Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 2, 1 Pepeluali 2010 — It's our responsibility [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

It's our responsibility

By Lisa Asato Public lnformation Specialist Census 2010 is around the corner, and Momi Fernandez, Flawai'i's only Census lnformation Center director, based at Papa Ola Lōkahi, has been working since summer to spread the word for Native Hawaiians to participate. The census "is all about power and leverage. As soon as we ean count 1 million Hawaiians, we're going to have a lot more leverage politically, economically and everything," she said, as she manned a booth plastered with Census 20 10 posters, water bottles and flyers at OHA's Hawaiian Business Conference and Eeonomie Expo. When four young women stop for a closer look, she says: "Please help yourself. How old are you girls? "Nineteen." "Twenty," they reply. Two of the women live in college dorms, and she tells them census workers will be visiting college campuses to make sure census surveys are completed by students, especially those who dorm. "So make sure you guys get a head's up on when they'll be there. And fill out the Census form. That's what it's going to look like," she says, pointing to a set of blue-colored samples. "Ten quick questions." The women pepper her with questions. "Do we mail that in?" Yes, unless somebody is there to take it. "Can we fill it out now?" No, but the census surveys will be mailed to households

in mid-March. In preparation for Census Day on April 1, activity surrounding the Census here ramped up in January, with announcements of more than 3,000 job openings statewide - and a Jan. 7 open house at the census office in downtown Honolulu, where Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona told the crowd that because Hawai'i was undercounted in the last census - with a 60 percent response rate, among the lowest in the nation - the state lost about $30 million a year. "If you add that up that's over $300 million we lost out on simply because we didn't have a complete and aeeurate count. . . . We (now) have this opportunity to remain whole in regards to what's going on with the rest of the country." About $430 hillion is distributed by the federal government eaeh year. The return rate of the census surveys set the level

of funding for the next 10 years. That day, speaker after speaker drove the same message home: Be Counted. That message was echoed by James Christy, U.S. Census regional director, who spoke at OHA's business conference on Jan. 11, underscoring the need for Hawaiians to participate in the census, whieh takes a count of the nation's population every 10 years. He said that since Native Hawaiians were added as a racial category in the 2000 Census, it "changed not just the way we report the numbers but what we do with the numbers, whieh

is a pretty significant thing." "Endangered species conservation allocates money based on the population of Native Hawaiians. There's a Native Hawaiian library services program that allocates funding exclusively for libraries to focus on supporting the Native Hawaiian eommunity. There's drug-free schools. There's programs for the aging that target funds andresources to Native Hawaiians. These are things that were not available prior to 2000 because the data wasn't there." He said if anyone has reservations about participating, he wants themto know that the census is important, easy and confidential, so information is not shared with other federal departments, and workers are swom to secrecy or face fines or imprisonment. "It's so secure that the president can't even see that information," he said. John Ho'omanawanui, who works for the Census as a partnership specialist, has been establishing partnerships with OHA, Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center, Alu Like Ine. and other Hawaiian organizations to "get the Hawaiians mobilized to participate in Census 2010." Ho'omanawanui, who has a staff of five on Hawai'i Island and Maui, with more to be added on other islands, said the two main things that eome out of the census is funding and inAuenee. "InAuenee in the way of political representation, as we all know, the higher the count, there's a possibility of getting another seat in Congress," he said. "The data that's collected also reflect how mueh funding will eome to the area, whether it's Hawai'i or Kansas." He said one factor that had contributed to Hawai'i's low participation rate in 2000, the last time the census was held, is anti-government sentiment, including from immigrants and Hawaiian groups. His message to the Hawaiian groups is that taking money from the federal government doesn't affect their beliefs. But what really resonates with the groups is when he tells them: "Hawaiians are here. We're here to stay. We should be counted," he said. "Anti-govemment groups think it's powerful."

On Jan. 8, the Loeal Census Office in Wai'anae celebrated its grand opening at Wai'anae Mall Shopping Center with shave iee, entertainment and a luneheon. The Wai'anae office will be hiring as many as 1,200 people as office workers and field workers, who will go door to door, said Malissa Kaawa, assistant manager for recruiting at the Wai'anae office, whieh oversees the Neighbor Islands and about half of O'ahu fromthe Leeward Coast to the North Shore and Central O'ahu. "We want to hire people who live in Mākaha to work in Mākaha because those people are familiar with the eommunities," she said, highlighting the need to hire field workers from within the communities they'U serve. "Like on the island of Moloka'i, for instance, we don't want to send someone from Honolulu to go and work on Moloka'i. They're going to look at you like, 'What are you doing here?' versus if one of their neighbors is working for us and going up and down the street. They're recognizable. They'll be more accepted when they go knocking on that door." Native Hawaiians in the crowd at the Wai'anae opening reflected a range of attitudes toward the census. "It's nosy" and "a way for the government to keep track of you," said Miehael Billaber, a 54-year-oldretiree. Billaber, who has never participated in the census, said he didn't know mueh about it except that people "go door to door and ask questions." But he said he'U be filling out his form this year because it was "something new for me (to do)." Wai'anae High seniors Jonina Ahell and Lyssa Manner said they didn't know mueh about it but wanted to participate, especially after hearing state Rep. Maile Shimabukuro (D-Wai'anae, Mākaha, Mākua) say that the Wai'anae community sometimes feels "like we're not counted, like we're a stepchild" and that having a census office in their backyard is to their advantage. Asked if she would have a message for her family about the Census, Ahell said: "Get involved. I want to be counted too, and if my parents don't get involved then I won't be involved either. And I want to be involved." ■

I— 201 0 Census form. - Photo : Nekon Gaspar £ Nau Ke Kuleana

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U.S. Census Bureau regional director James Christy at 0HA's business conferenee on Jan. 11, where he gave a presentation on how the census affects Native Hawaiians. - Photo: Nelson Gaspar

Momi Fernandez describes the census to four college students, from left, Noe Perry, Hōkū Ka'aekuahiwa, Haylee Rezentes and Haweo Ka'iama at the Hawaiian Business Conference and Eeonomie Expo. - Photo: LisaAsato