Last week we announced a new partnership with CNN and the James Weldon Johnson Institute of Emory University to convene a series of public discussions about the civil and human rights issues of our day called CNN Dialogues.  Our first event will be August 31 at The Cecil B. Day Chapel of the Carter Center and the topic is The 2010 US Census and the New America.   The discussion features great panelists and will be moderated by Wolf Blitzer.  Tickets are available here.

Wonder what the census has to do with civil and human rights?  Beyond counting population for Congressional representation, the census provides data that defines how our government approaches services and allocation of resources.  It also guarantees that each decade we have  official cause to assess the demographic terms and include shifting dynamics in our national discourse.  For example the census now measures same-sex partnered households and , in Georgia, that number is increasing, which reflects our culture, and will have an impact on policy down the road.

Thirty days from today we will gather to learn more about what the census tells us and reflect on the culture and policy implications in other civil and human rights areas.  Here’s a sampling:

·         The poverty rate measured by the 2010 census was 14.3%, this is the largest percentage of Americans living in poverty in 51 years

·         In preparation for the 2010 census, the US Census Bureau  commissioned a new definition and a new formula for measuring the number of households with disabled members due to archaic language, rates of nonresponse, and improperly calibrated feeder data

·         37 million Americans were born outside the US-nearly 10 % of all Americans

·         The number of children in the US living without health insurance has declined from 11% to 9.9%

·         People of color are starting businesses at double the national rate

(source: www.census.gov)

 

Join us on the 31^st to explore these and other findings that will impact all of us.