Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
The Center for Housing and Urban Development's Colonias Program at Texas A&M is aiding the U.S. Census Bureau's effort to get as accurate a count of colonias residents as possible.
"We're talking to residents about the importance of the census, and the impact it makes in colonia communities," said Viky Garcia, a census outreach worker in CHUD's Central Rio Grande Office. "Obviously, we're talking about places that need schools, roads and additional funding for basic infrastructure, so it's important for residents to respond."
Colonias are impoverished, unincorporated and relatively undeveloped villages near population centers along the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border. Many homes in colonias lack basic necessities such as potable water, electricity and sewer systems.
The federal government uses census data to allocate more than $400 billion of funding per year for infrastructure and services such as hospitals, schools, roads, Head Start, senior centers, emergency services and job training centers.
CHUD's promotoras, colonia residents recruited and trained to provide their neighbors with information on health and human services, will be making a push in colonias to make sure people know responding to the census is safe, said Garcia.
“There is a lingering perception, particularly in the colonias, that all government agencies share information and that persons without legal immigrant status are subject to deportation by participating in the census,” Juan Rios, of Casa de Projecto Libertad, a legal services organization, told the Rio Grande Guardian in its Jan 17, 2010 issue. “The community needs to understand that such agencies are independent, do not share such information, and that the census information is entirely confidential and protected by law.”
Garcia said most colonias residents use post office boxes or share boxes and don't receive a census form.
"I'm going out to them, wherever they may be gathering, to get the message out and relieve some of the fear and tension about the census," she said. "I'm visiting food banks, nutrition meetings, English as a Second Language courses, anyplace where groups are."
She is traveling throughout her office's region of approximately 11,500 square miles, which stretches from Zapata County to Val Verde County—an area larger than 7 U.S. states.
Garcia is also working with local media to spread the word.
She was interviewed by KGNS' Pro8News in a report that appeared on the Laredo NBC affiliate's 5 and 10 p.m. news recently, and she helped facilitate a border media coalition's production of a public service announcement with promotoras talking about the importance of the census.
A public service announcement featuring CHUD promotoras is online.
- Posted: Mar. 24, 2010 -
