East L.A.: Residents at Risk of Being Undercounted, Again
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Martha Mata received free laptops and internet hotspots for each of her children from their local schools, but had to bribe them to help her fill out the census online.The mother of three describes herself as a “computer dummy” since she is not knowledgeable in technology.
Although Mata, 55, is not tech savvy like her teenage children, she is better informed about the census than they are, in regards to the importance of being counted and the federal funding that can benefit her community.
“I grew up in East Los Angeles since I was six years old,” said Mata. “I saw how bad the roads were, the lack of resources in schools and not enough housing for the incoming of new Latino families. But when the census came along, I saw improvement in certain areas and it made the city better.”
For the first time, the census went digital in 2020. In communities like East L.A., where about a quarter of residents lack high speed internet, organizers knew this would pose a challenge. But they thought they were prepared — until coronavirus hit. The virus brought new barriers to people responding and some unanticipated opportunities like Mata being able to use her kids’ computers.
“I dislike when I have to do something online and my kids don’t want to help me even though they are tech masters,” said Mata.
Prior COVID-19, Los Angeles County planned to deploy 200 Census Action Kiosks (CAK), which included 13 languages in their facilities by mid-March. That way, residents can fill out the survey quicker and the participation rate would be higher.
“I was thrilled when I heard that the library was going to have some census stations to help people like me fill out the form online and encourage my community to do the same,” said Mata
The stay-at-home order forced the County to close its buildings such as libraries, where the new kiosks were going to be held. The aftermath of this order was that it took away the only resource that certain residents depended on in order to be counted and improve the response rate in East L.A.
As of May 5, East L.A. has a response rate about 40% compared to the 66% in 2010. Currently, the area has about 24.2% of households who have no home internet and a quarter only have a cellular plan, according to the Census 2020 Hard to Count Map.
Since COVID-19 dominated the headlines, the census became neglected even though advertisements are broadcasted during commercial breaks.
To increase the response rate and help people fill out the form online, InnerCity Struggle, a community organization dedicated to achieve social and economic justice for youth and families in the East side of L.A., are active on social media platforms and their website encouraging residents to take part of the census.
“Since the pandemic, we have pivoted our strategy to virtual outreach,” said Josselyn Perez, a volunteer coordinator for InnerCity Struggle. “We understand that these are moments of uncertainty so we continuously try to provide our community with resources and information — not just about the census.”
The organization had plans to host a CAK at their office in Boyle Heights and canvassing, but turned to social media to get the word out through infographics.
Their social media accounts contains English and Spanish census posts for its followers to inform them about the importance of filling out the form and what to expect.
Not only InnerCity Struggle are performing virtual outreach, but also conducting a remote phone banking program, where volunteers use a database to reach out to its supporters and the general community, to talk about the census.
This tactic helps certain residents to be counted.
“Many of the people we speak to on the phone are monolingual seniors who sometimes the only thing they have is a landline,” said Perez. “So for those folks, we give them the census assistance phone number where they can call and get enumerated.
Unfortunately, InnerCity Struggle cannot fill out the census for residents, but using the phone bank is helping the community to get counted.
Responding to the census is important for Americans because it will determine how many congressional seats will represent each state in Congress and how federal tax dollars will be distributed over the next 10 years.
For the Eastside of L.A., the census provides information to cover 130 crucial government programs that the community uses everyday like, Medical, Head Start and the Pell Grant.
“For every person not counted in the census, that translates to $2,000 per year for the next ten years,” said Perez. “So with an undercount, we risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds for our community.”
