Efforts ramp up for accurate Census count of children

Speakers at the press media briefing “Counting the Youngest Matters the Most in 2020 Census” take turns in stressing the need for a more accurate count, particularly of children, who were undercounted in the past. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

SAN FRANCISCO — The undercount of children up to 5 years old and steps being taken to avoid a repeat in next year’s Census 2020 took center stage in the latest ethnic media briefing held last week at the World Affairs Council in downtown San Francisco.

The undercount for the past decennial census resulted in the loss of federal, state, and local funds for youth services that are largely dependent on Census data, according to panelists in the press event “Counting the Youngest Matters the Most in 2020 Census” jointly sponsored by the San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigration Affairs (OCEIA) and Ethnic Media Services (EMS).

A U.S. constitutional requires that every person in the country must be counted every 10 years in order to determine how billions of federal dollars get spent for public services and how political power is distributed.

Speakers at the press briefing were Children’s Partnership President Mayra Alvarez; 2020 Census Manager at San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs Robert Clinton; Partnership Specialist at the US Census Bureau for the 2020 Census Son M. Le; Operations Manager of Alive and Free Andre Aikins; Christina Wong of San Francisco Unified School District and Hong Mei Pong of Chinese for Affirmative Action.

Children Partnership President Mayra Alvarez revealed that about a million kids were undercounted in the 2010 Census with about 100,000 in California alone. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

Alvarez revealed that about a million kids were undercounted in the 2010 census with about 100,000 in California alone. The undercount of children has historically happened among Latino, African American and other ethnic groups, including Filipinos, she said.

Alvarez added that an accurate count would have resulted in:

• stronger political representation in the federal, state, county and school board districts
• more funding for key children’s programs like MediCal, foster care, school lunch, adoption assistance, programs, child care, etc.
• better planning and levels of investment in relation to school sizes, hospitals, hospital facilities.

California lost about $3 billion from the undercount from 2010 Census, translating to fewer resources for community that rely on these programs, she said.

“For our kids today under the age of 5 [who won’t be counted], the next census is not until 2030, which is their entire childhood. They are at risk of not having the resources that they need to thrive. About three of every four of our kids in California are of community of color and about half of these have at least one immigrant parent,” Alvarez reminded.

Alvarez also argued that the present harsh political climate and confusions on government program eligibilities that people of color constantly face are triggering fear and anxiety among many members of ethnic communities, further causing respondents to avoid answering census questions. She added that the present administration has deliberately disinvested in an accurate count.

2020 Census Manager at San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) Robert Clinton disclosed that an undercount of people under age of 18 has been happening since the 1980s and getting worse. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

“California, however, has invested tens of millions of dollars in Census, connecting with community organizations in order to combat what we see as the federal disinvestment in the program.”

San Francisco OCEIA’s Robert Clinton reported that of the city’s 805,235 total population, 33% are Asian and Pacific Islanders and that children from ages 0-18 are consistently undercounted in the decennial census.

“In San Francisco, there are around 115,952 children who are in the 0-18.age bracket which is 14.4% of the population. 6.9% of these children live with their grandparents, 47.5% live in renter-occupied housing unit and 7.1% are immigrants,” revealed Clinton.

“What we are trying to do is to educate, motivate and facilitate people to participate in the census by teaching them how to do it, reiterating it will only take ten minutes to complete and impress on the benefits that the city receives if they participate.”

Clinton cited that children up to 4 years old living with non-parents, in multiple or complex households, among others, as being at risk of being undercounted.

“An undercount of people under age of 18 has been happening since the 1980s and is getting worse,” Clinton reported.

In the 1980 census, the undercount of young children 0-4 was 1.4%; it has now jumped to 4.6%. Most are children of color including Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American, etc.

Clinton and Alvarez agree that “trust messengers” are needed to reach hard-to-count respondents.

“We have given out $2 million to 30 different groups in the community for outreach education work for the 2020 census. That includes mini groups that are incorporating census in their existing activities and those that do special outreach work that are canvassing, go door-to-door, phone banking etc.,” reported Clinton.

EMS Director Sandy Close announced that the nonprofit is launching a creative writing contest for 14-to-21 year olds to produce creative messages about why their families count.

“Instead of having repeat workshops on why Census matters to them, what if we simply ask them to write about something they know very well? Their own families. Why does my family count? And we can bring those submissions with a generous grant from OCEIA with modest prizes,” Close remarked. “And we can bring those submissions with a generous grant from OCEIA with modest prizes.”

The “My Family Counts” creative writing, poetry, and arts contest is for high school and college-age young people residents of San Francisco between 14-21 years old. Contestants must write a 400-word essay, design an art piece (painting, graffiti, mural), create a 2-minute video/audio – music rap or spoken word about their family and why they think counting every member matters.

Filipina student Geraldine Marie Urgel of John O’Connell High School delivers her poem, which serves as a sample entry for the contest designed for young San Francisco residents between 14-21 years old. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

Apply by email to [email protected] with full name (last name, first name,) email address, full home mailing address, age, gender and submission category (categories include: written essay, photo essay, video project, art or graphic work or audio project including poetry, spoken word, interviews or music.) Acceptable formats for submissions are .doc, .docx, .pdf and for audio and video, YouTube links.

Entries must be submitted between September 1-December 1, 2019 to get a chance to win one first-place winner and one second place winner for each age group and category – essay, art work, video/audio.

Eight first place winners will receive $500 and eight second place winners will get $250. Winning entries will be publicized by the Office of Community Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) and syndicated by Ethnic Media Services to interested news media outlets and agencies working to promote the 2020 Census.

Filipina student Geraldine Marie Urgel of John O’Connell High School read a poem she wrote as a sample entry; an excerpt goes:

We the bottom of the pyramid we are the minority.
A variety of immigrants of this country become in solidarity with the majority of society.

We will read and lead, we will walk and talk.
We will break and make. We will take the risk and make mistakes. .

Yesterday we fought our hearts filled with yearn.
Today we toil that tomorrow we will earn.

So goodbye to your rest for this is our test
That we need to protest to earn the rest.

The ship has sailed to the land of the free but little do we know
The price the we pay are the seeds that we sow..