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Friday, January 08, 2010

Census 2010:
Black Journalists Campaign for Census Ad Dollars

The National Newspaper Association, an association for Black Journalists, is calling for a $10 million allotment of Census Bureau advertising fund.  The NNPA seeks to use this money for advertising in Black news media outlets as they continue their campaign to increase Census participation among Blacks.  Unfortunately, the government is only offering $2.5 million to aid in their efforts.  

Black America Web is reporting that a "coalition" of Black Civil Rights advocates have met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on the issue of undercounted Blacks.  It has been estimated that nearly 4.5 million people were undercounted in 2000, many of whom were Black and Hispanic.  Al Sharpton has been particularly vocal on the issue:
"The undercount of blacks in the last count and the overcount of whites by 1 percent is not just a Washington statistic," Rev. Al Sharpton told reporters. "It manifests itself in goods and services that cost us. We want what is ours"
The coalition is making some persuasive fact based arguments to substantiate their claims.  Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League spoke with Black America Web:

The historic undercounting of blacks in the 2000 Census has adversely impacted the level of government funds allocated to black communities.

Census results, Morial said, determine how more than $400 billion in federal dollars are distributed across the country for services and facilities like hospitals, job training and public works projects and how many seats each state receives in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Morial told Locke that an advertising campaign to promote the Census should include more black media organizations to reach millions of African-American citizens. Morial also said the government’s community outreach efforts should be more “robust” and better funded to connect with a broader cross-section of the black community.
(read the entire article)

Unfortunately, the Census Bureau doesn't seem to be budging on the 2.5 figure. 

Get all the details at Black America Web.
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