The United States ethnic and racial composition has significantly changed since 2000 and is projected to continue growing after the 2010 Census. The U.S. Census Bureau is increasing its efforts to inform and assist a wide variety of ethnic communities and language groups. This includes reaching out to historically undercounted groups such as Polish Americans.
The Census Bureau and its partners are taking several steps to obtain a complete and accurate 2010 count in the Polish American community. Language Assistance Guides will provide in-language help for Polish speakers as they answer the English-language Census form. Additionally, 2010 Census brochures, fact sheets, and answers to frequently asked questions have been created in Polish and are available for download on the Census Web site, www.2010census.gov.
Furthermore, the Census Bureau is increasing efforts to inform Polish Americans about these new resources, and about the importance of filling out the census form. A national advertising campaign will launch in January and continue airing when the census forms are mailed in March of 2010. The campaign will include TV, radio, print, and online advertisements that will be in-language on Polish American media outlets to explain the direct benefits of the census. The data decides how many seats each state occupies in the House of Representatives, and helps allocate over $400 billion in funding to community hospitals, transportation, schools, and emergency services
Polish American organizations and community leaders currently serve as national partners to help reach this audience. The Piast Institute, headed by Dr. Thaddeus Radzilowski, has been a consultant to the Census Bureau for 20 years. “We come together every 10 years to tell the world who we are and for the Polish community it is important. Many programs that are important to civic life are directly impacted by the census,” he says, highlighting the importance of the census.
In addition, several states provide funds for outreach to active non-profit organizations in order to help boost 2010 Census participation in select hard-to-count communities with low participation numbers in the Census2000. With the help of the “Count Me In” project in Chicago, the Polish American Association will target immigrants with limited English skills in 37 traditionally undercounted Chicago neighborhoods and cities around Illinois.
The upcoming census form will be the shortest in history, with only ten short questions asking for information such as name, gender, age, date of birth, race, and whether respondents own or rent their home. There are no questions about immigration status, Social Security Numbers, or political and religious affiliations. All responses are confidential and used for statistical purposes only.
For more information about the 2010 Census, visit http://2010census.gov.
Elena Lauterbach.
Eastern European Team Lead at Allied Media Corp.
elena@allied-media.com
During the month of Ramadan (August 21 – September 19), the U.S. Army 1st Brigade has launched a poster distribution campaign to recruit Arabic translators. For effective results and with a focused effort, the U.S. Army chose to disregard traditional ad placements and take a more personal route. The posters are in Arabic and even include a traditional Ramadan greeting.
You will find posters in the windows of local shops while walking the streets of Paterson, NJ; Brooklyn, NY; Fairfax, VA and other locales densely populated with Arab Americans. These ethnic stores are an integral part of the community; a place to see familiar faces and buy cultural cuisine. It’s great that the U.S. Army 1st Brigade recognizes the importance of these communities and the heavy presence of these retail shops.
Such a distribution campaign is a perfect way to reach out to ethnic communities. There are alternative ways, such as inserting flyers in the in-language newspapers, but hanging a poster in the store is noticeable, attractive and personal. Many of these ethnic communities are concentrated in or near cities, so it’s also likely a customer seeing the poster in one store will see it again in another nearby shop—creating more exposure, higher readership, and a longer-lived message.
Allied Media Corp. provides this service across many ethnic communities including Arab-Americans, Polish-Americans and Russian-Americans. If you’d like to know more about distribution campaigns or ethnic communications in general, check out: www.allied-media.com
If you have interest in becoming a translator for the U.S. Army, visit the website: www. GoArmy.com/translate
Remember: advertising, outreach and recruitment to minorities is most successful when you incorporate a cultural awareness of your audience!
