Put on in part by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hawaii Community Foundation, Pacific Resource Partnership, Hawaii Executive Collaborative, and the Hawaiʻi Government Complete Count Committee, the free event featured a short program, live entertainment, and bento lunches.

Some of our partners and other local organizations were also there to table and present information about how the census impacts us all. Census recruiters informed participants about the benefits of working with the Census Bureau to facilitate an accurate count in their communities.

We mahalo all the organizations and people involved in making this event possible, and were grateful to be part of it!

For more information, visit https://census.hawaii.gov/

The group discussed the 2020 census, including what our Native Hawaiian and Micronesian communities can expect and why an accurate census count is so important.

“We appreciate the opportunity to work together,” said Director of the U.S. Census Bureau Steven Dillingham. “We need an understanding of what the communities around the country are facing.”

One area of concern brought up by We Are Oceania staff was the worry that data collected by the census would be turned over to authorities, especially regarding housing or numbers of families in households.

The representatives assured that the data is not turned over to authorities, and that what is collected (name, age, address) can just as easily be found on the internet. There was no mention of the current contested citizenship question.

Joske Bautista, Special Assistant to the Director, emphasized the need to learn from communities. Echoing the sentiments of his colleagues, he described the immense value in setting up partnerships with organizations “on the ground” who work with local populations every day — organizations like We Are Oceania and Partners in Development Foundation.

To learn more about the census, visit census.gov.