Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 4, 1 ʻApelila 2012 — E ala ē 2020: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

E ala ē 2020: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations

Aloha e nā 'ōiwi 'ōlino mai Hawai'i a Ni'ihau a puni ke ao mālamalama. As I wrote in my January eolumn: "2012 signals change as Native Hawaiians and

other Paeihe Islanders press on to impact the work of the U.S. Census Bureau. "Census 2020 is eight years away as the bureau transforms the nearly 40-year-old Race and Ethnic Advisory Committee (REAC) system of community leaders advising solely on the decennial census, into a combined REAC-community and scientist-led nahonal panel, partnering with designated 'working groups' to oversee a

diverse menu of bureau initiatives, not just limited to the decennial census. The charter for this nahonal panel starts in 2012.

Ihe Census Bureau established the Race and Ethnic Advisory Committees in 1975 to assist the bureau in planning for the 1980 Census with the goal to reduce census undercount in hard-to-count communities. The Census Bureau REACs for African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander were updated following amendments in 1997 to OMB Directive 15, whieh bv administrative nolicv

implemented the fifth REAC for Native Hawaiian and Other Paeihe Islanders (NHOPI)." By May 2012, the U.S. Federal Register will announee the Charter of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations (NAC) for the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The Federal Register will request nominations for members to the U.S. Census Bureau's NAC. This committee will function solely as an advisory committee to the Census Bureau and will perform in eomplianee with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This committee's kuleana (responsibility) will be to advise the Director of the Bureau of the Census. Members of the National Advisory Committee will be race, ethnic and other population experts providing

input on eeonomie, socio-economic, housing, demographic, geographic, linguistic, technologieal, methodological, behavioral and operational variables affecting accuracy, cost and implementation of Census Bureau

initiatives, activities, programs and surveys, including the decennial census, most immediately, the 2020 Census. Native Hawaiian and Paeihe Islanders, across the nation, "heads up" for the U.S. Federal Register announcing the Charter of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations and the recruitment nohee for nominations to panel membership. E ala ē kākou (Let's be aware), "The laek of data limits the ability of federal,

state efforts, puhlie and private, to understand issues and trends that inform policy and programs targeting NHPI populations. The need for

disaggregated data is especially urgent in light of the recent 2010 data recording some of the highest growth rates in the United States among the NHPI populahon. . . ." And ". . . increased efforts to obtain robust samples of NHPIs warrant immediate attention in order for federal agencies to fully comply with the revised OMB Directive 15." "Failure to produce highly reliable estimates on numerically small diverse populations at the national level compromises effective planning and interventions to address their social, eeonomie and heahh concerns." "Evidence-based research is essential to develop effective policies and interventions." (AAPI Ne.xus JournaI- Native Hawaiians and Paeihe Islanders, Fall 2011). 40/48 M

Haunani Apnlinna, MSW TrustEE, At-largE

Mahalo to the five Census Bureau REACs, 201 1 . - Courtesy photo