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Asian American Village News

By The Associated Press

Census 2010 to include outreach in more languages

By JULIANA BARBASSA

Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- With the launch of the 2010 census less than six months away, the U.S. Census Bureau is preparing its most targeted and far-reaching language outreach yet to more accurately count the country's immigrants.

Census Director Robert Groves briefed San Francisco elected officials and community groups Wednesday on ways the federal agency is working to connect with residents who speak languages other than English.

"We're come to realize that a census run out of Washington, D.C., on a one-size-fits-all model doesn't work very well," Groves said. "We're working to customize the experience, to use words, languages that make sense and make it easier for people to participate."

The campaign, expected to cost about $300 million, is designed to remedy that, Groves said.

Part of the outreach will occur through Census Bureau alliances with institutions such as churches and ethnic organizations to inform communities and overcome fears of working with the federal government.

A media campaign, including advertising in ethnic newspapers, will also help get the word out, Groves said.

Along with a 10-question form in English, postcards in five other languages -- Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Russian and Spanish -- will point users to a Web site in their language.

Assistance guides in scores of languages, designed to walk a respondent through the English forms, will be distributed through places such as barber shops and supermarkets, or delivered door-to-door, Groves said. Over-the-phone help will be offered in up to 59 languages.

Bilingual forms in English and Spanish will be mailed to 13.5 million households in neighborhoods where at least one-fifth of households report speaking primarily Spanish.

Some advocacy groups wanted the Census Bureau to ask immigration authorities to stop workplace enforcement raids during the nationwide count, so immigrants feel less fearful of the government.

One federal agency cannot ask another to stop doing its work, Groves said, but the confidentiality of respondents will be protected.

"We assure them their participation will not lead to any harm, in any way," Groves said. "We take this oath very seriously. This is a very safe thing to do."

San Francisco is investing more than $800,000 in community outreach because undercounting comes at significant cost to the city.

In 2008, the city challenged the 2007 census estimate. New figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau recognized an additional 34,209 residents, giving San Francisco a total population of 799,185 -- and additional federal funds.

"Given how much federal funding is at stake, we have to invest in this," said David Chiu, a San Francisco supervisor.

On the state level, a PricewaterhouseCoopers census study estimated that more than half a million Californians were not counted in the last census, which meant a loss for the state of more than $1.5 billion in federal dollars.

Md. county blocks big Korean-American church plan

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) -- The Frederick County Planning Commission has rejected plans for a large, Korean-American Baptist church on rural land near Sugarloaf Mountain.

Panel members denied the project on a 6-1 vote Wednesday after questioning whether a planned well and septic system were enough for the nearly 1,200-seat Global Mission Church, its 60 meeting rooms and 500-seat dining hall.

An attorney for the Silver Spring-based church is calling the decision unreasonable.

The church could appeal to the county's zoning appeals board.

Attorney David Severn also says he's concerned about commission chairwoman Catherine Forrence's comment that the county should consider limiting the size and scope of places of worship on agricultural land.

Native Hawaiians to boycott "Princess" film

HONOLULU (AP) -- At least one group representing Native Hawaiians is planning to avoid the premiere of a new film based on the life of Princess Kaiulani, titled "The Barbarian Princess."

The movie is to show once on Friday as part of the 2009 Hawaii International Film Festival.

Leaders of Ahahui Kaiulani say the movie is insulting to the princess. Other critics who have read the script say the movie inaccurately portrays the princess and Hawaiian history.

The group instead will hold its traditional tribute to Kaiulani and her family at the Royal Mausoleum, where the princess is buried. Friday is the princess' birthday.

Other Native Hawaiian groups are also asking members to avoid the movie in deference to Ahahui Kaiulani.

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Information from: The Honolulu Advertiser,

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com

Vietnam Project helps people help themselves

By POLLY SUMMAR

Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- Sometimes a single conversation can change a life. Or a multitude of lives.

Ten years ago, Marv Freedman was talking with a friend, Janie Oakes, about a trip he had taken to Vietnam.

"I'd had this idea that I could buy a used incubator for $1,000," said Freedman, explaining that a huge number of premature infants were dying there because there were no incubators.

It turned out that $1,000 was nowhere near what a used incubator would cost, but something about Freedman's desire to help had touched Oakes.

"A week later, I got two checks in the mail," Freedman said. "One from Janie and one from a friend of hers."

That made him think: "If people give you money just because they hear the story, maybe you should ask."

So Freedman asked both Oakes and her friend if they would want to join him in starting a nonprofit.

"Janie said yes, the other said no, but she's been a solid supporter."

The Vietnam Project, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in September, is one of the barest of the bare-bones nonprofits. "We have a no-expense model," said Freedman, adding that he and Oakes didn't even hire a lawyer to do the paperwork for the nonprofit, opting to do it themselves.

"Our only expenses are $10 to the PRC (Public Regulation Commission) every year to file an annual report, and some costs to wire-transfer money," Freedman said.

"When we started this, Janie asked, 'Are we just going to be reinventing the wheel, repeating what other nonprofits already do?"'

The two were determined the organization would be different. Its philosophy is that the highest form of charity is to help people help themselves, and it does that primarily through education and business start-ups.

"And we deal with people person to person," said Freedman. "We don't use third parties."

For that, they contact schools and villages directly through the "People's Committee" in each town.

"Our general operating philosophy is to do things that are culturally appropriate," Freedman said. "We go in and say, 'Here, generally, is what we do. What do you need done and how, generally, do you do it?"'

Freedman and his wife, Kim Phuong Nguyen, who is Vietnamese, visit the country once or twice a year -- on their own money -- to meet with the people they are helping.

On the start-up business side, Freedman said, "There is no microlending; we give it away. These people are so poor."

In one case, a single mother with three children was making about $40 a month. She and her children went out on the streets every day from 5 p.m. until midnight to sell duck embryo eggs, a local favorite. The Vietnam Project gave her $140 to set up a food stall. With the money, she bought a display case, lighted sign, tables, chairs and equipment for cooking and serving food.

"She now works about a block from her house," according to the project's Web site, "so her children are either able to stay home in the evening or study while they are helping her at the shop. Today she earns three or four dollars a day, almost three times her previous income."

That is one of the appeals of the project to donors. "So little money goes such a long way there," Oakes said.

In rural areas, the Vietnam Project often buys people an animal to raise. Eventually, the offspring will provide a good profit. The organization also buys coir spinning machines, which are built by a local builder, for those who are interested. "We give them 100 kilos of raw material," Freedman said of the coconut husk fiber. "They can earn money immediately, spinning it into rope."

Freedman said one of the most dramatic assists the project has offered is in paying for lifesaving heart surgery for children. In 2004, a physician in Vietnam asked the project for help. While the organization had never helped in that way before, its board members decided that once they were aware of the problem, they couldn't turn away.

"We don't look at the whys," said Freedman. "We see a need and help."

For both Oakes and Freedman, as for many who came of age during the 1960s, the subject of Vietnam has emotional issues.

"For me, personally, it's 'We broke it, it's up to us to fix it,"' said Freedman, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam for a year between 1965 and 1966.

For Oakes, it was a lack of emotional involvement during those years that triggered her desire to help. "When the war was going on, I was in school, an art student for the most part, I was just making art," said Oakes, saying that she knew almost no one who went to Vietnam. "I felt enormous shame because I was from the period but was hardly affected. So the opportunity to have some impact was very compelling."

Freedman said everyone has different reasons for helping, but the organization has no political views.

Over the past two years, the project has received some $50,000 in contributions. "We're a little worried because contributions are down a little," said Freedman. "The need is overwhelming."

Freedman said on each trip he makes, there's a moment when he thinks, "I can't scratch the surface." But he said the words of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who is now a prisoner in Burma, inspire him: "We always think that everybody can do a little bit more, if not a lot more."

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On the Net:

The Vietnam Project: www.vietnamproject.org

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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com

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