The atrium of Hartford City Hall will be swaying to rhythms from around the world at International Day on Friday, March 19. This cultural showcase, which is being organized by the City of Hartford Complete Count Committee, will also serve as a community conversation on the 2010 U.S. Census. Information on the census and why it’s important for all Hartford residents to participate will be available at the event, which will run from 5 – 8 pm.
International Day will feature performances reflecting the cultures of Turkey, Mexico, Somalia, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. Hats and other items will be distributed to the first 200 people who come to the event.
The Hartford Complete Count Committee has designed International Day as a way to welcome all of the city’s ethnic communities into the Census process. “The Census is all about inclusion, everyone must be counted, rich and poor, young and old, citizen and non-citizen. If we are truly to be a government ‘of the people, by the people and for the people,’ it is critical to know exactly who those people are and how the government can best serve their needs,” said Lillian Ruiz, Executive Director of the City of Hartford, Human Relations Department and Chair of the Complete Count Committee.
“We want to reach out to all of Hartford’s groups, especially those who feel they have been left out of the mainstream. It is vital to show everyone that participating in U.S. Census this year is easy, safe and enormously beneficial to us all and our children,” said Homa Naficy, Chair of the Complete Count Committee’s immigration sub-committee.
The U.S. Census has been taken every 10 years since 1790. All residents of the United States, citizens as well as non-citizens, are counted. The Census is designed to be a complete count of every person, regardless of citizenship status, residing in the United States on April 1, 2010.
According to U.S. Census Bureau officials, only 46 percent of Hartford residents responded by mail to the last census. Russell Hicks, Manager of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Hartford office, said that Hartford’s response rate was significantly lower than both Connecticut’s overall response rate of about 63 percent and the national average of approximately 61 percent. To increase response, the census form has been reduced to only 10 questions this year. By law, the U.S. Census Bureau cannot share the information it obtains on individuals with any other government agency, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Immigration and Naturalization. Census information is even exempt from the Patriot Act.
