Effort begins to ease Hispanics' fear of census

By Ricardo Lopez

With eight months left until the start of the 2010 census, a broad effort to get an accurate count of the growing number of Hispanics in Hampton Roads is under way.

Patricia Knight, a regional representative from the U.S. Census Bureau, is enlisting the help of organizations to tap into their networks and spread the word to Hispanics about the importance of the upcoming census.

As a result, a local Spanish-language radio station, Selecta 1050 AM, is encouraging its listeners to fill out census forms. And Knight is meeting with members of the Hampton Roads Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to spread the word.

Her task, she said, is a daunting one.

"It's hard to count Hispanics," she said. "Some of them have a lack of trust in the government."

Knight wants to educate the public on two main points: The Census Bureau does not share information with law enforcement agencies, and the allocation of federal funds for state and city programs depends heavily on census data.

"We don't ask for citizenship status," she said. "We're just doing a head count."

In South Hampton Roads, the largest proportion of Hispanics lives in Virginia Beach.

Virginia Beach has an estimated Hispanic population of 24,000, according to 2007 census figures, double the number of Hispanics in 1990. From 2000 to 2007, the population grew by more than a third. But census officials said those numbers are inaccurate because many Hispanics do not return census forms.

Since 2003, Beach schools' enrollment has fallen from 75,000 to roughly 70,000, and the proportion of Hispanic students has grown slightly to 6 percent from 4.6 percent.

That recent population growth has contributed partly to the enrollment of students in Limited English Proficient programs, paid for mostly by federal dollars. The growth has resulted in more money, divvied up based on a population formula, for the region's schools.

In Beach schools, Spanish is the first language for the greatest number of LEP students, about a third. More than 60 languages are represented in the program, said Beach schools spokeswoman Eileen Cox.

In 2008, Virginia Beach schools had an LEP enrollment of 1,025 and received $131,000. In 2004, the division received $81,000 with an LEP enrollment of 844.

In addition, the school division has qualified since 2005 for extra money given to school divisions with a significant increase in immigrant students. That brought last year's total to $153,000.

Selecta 1050 AM uses a text-messaging club to inform its listeners about the upcoming census. About 700 listeners are signed up to receive alerts about upcoming events and special radio guests such as Juan Callejas, one of two Spanish-speaking census partnership specialists in the state.

Callejas, who is based in Northern Virginia, said that while speaking Spanish helps, understanding cultural and regional differences is more important, and he has to find creative ways to approach people. At a recent Hispanic cultural fair, people were not visiting his booth, so he ventured into the crowd handing out pamphlets.

"Hispanics have to trust you first before you can give them information," he said.

Callejas recently toured South Hampton Roads with Knight and noticed fewer Spanish-speaking media outlets compared with Northern Virginia. That makes it harder to reach Hispanics, he said.

Selecta's general sales manager, Dave Bowling, said that while his radio station is committed to helping Hispanics in the area, he still thinks the 2010 census will be inaccurate.

"I'm not sitting here holding my breath," he said.

Ricardo Lopez, (757) 222-5125, ricardo.lopez@pilotonline.com