Extra-Push In Brooklyn To Get Caribbean Immigrants Counted
2010 Census trying to reach “under-counted” communities in 2000

By Tony Best

With perhaps the largest concentrations of people from the Caribbean living outside of the islands and coastal states, Brooklyn is experiencing a major effort to get West Indians counted during the 2010 Census.

And the “extra push,” says Dr. Roy Hastick, President of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, CACCI, is being undertaken by his organization in order to ensure that New York state and the City in general and Brooklyn in particular get their “fair share” of U.S. federal financial assistance which in turn can mean employment for people in the borough.

“It is imperative that every household fill out the census form and include everyone living in the household,” Hastick told more than 20 community leaders, religious ministers, representatives of elected officials, business owners and others interested in Census.

“Our community stands to gain so much. For every household that’s counted in the District, the community receives resources from the government. This means better schools and hospitals, safer streets, cleaner neighborhoods, more economic investment and more stable and economically thriving neighborhoods.”

CACCI has joined the U.S. Census Bureau in the massive drive across Brooklyn, especially in Central, North and East Brooklyn, long considered “hard-to-register” communities, populated by immigrants from almost every Caribbean country, including Grenada, St. Vincent, Jamaica, Trinidad an Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

The Chamber launched its “outreach and mobilization initiative last weekend at the Flatbush Caton Market, a small business trading center where more than 40 entrepreneurs sell every from furniture, clothes, music and food to toiletries and a range of other items from stalls that dot the single story facility.

“High response rates to determine how many elected representatives will come from our community and the degree of political and economic power we will have” Dr. Hastick added.

Dr. Waldaba Stewart, a CACCI Vice President and director of the chamber’s census project, who also addressed the gathering spoke of the importance of “being counted” because of its potential impact on elected representation at the federal, state and local government levels.

“Almost every elected official in our communities owe their seats to the Census and to the work which may of us undertook, dating back to the 1970s to ensure that the Caribbean immigrant community was represented in Albany and at City Hall,” was the way Stewart put it. “We use the census data to press the case for adequate representation for our communities.

That was why the chamber was pushing to “encourage our partners who are well established within the community to spread the word that filling out and returning the census form is a big win for our families and out communities,” added Stewart, a former New York State Senator. “It’s about maintaining electoral power, getting sufficient resources for our community and better future for our children.

It is estimated that Brooklyn lost almost $200 million in federal assistance because of a low response to the 2000 census.

Using the Flatbush market as the headquarters for the mobilization and outreach campaign, CACCI is targeting churches, housing projects, schools, community institutions, neighborhood bodies, homeless shelters and other centers where people meet.

“We are reaching out to people in Districts 14 and 17 in Flatbush and East Flatbush, areas that have large immigrant populations from the Caribbean, central and South America, not so mention Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Stewart also pointed out that the Census Bureau would also be hiring workers for the push to get people counted.

“There is no need to worry about immigration status because the information provided is confidential and can’t be shared with immigration authorities,” said Dr. Hastick.

NY CARIB NEWS HEADLINES - Click On The Link Below To Read Story

1. US Assails Region's Practices

2. A Study in Contrast

3. A Meeting of the Haitian Diaspora Next Week in D.C.

4. Officials Pleased with Increased Tourist Arrivals

5. Haitian Women: Victims In And Out Of The Home

6. `Get With It’ – Prime Minister Thompson On the CCJ

7. PM Outlines New Taxes In Multi-Million Dollar National Budget

8. Jamaican Dancehall Stars At Centre Of Row

9. IMF Team Makes Presentation to Government

10. CSME Implementation Affected By Global Financial Crisis

11. New Integrity Commission Sworn into Office

12. Government Targets Highest International Standards

13. World Sculptors To Bid For A Place In Underwater Park

14. Labour Minister Tells Nurses Take What You Can Get Now

15. Momentum Builds for Technical Meeting

16. PM Sues Opposition Leader for Slander

17. Preval wants Presidential Poll

18. Extra-Push In Brooklyn To Get Caribbean Immigrants Counted