Now that the court has ruled against the use of statistical
sampling, the U.S. Census Bureau looks to the minority higher education
community for assistance
As a Ph.D. student in economics, Daniel Muhammad is accustomed to
using U.S. census data to support the economic development research he
conducts for Howard University’s Center for Urban Progress.
Muhammad has found that census data describing the education,
income, and employment profiles of people living in the communities
surrounding the Washington, D.C., campus is helping him devise economic
strategies tailored to their situation.
“I’ve been looking at economic activity that would be most
beneficial for the community based on the employment status and
educational level of residents there,” Muhammad says.
Although Muhammad admits that data from the 1990 census is becoming
outdated for his research, he says U.S. census statistics represent, by
far, the most comprehensive information accumulated on urban
communities such as the majority-Black neighborhoods near Howard.
“There’s a tendency among community advocates to throw out ideas
without the research to back and support them. The census data helps to
explain the character of a community. And the better picture you have,
the better results will be with economic development efforts,” Muhammad
says.
After the year 2000, researchers, such as Muhammad, and others will
have results of a new census. In the view of many, demographic
information on low-income and working-class urban communities can
empower community activists, public officials, and residents with the
information to lure economic development and secure social services.
Researchers and administrators at colleges and universities based in
racially and ethnically diverse urban communities know all too well the
impact that census data has on those populations.
