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.