社评0609 人口调查对社区发展之重大意义

人口调查对社区发展之重大意义

近十年来， 大休斯敦地区之亚裔及太平洋岛屿公民之社区发生了重大变化。 整个人口从百分之五跃上百分之二十六， 高达一百二十万人， 这个惊人之数字， 将激速改变我们在各方面之影响力。

休斯敦莱斯大学开德研究中心过去四十年来， 在市民人口调查方面进行了大量工作 。该中心共有六十位工作人员每年预算高达九百万元， 该中心在教育、文化、经济方面之调查报告， 成為当政者非常重要之参考。

昨天上午经李雄及李娟之邀宴， 二十多位社区人士聚集一堂， 就如何在经费及调研方向进行交流 ，我们建议应该从多方面参予。

首先是把数百个亚裔及太平洋岛屿公民之社团及媒体收集完整之资讯， 这是我们社区之社会基础， 应该从这些社团中推荐人选进行调查报告， 并且对不同族裔文字之媒体进行大量文宣，共同关注社会人口调查之重要性。

社区团体及社会人士应该给予经费之支持， 也应该主要用於我们社区之调硏， 换言之， 我们应该提出一套完整之计划和开德中心合作推动。

当天在餐会上，中心主任吐礼博士及副主任波特教授均先后提出报告， 希望今年对我们社区进行紧密合作， 并且得到莱斯大学赵氏亚洲研究中心之大力支持。

今天我们处在一个反华亚裔之社会氛围之中， 对於这项调研工作尤其重要， 对我们而言更是责无旁贷之责任。

The Great Significance Of Surveys For Our Community Development

Over the past decade the community of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the greater Houston area has undergone major changes. The whole population has jumped from 5% to 26% representing I.2 million people. This amazing number will rapidly change our influence in many aspects.

For over forty years, Rice University’s Kinder Institute has done a lot of work on citizen surveys. The center’s reports on education, culture and the economy have become very important reference material for politicians. 

Yesterday we were invited by Nancy Li and Kenny Li for a lunch with more than 20 members of the community. We were invited to discuss how we can work with the Kinder Institute to support them financially and with research. We are here to suggest that first we will need to collect information from hundreds of civic associations and media in our community. Then it will be easy to select a candidate for the center.

Secondly, we need to raise funds to support the center. In the meantime, we will present our completed annual plan to work with the center. 

In the meeting we heard a report from Dr. Turley, the director of the center and professor Potter. They all wanted to urge our community members to be a part of their survey in many ways.

Dr. Anne Chao also is a major supporter of the project. Today we are facing an anti-Chinese and anti- Asian social atmosphere. This resource work is especially important at this time and it is our responsibility.