Counting Hispanics in Little Village’s hands

By Matthew Bellassai and Alex Hollander January 14th, 2010

Crusaders will soon descend upon the community of Little Village, armed with cans of spray paint and posters to cover the walls of this Chicago neighborhood while its neighbors are sound asleep. These people aren’t vandals who seek to deface the city—it’s a city, in fact, that these crusaders care deeply about.
They are members of Enlace, a well-known non-profit organization within the community, working to encourage members of the Little Village neighborhood to fill out their Census forms in the upcoming 2010 U.S. Census. Their mission is to catch their fellow community members by surprise through a guerilla advertising campaign.
Enlace’s late-night adventure will involve the plastering of paper hands – the symbol for next year’s Census – throughout the community before spray-painting messages across them to raise awareness of the Census and encourage community members to participate.
Enlace’s campaign, called “La Villita Cuenta” – or Little Village Counts – is one of many campaigns throughout Illinois and the U.S. that seek to increase the number of people counted by the U.S. Census Bureau next year. Historically, said representatives from Enlace, Little Village has been less than 50 percent counted. Darhiian Espinoza, Enlace’s Economic Development Director and head of the “La Villita Cuenta” campaign, estimates the neighborhood’s true population to be around 120,000.

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[Posted by Julia Martinez]