Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 3, 1 Malaki 1990 — Census Day, April 1 -- make it count [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Census Day, April 1 -- make it count

One of the important census issues for Hawaii involves the race question. This will be the first census that will count all the Asian and Pacific lslanders in their own racial groups. In the past, the Census Bureau only provided data for the Asian and Pacific Islander groups. Now the 1990 Census will list nine (9) race categories and only one box ean be checked. The Census Bureau does not provide any definition for race. In the case of multi-racial individuals, the Census will recognize and provide data for one race per person, whieh is self-determined. With the diversity of multi-racial groups in Hawaii, it is important for individuals to understand how fhey want to be identified on the Census questionaire. The need for accurate date for eaeh racial group is vital! Whenever an agency or politician wants to provide services or is requesting federal funds, census data ean prove the people behind the statistics are here. Census facts and figures are used in many ways by civic and neighborhood leaders to help meet community needs. For example: The high number of working women with small children in a eommunity, revealed by a study of census data, prompted community leaders in a midwestern city to seek and win approval for a day care center.

Eaeh census booklet will include this question. If you consider yourself Hawaiian Using census numbers to bolster their request, a senior citizens organization argued successfully before county commissioners for a community center. Using census facts and figures, minority residents of a western city were able to win a redistricting case that allowed voters to choose additional minority eouneil members. A suburban Chicago hospital used census statistics on working mothers and their marital status in proposing a program to provide care for sick children. In Newport News, Va., a church official used age data in planning a new church; a high proportion of elderly meant building a structure of one story instead of two. Census numbers ean save lives. During a severe heat wave, public health officials in St. Louis used

be sure to fill in the circle marked "Hawaiian" with a peneil only. census facts to locate neighborhoods with large numbers of the elderly; city workers went door-to-door, convincing many of the elderly to go to "cooling centers." In San Francisco, transportation planners used census information to select bus routes and subway stops, and highways that needed widening. A NationaI Need Loeal governments need census facts to perform a number of activities required by law. Census counts determine representation in the U.S. House of Representatives, state legislatures and county and munieipal govemments. Census numbers help federal and state governments provide assistance to communities for housing, health, human services and other programs. Census Day is April 1, 1990.