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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2009)
Why the 2010 Census is Important to Indian Country By Claire Wood, Data Coordinator, Tribal Planning, or agency, e.g. not the IRS, not law enforcement entities nor Tribal hous ing authorities. Content from a new website en titled www.indiancountrycounts.org - check it out. Did You Know? Census data is the basis for more than $l billion that annually flows into In dian Country to build Tribal housing and make improvements, maintain and construct roads and provide em ployment and training programs. • American Indians and Alaska Natives historically have experienced some of the highest census undercounts of any population in the United States - 12.2 percent of Natives on reserva tions were missed in the 1990 census compared to 1.2 percent of all people in the United States and about 4.5 percent of Tribal people were missed in 2000. Native people were entirely excluded from the first six censuses and under counted for generations, up to and beyond 1962, when the last Ameri can Indians were granted the right to vote. Census answers are private and con fidential. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share an individual's or a household’s answers with any person • Why You Should be Counted in the 2010 Census Power: In the same way that Native people have begun to flex our muscles at the polls through Native Vote, it’s time for Tribal citizens to be fully counted in the 2010 Census. An accurate count of American Indians and Alaska Natives is necessary for the upcoming state redis tricting processes. The same skills and tools that Tribes used in recent Native Vote campaigns are valuable to census outreach and the Indian Country Counts efforts. Funding and Community Resources: Being counted as Native will directly benefit you, your family and your Tribal community. The census taken every 10 years is the only uniform count of the U.S. popula tion. producing figures for the nation as a whole and tor every geographic area within it - down to the smallest American Indian reservation and Alaska Native vil lage. The census is the only source of this kind of data, with thousands of uses that benefit all American Indians and Alaska If you, members of your family, Natives. Just a few of the potential uses friends and neighbors retuse to be counted of Census data include: or are missed: Housing, con’t from page 1 They've lived with Rex's brother, Ross, in Otis for the last two-and-a- half years. "I'm on Social Security and disabil ity and am not working,” said Rex, who has diabetes and has had two open heart surgeries, “h took a long time to get here, but the wait was worth it.” Rex also described the services he's received through the Siletz Tribe's Elders and Housing programs, including Meals on Wheels, Lifeline, home health aide services and someone to help clean. I his is a place where I can live out my retirement and be comfortable.” said Rex Then in August, the Tribe received notice it would get $2.9 million in ad ditional Recovery Act funds through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. These funds were desig- nated to build eight additional units at Neachesna Village plus eight more on Gwee-Shut Road. These Indian Community Develop ment Block Grant and Native American Housing Block Grant funds are provided through the Recovery Act to help Ameri can Indian Tribes improve the quality of their housing, develop viable com munities, promote energy efficiency and create jobs. Recovery Act Funds Spur More Housing As the Neachesna Village units were being built, the Tribe got word it would receive $ 1.468.998 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, which were designated for I I new low-rent apart ments on Gwee-Shut Road in Siletz. RECOGNITION - The Siletz Tribal Housing Department staff is congratulated during the open house. From / to r: Terry Fisher, Rob Smith. Vai Hibdon, Jessica Garcia. Gail Johnson. Rachelle Endres. Jeanette Aradoz, Christina McCord. Yvonne Messmer. Marti Simmons, Frank Aspria, Marcos Muniz- Strong, Perry Johnson, Jerry Howell, Mike Fisher. Randy Christensen. John Pfleiger and Brandon Hammett. 4 Siletz News • Analyzing the need for Head Start services in each area of a reserva tion. The census provides counts of American Indian and Alaska Na tive children for every community within an American Indian or Alaska Native area. • Planning the development of facili ties for Tribal Elders. By showing the distribution of American Indian and Alaska Native people by age, census figures can help determine appropri ate locations for community facilities in Native areas. • Strengthening programs for Tribal members living in big cities. Census numbers provide the only detailed profiles available of off-reservation American Indian and Alaska Native people, profiles used by the urban Native centers that serve them. • Supporting reservation economic de velopment. Tribal entrepreneurs and prospective investors use statistics about the size of the potential market for local services, along with the size of the potential labor force needed to produce the goods and services a business might offer. • November 2009 HAPPY COUPLE - Kathy and Rex Standi ford stand in their new duplex during the open house. • • • This denies your community money to which it is entitled on the basis of its population size. This reduces the political representa tion of your community in Congress as well as state and local legislative bodies. This leads to poor judgment in planning community services and facilities and in locating new business enterprises. Participating in the census by com pleting your household's questionnaire is easy. The form is short and simple, asking only basic questions about each person’s sex, age and race and whether the house, apartment or mobile home is owned or rented. It should take the average household only about 10 minutes to complete the form. Being counted means standing up for yourself, your family and your Tribal community as an American Indian or Alaska Native. The U.S. Census Bureau will have an informational booth at the Siletz Tribal Restoration Pow-Wow on Nov. 14. Please stop by for more information. If you can't see us there, you can check the census website at http://2010. census.gov/2010census/ or www.indi- ancountrycounts.org; or call me with questions at (toll free) 800-922-1399, ext. 1276, or 541 -444-8276.
