in several states including Texas and California.
“To us it is a moral issue,” said the Rev. Dr. David Guel of Houston, who sits on the executive committee of the group, which represents 20,000 Hispanic churches nationwide.

Rivera said the boycott will bring attention to the need to legalize the estimated 12 million people living and working in the United States without status. He said their cause is a human-rights issue that affects many undocumented church members and pastors.

“Once there is a legal path for citizenship, then undocumented immigrants will become citizens and have a right to vote,” Rivera said in a telephone interview.

But U.S. census officials said the boycott could hurt Hispanics.

Census data is used to determine federal funding for an area and seats for the U.S. House and can boost jobs.

The League of United Latin American Citizens has been countering the boycott by stressing the need for Hispanics to be counted through an information campaign called Ya Es Hora Hagase Contar! or It Is Time to Make Yourself Count.

Gabriel Sanchez, the Dallas regional director for the Census Bureau, said Hispanics are a growing demographic.

“This is the way to get recognized in the United States,” Sanchez said. “Any call for anybody to not participate is doing them, their cause and their country a disservice.”

Some companies use the data to determine where to open a plant, and some governments use it to place job-training programs, Sanchez said.

“If there is something that everyone should participate in, it is the census,” Sanchez said. “Our goal is to count everybody.”

Education called key

Sanchez said the best way to fight the boycott is education.

By the time people begin receiving census questionnaires next spring, Sanchez said, he wants the Hispanic community to be comfortable with the 10 questions asked, including how many people live in a household on April 1 and whether they live in a house, apartment or mobile home.

Sanchez stressed that no questions ask about immigration status, Social Security numbers or credit cards.

“It doesn’t ask for anything that can hurt you,” Sanchez said. “It only asks for things that can help you.”

Boycott advocates said fears exist in the Hispanic immigrant community that data will be compiled and sent to immigration authorities or Homeland Security officials.

“All census data is confidential by law,” Sanchez said, explaining that the names are taken off, data compiled and published in statistical form so no one can be identified. “No one can see the data, not even the president.”

Praying for reform

Boycott advocates lament what they call the broken promise of immigration reform. These proponents said they believe that President George W. Bush would have made good on the immigration reform promise if he hadn’t been diverted by 9-11.

“We are praying it will pass this year,” said Eli Rodriguez, coordinator of the Hispanic Baptist Convocation of the Laity in Dallas. “Amen! Every church in Texas and the United States is praying that will happen.”

A recent White House meeting on immigration was a beginning, but boycott advocates said they must push forward with the effort to gain momentum.

They said that only with bipartisan support will reform happen. They said they want President Barack Obama to make good on his promise and for Republicans leaders to ignore polls that favor anti-immigrant measures.

So far the boycott effort is garnering the group media attention. If the boycott puts at stake federal dollars or congressional representation, then it is a small cost compared with the rights of the undocumented, Rodriguez and Rivera said.

“We know the problems, the conflicts, the anxiety that our undocumented people are experiencing,” Rivera said. “We know what we are talking about. That’s why we need to bring radical action.”

Census 2010

The Census is required by the Constitution. Every 10 years, the federal government counts the people in the United States. Data from questionnaires is used to apportion seats in the U.S. House. The data is also used to distribute more than $300 billion federal funds each year.

Questionnaires will be sent out in the spring.

Bilingual questionnaires will be sent to about 13 million households.

Advertising about the census will be presented in 28 languages nationwide. The Census Bureau will have assistance available in 51 languages.

About Census 2010: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/

About the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders: www.conlamic.org

About the League of United Latin American Citizens: www.lulac.org

Source: Star-Telegram – By Diane Smith

too funny

Census workers strive to improve dialogue with Hispanics

06/16/2009/in Hispanic Culture/by Target Latino

CHARLOTTE — Preparations are under way for the 2010 Census, but a lingering fear in the Hispanic community could mean that not everyone gets counted.

“One of the biggest challenges for us is the fear that people may have of filling out the census form,” explained Angeles Ortega-Moore, a partnership specialist with the Census Bureau.

Ortega-Moore says Latinos are reluctant to participate because they are not sure where their information is sent once they fill out the forms and what it will then be used for. She’s been working with churches, schools and community organizations to try to ease the concern.

Tony Jones, of the U.S. Census Bureau, says information collected will never be used for anything but census purposes, and that refusing to fill out the form could be detrimental to the community as a whole.

“The information is used to provide for new roads, infrastructure, schools, hospitals, libraries,” listed Tony Jones with the U.S. Census Bureau. “So this would be information that is vital for them and their participation is very, very important.”

Charlotte’s Hispanic population has nearly doubled since the last census, according to Ortega- Moore, and she hopes the count in 2010 will reflect that.

As part of its 10-10 in 2010 campaign, the Census Bureau says the process consists of 10 questions and only takes 10 minutes to complete.

Source: Johnell Johnson – http://www.news14.com/content/local_news/charlotte/610702/census-workers-strive-to-improve-dialogue-with-hispanics/Default.aspx Census workers strive to improve dialogue with Hispanics

School taking steps to fight swine flu

04/28/2009/in Hispanic Culture/by Target Latino

Associated Press

10:40 AM CDT, April 27, 2009

CHICAGO – Concern about a deadly strain of swine flu has prompted one Chicago school in a largely Hispanic neighborhood to forbid students from shaking hands.

Orozco Community Academy Principal Coralia Barraza also says when parents call to say their children are home sick, school officials are being told to ask more questions about the illness than they typically do.

Barraza says the school in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood is being particularly vigilant because it has a lot of Hispanic children and routinely enrolls students who’ve just arrived from Mexico — including one just last week.
She also says students travel with their families to and from Mexico.

Understanding Hispanic Market Segmentation – Part I

06/30/2009/in Hispanic Culture, Marketing/by Target Latino

Let’s talk segmentation – Part I

by Claudia Goffan CEO of Target Latino
Graphics by Jim Perez

Hispanic Market Segmentation:

The reasons behind the use of acculturation levels in Hispanic Marketing. Hispanic Market segments and projected size by Claudia Goffan, CEO of Target Latino.

Why levels of acculturation?

In the 1900’s European immigrants would force their children to forget about the customs of the “old world” and “just be” Americans – this was a process of assimilation
To acculturate means to incorporate or acquire a new culture without foregoing another one
Hispanics do not “assimilate”, they “acculturate”. They do not let go of customs and/or language

Facts about Hispanic Market Segmentation

Hispanic Market Segmentation

The three segments by Acculturation Levels

Non-Acculturated: Persons that only navigate within the Latino culture. Most of them have recently immigrated to the U.S. and prefer to speak Spanish
Acculturated: Persons born in the U.S. of Hispanic descent. They prefer to speak English and can navigate into the Latino culture
Semi-Acculturated: People that can navigate in both cultures.

What factors get them from one segment to the next?

Fully-Acculturated: Hispanics are proud of their culture and parents will tend to teach their U.S.-born children the customs of their ancestors

Non-Acculturated: Hispanics born outside of the U.S. can only navigate from non-acculturation to semi-acculturation. The speed at which this will take place depends on these three major factors:
–Time
–Education
–Socio economic status in country of origin

How fast will the market acculturate?

The speed at which this will take place depends on these three major factors:

Time: the longer they live in the US, the longer they are exposed to a new culture and are able to incorporate it into their everyday lives

Education: the higher their education level, the easier the understanding of another culture will be

Socio economic status in country of origin: the higher the socio economic status they enjoyed in their country of origin, the higher the likelihood that they have been exposed to other cultures, thus enabling a faster and smoother transition

Here are some examples of acculturation levels and speed:

My brother was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina -30 years old at the time-, highly educated -a lawyer-, seasoned international traveler and with 6 years of English studies from the London Cultural Institute under his belt. He was visiting me in Los Angeles.
On the second day of his visit, I arrived home to find him holding a box of sugar and laughing so hard he was in tears. He kept on saying, “soy un sudaca (I am so third world).” I didn’t understand what he was talking about at first, so I waited for him to calm down. When he did, he explained to me that he had ripped the top of the box open in order to reach the sugar at which time he realized that there was a pouring spout on its side.As you can see, it took him just a few minutes to “acculturate”, that is, to learn to navigate in the American culture (at least a little bit).

A friend of mine took a little longer to acculturate. She is also very well educated -a dentist- and a world traveler, but is older than my brother and understands very little English. Apparently she had bought a brand of laundry detergent at the supermarket to wash a sweatshirt I had given her. After washing it, she remarked that the sweatshirt was of low quality, because it had faded so badly. I was puzzled, but soon forgot about it.When she returned back to her country, she left the “detergent” with me. I immediately noticed that it wasn’t detergent at all, it was “bleach.” She had mistaken a product type for a brand. No wonder the blue sweatshirt had faded.In order to acculturate she had to be told about her mistake. You can bet she never did that again.

Latino banks spend more than a year teaching its underserved Hispanic customers how to use the ATM machines. The reason is that most of their customers have never used one. The bank is acculturating them into American society.

Differentiating Characteristics between segments – Hispanic Market Segmentation

Hispanic Market Size

Population: 42.7 million as of July 1, 2005 or 14 percent of the nation’s total population. (This estimate does not include the 3.9 million residents of Puerto Rico.)

102.6 million – The projected Hispanic population as of July 1, 2050 or 24 percent of the nation’s total population on that date.
-Source: Census data

We need to be aware that in this market there is about a 40% to 50% undercount

here’s the thing #SethGodin #Quote