SAN JUAN, April 12 - The various non-profit groups that work in Rio Grande Valley colonias have a simple message for residents – open your doors to the Census workers.
“We want everyone counted. We want colonia residents to have a voice, for them not to be afraid,” said Jose Medrano, of the START Center, the San Benito-based South Texas Adult Resource and Training Center.
“Our message is simple: if you did not get a form in the mail you will be visited by a Census worker. Please let the Census workers in. Let us get counted.”
Medrano was interviewed by the Guardian immediately at the conclusion of a news conference held by the Equal Voice for America’s Families network in San Juan last Thursday. The various non-profit groups that make up the Equal Voice network in the Valley held the news conference to ally fears that colonia residents will not be included in the 2010 Census.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that 95 percent of colonia residents would not receive census questionnaires, either in the mail or in person. Instead, the Bureau said, they would receive personal visits by Census workers, under an operation called Update/Enumerate. Under the plan, Census workers are asked to get verbal responses from colonia residents to the ten questions on the Census questionnaire.
The Census Bureau has defended its decision not to send Census forms to Valley colonias, saying Update/Enumerate is the “Cadillac” version of its Census 2010 outreach operation. “The Census Bureau has used Update/Enumerate methods in the colonias for several decades and, similar to efforts on American Indian reservations, believes the methodology offers the greatest likelihood of an accurate count in these important communities,” the Bureau said, in a statement issued on April 5.
Equal Voice members disagree. They believe colonia residents had every right to receive a census questionnaire in the mail. They doubt that Census workers will get reach every colonia resident. There are thought to be almost 1,000 colonias in Hidalgo County alone.
The non-profits that work in the colonias are also angry that the Census Bureau did not tell them earlier that they would not be sending Census forms in the mail. Their whole marketing strategy had been ‘as soon as you get the Census form in the mail, fill it out and send it back.’
“We could have helped the Census Bureau do this so much better. We know our communities. We know our people. We spent so much time and energy saying ‘mail it back, mail it back’,” said Martha Sanchez, a community organizer in Alton and Mission for La Unión del Pueblo Entero.
“The Census Bureau is still running ads on TV saying, when you get the form in the mail, mail it back. Why are they not tailoring their ads differently to our people? This is typical, people outside the Valley making decisions for us.”
Sanchez said LUPE is also concerned at the work being done by some Census workers. She reported at the news conference that dozens of Census forms had been left outside one house in a colonia north of State Hwy 107 in Alton. “That is not the way it supposed to be done. We are investigating this report,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez reiterated the theme of the news conference: “We want our people to be counted. Talk to the enumerators if they get there. Make sure everyone in the household gets counted. Do not be afraid to talk to these people. They are not going to come in your house. All the safeguards are there. But if they do not visit you, you need to let somebody know. If you do not get a visit, raise your voice.”
Anayanse Garza, of the Southwest Workers Union, echoed Sanchez’s comments about the ineffectiveness of the Census Bureau’s TV spots.
“What we are seeing when we turn on the TV are commercials from the Census Bureau saying everything is perfect. Send your census forms back. It is almost like a fairytale,” Garza said. “The reality, what we are hearing on the ground from the people when they call us, is that people are afraid they are not going to be counted because they did not get their census forms.”
Garza said that after April 12, Valley residents can call a free hotline to request a Census questionnaire. The number to call for Spanish-speaking residents is 866-928-2010. The number to call for English-speaking residents is 866-872-6868.
Garza said she has been impressed by the level of interest in Census 2010 being shown by colonia residents. “People are asking for the forms. They want the forms in their hands. There is a problem getting the forms into their hands,” she said.
Garza said what has happened with the Census Bureau’s approach to colonia residents is typical of the way the Valley is treated generally by the federal government.
“Historically, the Valley has been undercounted. We do not have the infrastructure that is found in the rest of the United States. There has been discrimination. There has been discrimination in who is being hired by the Census Bureau. We have an English-speaking requirement (to be a Census worker) in a colonia community where 90 percent of the people do not speak English,” Garza said.
However, Garza said the non-profits working in the colonias are not deterred.
“We know are going to have to fight for this right to be counted. We have to fight for our rights and fight for our equality and that is what we are going to do. Our community will hold the Census Bureau accountable because we know we want to be counted. We want to be counted right and we want a fair process,” she said.
Lourdes Flores, of Project ARISE, said the Census Bureau wrecked five months of hard work by the non-profits.
“For five months or more we have been telling our people to expect a Census form in the mail. To fill it out and send it back. People were expecting the forms. Our community was aware. They were engaged,” Flores said.
Like others within the Equal Voice camp, Flores is angry that her organization was not told earlier about the decision not to mail Census forms to colonia residents.
“It is very upsetting we were not told much earlier. We know our families, we know our communities. When decisions like this are being made we should be approached,” Flores said.
The key thing for the non-profits now, Flores said, is to get the message out that the enumerators are coming. The groups have been trying to get information from the Census Bureau on when each colonia can expect a visit from a Census worker.
“Our job now is to tell our people the enumerators are coming and they need to be ready. We are telling our families that it is safe, to open their doors to the Census workers. We need to do it,” Flores said.
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