Overall, AALDEF recognized that the Census Bureau did a pretty good job reaching out to Asian Americans, but it did identify some problem areas that should be addressed before the next census. Here are some of the key recommendations included in AALDEF's report:
- Provide greater public assurances about confidentiality protections. Despite the Bureau’s numerous statements about the confidentiality of census data, community groups still needed further assurances. For example, a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) confirming that the USA Patriot Act would not override the confidentiality provisions of the Census Act came very late in the process, and many people were not aware of DOJ's statements;
- Provide a mechanism for knowledgeable community partners to review translated materials before they are final. Community leaders complained that the word for "census" had been poorly translated in Vietnamese and Bangla;
- Develop promotional materials about the Advance Letter and Be Counted forms to ensure that limited English proficient households are aware of the ways in which one could obtain language assistance in filling out the census form;
- Incorporate a prepaid postcard into the Advance Letter so that recipients can mail in their requests for a translated form;
- Provide centralized, concrete information about the steps that individuals should take if they do not receive a census form in the mail, and work with community-based organizations to better publicize language assistance programs;
- Expand efforts to hire bilingual census staff who are well-trained and resemble the racial, ethnic, and linguistic makeup of various neighborhoods;
- Institute an effective system for issuing outreach grants to census partners;
- Establish community-based census task forces to work with CBOs.
