Census Awareness Day

Brightly colored balloons and banners bobbed and waved in the wind Saturday morning, as community volunteers shared information about the upcoming Census with Hmart shoppers. The awareness event was sponsored by the Atlanta chapter of the Korean American Coalition.

The event was held at the 60,000-square-foot Super Hmart on Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth. The upscale Asian grocer store attracts thousands of shoppers each week. Hmart was founded in 1982 as a small corner market in Queens, New York, by Korean immigrant Il Yeon-Kwon.

New Jersey-based Hmart has received national praise for promoting Census awareness among Asian Americans. The upscale grocery chain owns five stores in Georgia, which has the second fastest-growing Asian American population in the country, according to Census data.
Catherine M. Lee-Park (left), partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau, preaches the importance of being counted in the Census to Korean Americans she sees at Hmart. According to a 2008 Census survey, 54,000 Koreans live in the state of Georgia. Community leaders believe the true count is closer to 120,000.
Historically Koreans and other minority groups have been undercounted in the Census “Education and awareness are needed,” Lee-Park said.

Census employees set up a makeshift office under a tent Saturday morning to stuff 1,500 plastic bags with literature and freebies. The U.S. Census Bureau employs some 1.4 million seasonal workers to count the approximate 300 million people living on American soil.

Census forms are available in six languages, including Korean. Help is available in 59 languages. The Census is conducted once every 10 years, as required by the U.S. Constitution.

Snippets of conversations in English, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese mingled in the breeze as volunteers chatted with Hmart customers about the importance of being counted in the upcoming Census.

Community volunteers Michael Park (left) and Ike Chi enjoyed the nippy weather and sense of camaraderie at Saturday's event.

Many immigrant populations need to be reassured that their private information is safe, said Lee-Park. "The Census does not ask for social security numbers or driver's license numbers or citizenship status," she said.

"Census counts are directly tied to the federal dollars communities receive for important services such as education, social services, and other community development opportunities,” asserted Lee-Park.