The nation’s black newspaper executives are asking for $10 million from the U.S. Census Bureau to advertise for the 2010 Census, but the government is reportedly only offering $2.5 million.

NNPA officials told Richard Prince - who writes a diversity column for The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education - that the NNPA would use the $10 million in advertising to encourage African Americans across the country to participate in the 2010 Census.  

Commerce officials said the Census Bureau would take a second look at its $300 million communications campaign to determine if there are ways to make it better. The bureau kicks off its ad campaign next month and will conduct its head count via mail and door-to-door canvassing next spring.

Last month, a coalition of civil rights leaders met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke in an effort to prevent an undercount of African-Americans in the upcoming 2010 Census. In 2000, the Census Bureau said about 4.5 million people were mistakenly overlooked - mostly African Americans and Hispanics.

"The undercount of blacks in the last count and the overcount of whites by 1 percent is not just a Washington statistic," Rev. Al Sharpton told reporters. "It manifests itself in goods and services that cost us. We want what is ours.”

Marc Morial, president of The National Urban League, told BlackAmericaWeb.com the historic undercounting of blacks in the 2000 Census has adversely impacted the level of government funds allocated to black communities. 

Census results, Morial said, determine how more than $400 billion in federal dollars are distributed across the country for services and facilities like hospitals, job training and public works projects and how many seats each state receives in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Morial told Locke that an advertising campaign to promote the Census should include more black media organizations to reach millions of African-American citizens. Morial also said the government’s community outreach efforts should be more “robust” and better funded to connect with a broader cross-section of the black community.

“We shared our concerns and our commitment to prevent an undercount,” Morial said in an interview with BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Secretary Locke listened intently. He agreed with our concerns."

But a spokesman for the Census Bureau said that “$2.5 million will go to 55 designated markets and 140 newspapers - 53 percent of the total national media buy is being spent on local, ethnic, in-language audiences across 28 languages. This is compared to 2000 when only 40 percent of the total buy was for local/ethnic audiences. The spending for 2010 is a 125 percent increase over 2000," according to Prince.  

“During the early 'awareness phase' of the campaign, the Census plans to reach 95 percent of its target audience 10 times through schools, paid media and 'earned media,' such as news stories. Later, each targeted person will have been reached 20 times with the message,” Prince wrote.

In its 2010 budget request, the Obama administration increased Commerce Department funding by $4.5 billion to ensure it has "the resources it needs to complete the 2010 Census effectively, efficiently and on time." The department, which oversees the Census Bureau, also received $1 billion in the economic stimulus package.

"African-Americans and other minority communities have been consistently undercounted in past censuses, so we’re grateful to the respected leaders we met with for their commitment to achieving an accurate count,” Locke said in a statement. “The ongoing conversation we continued today will be valuable as Census Day approaches and we progress toward our goal of ensuring that every U.S. resident is accurately counted.”

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These Civil Rights Pimping Organizations dont care about the count, they only care about getting a slice funding for the census.

by   
Uncletom
January 6, 2010, 11:49 am
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Will this really make a difference? How many of us will open the door for the census taker or provide requisite information? If we were undercounted it is our own fault. Is the under-count a result of all the blacks in prison or even college? This is a non-issue. If blacks arent those providing goods and services having robust numbers in the census will not guarantee us more goods and services!

by   
MacBen
January 6, 2010, 10:31 am
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NOT ONLY MUST OUR VOTES AND VOICES BE HEARD,WE MUST MAKE SURE OUR BODIES ARE COUNTED.

by   
James Sample
January 6, 2010, 7:13 am
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