LOS ANGELES – The ya es hora Campaign, an unprecedented coalition of national Spanish- language media and prominent Latino organizations will brief national media on the third phase of its historic civic engagement campaign—ya es hora ¡HAGASE CONTAR! (It’s Time, Make Yourself Count!).  In 2010, the campaign seeks to motivate and inform the nearly 50 million U.S. Latinos to participate in the 2010 Census.

Historically, the U.S. Census Bureau has had a poor track record of enumerating the growing Latino population.  In 2000, despite producing a net over-count of the total population, the 2000 Census produced an undercount of Latinos, equaling about 3% (or one million Latinos).   The ya es hora ¡HAGASE CONTAR!  (It’s Time, Make Yourself Count!) campaign will seek to enhance the Bureau’s efforts to count Latinos, through a sustained and aggressive community education initiative that seeks to mobilize hundreds of local organizations on the ground, and saturate the market over the airwaves.

Partners in this phase of the ya es hora Campaign include Entravision Communications, impreMedia, League of United Latin American Citizens, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, NALEO Educational Fund, National Council of La Raza, Service Employees International Union and Univision Communications Inc.

What:	Press Briefing: ya es hora Census Participation Campaign
Who:	Principals from Partner Organizations
When:	April 1, 2009 (TBD) EDT
Where:	The National Press Club (Lisagor Room)  529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor Washington, D.C.  20045