SAN ANTONIO, Texas – There are more than 100,000 American Indians in Texas, and Native volunteers there are working hard to ensure they are all counted in the 2010 Census.

The American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions, a nonprofit organization in San Antonio, is Census central and its volunteers and local tribal leaders are spreading the word about how important it is to participate in this year’s count.

The AIT-SCM has formed a Tribal Complete Count Committee that is developing strategies to encourage participation among the state’s diverse – and largely unacknowledged – Native population.

“The implications of representation are immense for Native people,” said Nichole S. Prescott, a citizen of the Miami Nation of Oklahoma, leader of its Women’s Council, an educator, writer, community activist, and member of the committee.

The committee was formed by AIT’s Executive Director Ramon Juan Vasquez. The San Antonio area is part of the larger Dallas region in the eastern section of Texas.

“The AIT along with several local tribal community leaders are spearheading this effort in San Antonio,” Prescott said. “We’re trying to put together a city-wide, region-wide search to spread the word about the Census and clarify some of the misconceptions about self-naming on the Census ballot as well as explain why it is so imperative for Native peoples to identify themselves as such on the Census.”

Census numbers impact the federal government’s Indian policies and can have a profound affect on funding for health, education, housing, law enforcement and other human services in Native communities.

Approximately 4.2 million American Indians/Alaska Natives were counted in the April 2000 census with estimates that the actual population was undercounted by more than 12 percent. By the time the Census Bureau compiled its annual thumbnail update in July 2002, it reported an estimate of 103,000 additional Native people, using a growth rate of 2.4 percent.

“We want an accurate count of American Indian and Alaska Natives and we want an accurate count of the U.S. population,” said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves.

“In addition to having a portrait of America, the Census determines the distribution of over $400 billion a year in taxpayer money back to the people. The Census has to be accurate in order for the distribution of those funds to be appropriate and fair.”

AIT-SCM was formed in 1994 by members of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation to strengthen their Native American community and culture. The fledgling nonprofit quickly became a vehicle to provide a vast array of services and programs that address the needs of not only the Tap Pilam, but a diverse population of indigenous people – from Native American communities to Latino/Hispanic populations. AIT-SCM provides services based on traditional Native American teachings and has become the established Native organization in San Antonio providing essential cultural, social, economic and educational programs for the community.

“It’s a pan-tribal or inter-tribal organization, because we really only have a couple of federally recognized tribes here. There is sort of a hodge-podge of various tribes that still function as tribes, but don’t have that recognition and the AIT serves an inter-tribal council to address Indian issues in Texas,” Prescott said.

The Native community in Texas has both unique qualities and particular problems when it comes to encouraging participation in the Census.

“A lot of the American Indians here are multi-racial. They inter-married with a lot of the Hispanic population, and it creates a whole lot of other issues when you go to check off your identity on the Census. A lot of people check off Hispanic and don’t say I’m also American Indian. A lot just leave off with, ‘Hey, I speak Spanish and I’m Catholic so I’m going to leave off with that,’” Prescott said.

She said some of the Native American population in the area is illiterate and some fear being revealed as undocumented immigrants and won’t even talk to Census-takers.

“So we’re trying to convey several messages. One of them is that no one is going to ask you about your immigration status. The other part is to help them become familiar with the Census ballot so they understand they can check multiple boxes, and we also help lead them through that process so when they do have the Census-taker visit they don’t just feel overwhelmed and reject the whole process.”

The Census Bureau is making a statewide effort to include all of the area’s American Indian population and has stationed Ben Tremillo, a member of its staff in the AIT office, but he could not be reached for comment.

Prescott, who was born in Oklahoma and raised in Texas, earned her post-graduate degree in education in New York and returned to Texas to work, said she is helping with technology, information-gathering and communications. The committee plans several public service announcements and ads as part of its outreach.

Prescott would like to draw more attention to the Native population in Texas in general.

“The issues we face are similar to (those in) New Mexico and Arizona along the border, but nobody ever talks about Texas and the Native population here and we have one of the quickest growing populations of Native people in the country.”