In 2018 the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) became a Census Information Center (CIC). The CIC program was established in 1988, the U.S. Census Bureau entered into a partnership with the National Urban League to conduct a pilot project to make Census data and information available to minority communities.1 Within two years, there were 4 additional organizations serving minority and underserved communities.2 In 2000, the CIC network became an official Census Bureau program expanding to 59 organizations.3 CICs provide access to Census Bureau data products, including the American Community Survey (ACS), through a range of dissemination methods, provide feedback to the Census Bureau on various topics of interest and possible impact to Census data (e.g., differential privacy, race & ethnicity collection and reporting), as well as develop products appropriate for the communities they serve.
In Hawaiʻi, the first and only CIC from 2000 to 2018 was Papa Ola Lokahi (POL). POL served and fulfilled the role of a CIC with a focus on Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. As POL formulated its new strategic direction, it was determined that it was time to transition the CIC to another entity; however, given the focus on Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders POL sought an entity that would continue this focus. The OHA has produced an electronically accessible Native Hawaiian Data Book since 2010. The NHDB includes Census data for Native Hawaiians across topics by State and County levels. Additionally, several Trend Series sheets are produced that also include Census data. POL, US Census Bureau Census Information Center program, and OHA entered discussions to transfer the CIC. OHA entered into a MOA with the Census Bureau in 2018.
(1) Served on the State Planning Committee for the 2020 Census
(2) Supported CNHA NHPI Census 2020 Awareness Raising Campaign
(3) Leveraged our social media capacity to align and extend messaging developed by the CNHA NHPI Census 2020 Awareness Raising Campaign
(4) Provided feedback to the US Census Bureau post-Census regarding the impact of the Differential Privacy algorithm that would provide less detailed data for Native Hawaiians at lower level geographies (e.g., tract, block, and possibly some County level)
(5) Developed data tables for Pacific Islanders on available variables
We welcome you to our new webpage and hope that the links provided here are helpful to you. If you have any questions, then please feel free to email us at: censusinfocenter@oha.org
1 U.S. Census Bureau (2021). Census Information Centers (CIC). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/about/partners/cic.html
2 U.S. Census Bureau (2021). Census Information Centers (CIC). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/about/partners/cic.html
3 U.S. Census Bureau (2021). Census Information Centers (CIC). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/about/partners/cic.html
http://www.ohadatabook.com/
https://www.oha.org/wp-content/uploads/Native-Hawaiian-Population-in-the-United-States-ACS-UCB-2005-2019.pdf
https://www.oha.org/wp-content/uploads/Native-Hawaiian-Population-in-the-State-of-Hawaii-ACS-UCB-2005-2019.pdf
https://www.census.gov/data.html
