NALEO Educational Fund Executive Director Arturo Vargas (shown second from right) alongside his 88-year-old mother, Antonieta Vargas (shown in red blouse), and his 88-year-old aunt, Clotilde Castillo Serna (on far right), presents Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) (shown holding poster) with an outreach poster titled “Respeto” (“Respect” in Spanish), as part of a nationwide campaign, “ya es hora ¡HAGASE CONTAR!, urging all Latinos to fill out and return their Census forms.  Mrs. Vargas, who is pictured on the poster, autographed a copy for the Congresswoman as her staff looked on.  

The Census is our national population count.  The information gathered as part of the 2010 census will be the basis for determining political representation and distributing resources across the 50 states and Puerto Rico for the next 10 years.  Local schools, hospitals, roads, senior centers, jobs programs, and many other services rely on this federal funding to provide critical services to the community. 
 
Now through July 10, residents who did not return their Census form before April 16 can expect a visit by a Census worker.

These Census workers are friends and neighbors hired to make sure every community gets an accurate count. Census takers – called enumerators – will only ask questions related to the 2010 Census.  The census form consists of 10 questions and takes about 10 minutes to answer.  All of the information collected is kept confidential.  By law, the census employees cannot share individual responses with anyone, including housing authorities, other federal agencies or law enforcement entities. The punishment for violating this law is a $250,000 fine and five years in prison.

For more information, please call 1-800-923-8282 or visit http://2010.census.gov or en español call 1-877-EL-CENSO or visit www.yaeshora.info

The NALEO Educational Fund is the nation's leading 501(c) (3) non-profit, non-partisan organization that facilitates the full participation of Latinos in the American political process, from citizenship to public service.