2010 U.S. CENSUS: AN IMPORTANT EVENT FOR ARMENIAN-AMERICANS
By Appo Jabarian

USA Armenian Life Magazine
January 15, 2009

One of the most important events of the year 2010 and the new decade
2010-2019 for Armenian-Americans, along with the rest of America,
is the 2010 U.S. Census.

Several experts remind us that the U.S. Congress relies on the census
for purposes of allocating funds under various federal grant programs
to state governments. Undercounts in the census can cause federal
funds to be distributed in a way that is not fully consistent with
congressional intent. Many state-funded grant programs to localities
also rely on census counts, compounding the misallocation of grant
money. For those jurisdictions that are counted relatively poorly
by the census, this translates into fewer services for families with
the greatest needs.

A few days ago, Los Angeles City officials underlined that residents
(citizens and non-citizens alike) can help the city of Los Angeles
get hundreds of millions of dollars from the United States treasury
by just answering a few questions. All they have to do is take part
in the 2010 census. L.A. Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa said that
Los Angeles lost out on $200 million in federal funds because of
under-counting in the last census.

Back in April 2000, an analysis by the Census Bureau estimated that
Census 2000 undercounted the actual U.S. population by a net of
over three million individuals, representing an undercount rate of
1.18 percent.

In early 2000, PricewaterhouseCoopers, at the request of the
Presidential members of the U.S. Census Monitoring Board, conducted
the first comprehensive analysis of how the census could affect the
allocation of Federal funds among the states, metropolitan areas,
and center counties of metropolitan areas during the period covered by
Census 2000, fiscal years 2002-2012. The 2000 undercount resulted in
Federal funds being sent to places where the need was not the greatest.

As for the Armenian American community, because of the fact that
Armenian-Americans were grossly undercounted during the 2000 U.S.

Census, they incurred several losses economically, politically and
socially.

The 2010 U.S. Census has finally neared, and offers our communities a
new opportunity to accurately reflect its population size and enable
its community-based organizations to become the recipients of Federal,
State and Municipal grant money according to the communities’ presence
in various hubs across the United States.

On mainstream American level, a once-in-a-decade census is a count of
everyone residing in the U.S. Taken every 10 years, the census directly
affects the nation’s political representation and the allocation
of billions of dollars in government funding, recently wrote a City
official. The mayors of large and small cities across the United States
– following the lead of Los Angeles – have already established ad-hoc
committees of volunteers and devised aggressive work plans to ensure
the accurate count of their respective cities’ residents.

In May 2009, Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa established the Mayor’s
Office of Census 2010 to lead a public awareness, education, and
organizing campaign that will ensure a complete Census. In addition,
the mayoral staff began convening the Mayor’s Office of Census
2010 Communications Steering Committee to develop critical public
relations and media strategies. It is anticipated that the professional
participants will volunteer to lend their considerable expertise to
shape the Census communications strategies for Los Angeles. Several
observers believe that the 2010 Census is the hallmark issue of 2010
for Los Angeles.

According to the official website (), on March 15,
2010, the U.S. Census questionnaires will be mailed to the households.

April 1st is the official start date of the census. The deadline
for mailing a "Be Counted" form is May 1, 2010. Who is eligible to
participate? Everybody – citizens and non-citizens alike!

It is anticipated that the 2010 Census will impact the fiscal years
2012-2022. As taxpayers, we need to know that the fair redistribution
of tax dollars to local communities depends on everyone of us mailing
back our census forms.

It’s true that the Armenian-American political and economic clout
is at a respectable level. But in reality it lags behind its real
potential. As the popular saying goes, a potential factor is valueless
as long as it is not utilized. So let’s put our "potential" numbers
to work. Let’s translate them into real numbers.

Some sources claim that the total number of Armenian-Americans is
nearly one million. Others claim that it is 1.5 million. Some others
insist that it is two million.

Whatever the real number is it should be officially registered so
that our communities across the U.S. can benefit from their sizeable
social, economical, and political presence.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress