Right around three hundred nine million people. That’s the best guess at the moment of how many people live in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau is busy trying to convince as many Americans as possible to return the questionnaire that has been mailed to every household in the country. It asks ten questions about everyone who lives in the home.

But, as Latino USA’s Yasmeen Qureshi reports from New York, it’s not a simple matter to get those questions answered.

Right-click here to download an .mp3 of this segment.

Race & Ethnicity: No Easy Answers

Maria talks with Maria Teresa Kumar, the founding Executive Director of Voto Latino. The organization has been encouraging Latinos to participate in the Census in a number of ways, including a telenovela/PSA campaign called “Be Counted — Represent!”

The campaign targets young people in an effort to get them to talk with their parents about the Census. Voto Latino has been able to reach deep into some communities: using Latino/a celebrities and tools of social networking such as Twitter.

One of the persistent concerns has been the issue of immigration status: it’s taking some convincing to get undocumented immigrants to believe that the Census Bureau will not share information with ICE and other authorities concerned with immigration enforcement.

Right-click here to download an .mp3 of this segment.

Watch an episode of the PSA/telenovela from Voto Latino.