PAAIA and Pars Launch Write In Iranian Campaign

Washington, DC — Today, the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) announced its Write In Iranian campaign for the upcoming 2020 Census.  PAAIA is partnering with Pars Equality Center in an effort to increase awareness among the Iranian American community about the importance of participating in the upcoming census.

In 2010, 200,000 Iranian Americans self-identified their heritage after checking the demographic box for ‘Other,’ which allowed for a write-in option. The 2020 Census, for the first time ever, will allow a write-in option irrespective of which demographic box is checked, permitting complete freedom of identification. With this in mind, the goal of the Write In Iranian campaign is to spread awareness of the upcoming census, and to highlight the importance of writing in ‘Iranian.’

The census is a population count of everyone residing in the United States which includes all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas. The census occurs once every ten years and is mandated by the U.S. Constitution (Article 1 section 2).

Data from the census provide the basis for distributing more than $675 billion in federal funds annually to communities across the country to support vital programs, impacting housing, education, transportation, employment, health care, and public policy nationwide. As a result, spending just a few minutes to fill out your census form will help ensure your community gets its fair share of federal and state funding.

As a national partner for the 2020 Census, PAAIA is working to make sure every Iranian American is counted. We will carry on with our efforts over the classification of the Iranian American community and urge the Census Bureau to broaden its options pertaining to reporting of ethnicity.

If you would like to know more about PAAIA’s Write In Iranian campaign for the 2020 Census, you can visit writeiniranian.com

February 18, 2020