In what ways do race data help communities?

Ensure Equal Opportunity: Knowing the races of community members helps governments and communities enforce antidiscrimination laws, regulations, and policies. For example, race data are used in the following ways:

• Establish and evaluate the guidelines for federal affirmative action plans under the Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program.
• Monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act.
• Monitor and enforce equal employment opportunities under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Identify segments of the population who may not be getting needed medical services under the Public Health Service Act.

Understand Changes: Researchers, advocacy groups, and policymakers are interested in knowing if the distribution of the different racial groups changes by age, sex, relationship, and housing tenure.

Administer Programs for Specific Groups: Knowing how many people are eligible to participate in certain programs helps communities, including tribal governments, ensure that programs are operating as intended. For example, the Indian Housing Block Grant program, Indian Community Development Block Grant program, and Indian Health Service all depend on accurate statistics of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Data for the American Indian and Alaska Native population come from the question about a person’s race.