Win A Free Netbook (Maybe) And Do Some Good

Got word sent down from some of the folks down at the Fill In Our Future campaign that you might be able to win a free netbook:

In order to enter the Contest, you must enter your name, email address, and other contact information in the designated windows. By providing your name and email address, you also become a member of Fill In Our Future Campaign Listserve.

To enter the contest, you must answer the question of the month:
"Starting May 1 through early summer, census takers will be going to households that did not mail back a form to complete the census form. What do you plan on doing to help educate the community, your family, and friends that this process is continuing and they need to talk to the census taker so that they can complete their census form?"

Entries deemed irrelevant, potentially libelous or inflammatory will not be posted. There is a limit of one entry per participant and per email address. The winning entry will be highlighted onto the Fill In Our Future Website.

Rules and Regulations:

The Contest is open to residents of the United States who are 21 years of age or older at the time the Contest commences. Employees, officers, directors, agents, representatives and independent contractors (and their immediate family members and members of the same households, whether related or not) of Asian American Justice Center are not eligible to participate. The Contest is subject to all federal, state and local laws and regulations and is void where prohibited by law or regulation. Participants agree to abide by the terms of these official rules and by the decisions of the Sponsor which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to the Contest. The Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any participant that it determines, in its sole discretion, is ineligible to participate in the Contest.

Fill out the form here.

2010 Census Fill In Our Future Campaign

Definitely important to get involved and get counted.

The 2010 Census deadline is approaching, and as you know, it is critical to have the entire Asian American community participate. An accurate count can help us receive our share of over $400 billion in annual federal funds for services our community needs.

Unfortunately, past decades have shown that Asian Americans are among the groups most likely to discard their Census forms. In an effort to gather the most accurate count of our community for this year's Census, we would like to request your assistance, as an influential Asian American blogger, in raising awareness on this issue.

Fill In Our Future is a campaign created by AAPI Action to promote and encourage the participation of the Asian American community in the 2010 Census. Our website, fillinourfuture.org, features frequently asked Census questions, in-language resources (in over 24 Asian languages), informational brochures, sample Census forms, in-language assistance guides, celebrity and community leader PSA's (Public Service Announcements) and monthly contests and giveaways. The larger campaign also includes media and community outreach, workshops, a speaker's bureau and training seminars.

Facebook Fan Page: http://bit.ly/FBFillInOurFuture
Twitter: http://bit.ly/TwitFillInOurFuture

Get Counted So You Can Get Funded

I know we're supposed to be the silent minority and everything but this is crazy - because who doesn't want billions of dollars? Exactly.

So what's an Asian to do when the Census comes a counting?

Get all your closest friends together and have a couple of shots to make it a party (clothes are optional).

And yes - I do realize it's not that easy - but that's why it's great to see all these organizations getting together to make sure that the API community does in fact get counted:

Seven Asian and Pacific Islander organizations across the state have come together to form the API Census Network in an effort to promote the API community’s participation in the 2010 Census.

Over the last decade, California has suffered a $2.1 billion loss in federal funding due to the undercount of API populations during the 2000 Census. An accurate 2010 Census can help correct errors in determining political districts and allocation of federal funds to state and local governments.

''We have to be creative about the strategies we use to outreach to everyone in the Asian and Pacific Islander community,'' said An Lê, the API Census Network statewide network manager. ''We need our communities to understand an accurate census means more federal funding, greater access to governmental services and more resources directed to our communities. Our goal is to have everyone fill out their census questionnaires in April 2010.''

One of the obstacles in conducting an accurate count of API populations is language proficiency. Nearly 36 percent of Asian Americans and 10 percent of Pacific Islanders have limited English proficiency. Further compounding the undercount is the immense cultural and linguistic diversity, making it challenging to educate this population about the importance to participate in the census., according to the Census Network.

As a part of its outreach and media campaign, the API Census Network will redistribute culturally specific materials in all major Asian languages produced by the Census Bureau. Additionally, the API Census Network recognizes specific communities in South East, South Asian and Pacific Islander sub-groups have disproportionately low rates of participation in the census.

Get in the know.

US Census Bureau + No Multilingual Material = Huh?

I'm not going to talk about the issue of language, knowing English etc. - that's really not a part of the this conversation, but what I will say is that if you want to do a Census and count everyone - everyone doesn't always know English so if you only send out material in say...English - the bottom line is that your Census might not reach the intended demographic - nor the goal of the project.

Which is counting people - who speak all types of languages.

Glad to see then that this issue is being brought up.

From the SF Examiner

With the 2010 United States Census process now underway, some San Francisco officials are concerned that the decennial survey will neglect city residents who don’t speak English as a primary language.

Unlike years past, an advanced letter notifying families in San Francisco of the 2010 Census is being issued almost completely in English.

The lack of language diversity has drawn the attention of City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who want the U.S. Census Bureau to return to their normal practices of printing multilingual advance letters. A handful of the advance copies in San Francisco feature Spanish as well as English, but none have Cantonese or Mandarin writing.

Herrera and Chiu have already sent out a letter to Census Director Robert Groves asking him to take heed of their concerns, and today they will host a press conference, along with Vincent Pan of Chinese for Affirmative Action, to address the issue. The meeting will take place at Room 234 in City Hall at noon.

Read it in full and get in the know here.

Asian News Bytes

Some headlines of interest:

Valley's faces of diversity: Census offers snapshots of 4 immigrant groups

The Vietnamese aren't going back. Not ever. Asian Indians, even though they are the newest arrivals to Silicon Valley, own the most valuable real estate. Mexicans are the youngest. And the Chinese, though many lack the English skills of some immigrant groups, are thriving in business. One strand unites the disparate immigrant groups of Silicon Valley: They may be less lonely than the rest of us. At least, they are less likely to divorce, or to live alone.

Playing Catch-up: Philanthropy and the API Community

One of the more damaging assumptions that stems from the “model minority” myth is that Asian Americans don’t need anyone’s help — they’re too busy quietly succeeding. Perhaps this is contributing to the stagnant rate of philanthropic giving to the AAPI community.

Unprecedented Detail on Asian Applicants

Advocates for Asian-American students in recent years have repeatedly called for more differentiation among racial and ethnic groups. Classifying third- and fourth-generation Chinese Americans with recent arrivals from Vietnam doesn’t make much sense, they have argued, and hides the realities that many Asian Americans are educationally disadvantaged.

UC will expand ethnic categories for applicants

The University of California will revamp its undergraduate application to find out more about the Pacific Rim students who have become UC's dominant face. Next
year's application will expand the number of Asian-American and Pacific Islander categories to 23 -- a nearly threefold increase from the current eight categories. The ethnic identification will continue to be optional and will not figure into admissions decisions, administrators said.