STARTING TO MAKE L.A. COUNT GOVERNMENT, PRIVATE GROUPS PROMOTE CENSUS AWARENESS.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

Because the 1990 census missed about 4 million Americans, government and community groups have launched an unprecedented outreach campaign for the 2000 census, officials said Thursday.

In Los Angeles, the U.S. Census Bureau will open its 18 offices today as more than $5 million in public and private dollars is spent to advertise and to deliver outreach messages at schools, churches and gatherings of community groups.

Another challenge will be recruiting 20,000 paid census takers to work part-time between January and April, officials said. Those interested can call [phone].

Cardinal Roger Mahony, East Los Angeles boxing star Oscar De La Hoya and salsa queen Celia Cruz are among those featured in local television ads promoting the census in English and Spanish.

``This is far and away the most diverse region in the country and one of the hardest to count,'' said Anthony Greno, a U.S. Census Bureau spokesman in Los Angeles. ``We're teaming up with more community-based programs than ever this time to help us get an accurate count.''

The count plays a key role in determining how much tax money is spent locally and in government representation at local, state and federal levels.

The Census Bureau estimates 835,000 people were not counted in California in 1990, including 305,000 just in Los Angeles County, costing the state at least one seat in Congress and $2 billion in federal funds.

One dramatic sign of an increase over previous efforts is that $24.6 million in being spent on the California Complete Count campaign for the census, compared with nothing in 1990, said Sandy Harrison, a spokesman for the Finance Department. A fifth of the money will go to individual counties, with $1.75 million for Los Angeles.

``It's hard to believe, but after the unexpected undercount in 1990, we want to make sure that doesn't happen this time around,'' he said.

In addition to the $167 million being spent nationwide by the federal government on advertising for the first time, the city and county of Los Angeles have allocated a combined $1.7 million for outreach.

``We didn't really have a comprehensive outreach program last time because we didn't realize the undercount was going to be so drastic,'' said Chris Foley of the county's Complete Count Committee. For the first time in Census Bureau history, the count accuracy actually worsened, Foley said.

Most of the 2000 resources are going to first-time outreach efforts, such as providing materials for all Los Angeles public schools and joining in efforts with religious groups, such as the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is one of the largest groups in the Southland channeling private donations to outreach aimed at Los Angeles Latinos, who the Census Bureau estimates accounted for nearly half the uncounted 1990 population in California.

``The census is about bringing back our tax dollars for local programs, but it's also about making a statement that we're not invisible and we will participate in the political process,'' said Luisa Ollague of MALDEF.