Demographer advises Ukrainian groups to take a close look at U.S. Census stats (04/06/03)

Demographer advises Ukrainian groups to take a close look at U.S. Census stats

by Andrew Nynka

KERHONKSON, N.Y. - A closer look at U.S. Census data shows that many Ukrainian organizations could be ignoring hundreds of thousands of self-declared Ukrainians living in the United States, a specialist in the field of demographics told a summit of Ukrainian organizations on March 29.

"We are creating a recipe for failure," said Dr. Oleh Wolowyna, president of Informed Decisions Inc., during a summit devoted to looking at demographics and communication in the Ukrainian American diaspora.

"Unfortunately many of our community leaders do not understand much of the data on our community," Dr. Wolowyna, a demographer who has been analyzing census data from 1970 through 2000, said during the 2003 Summit of Ukrainian American Organizations.

According to U.S. Census data collected in the year 2000, 893,000 people self-identified themselves, at least to some degree, as Ukrainians. Of that number, Dr. Wolowyna said that it is estimated that only 116,000 speak Ukrainian at home.

"We're missing out," Dr. Wolowyna said, referring to those organizations that require their members to speak Ukrainian or look down on members who don't use that language. Some 777,000 self-declared Ukrainians, or roughly 87 percent of the total, threaten to be pushed away from participating in organizations which could badly use their help.

Speaking after the conference, which was held at the Ukrainian National Association's Soyuzivka resort, many of the participants related a sense of astonishment regarding Dr. Wolowyna's presentation. Several said they were completely unaware of the trend and said that they doubted Ukrainian organizations were addressing the situation.

The U.S. Census is regarded by experts as the most reliable source of data on the Ukrainian community because of its ability to take a large, representative sample of the population in the United States. Dr. Wolowyna said that, although the census has its limitations, ignoring the data collected could mean ignoring important trends that have been developing among Ukrainian Americans.

Data from the 1990 Census showed that the population of Ukrainians who do not speak the language tend to be well-educated, young, successful and in powerful and influential positions in their communities.

"People who speak Ukrainian [in the United States] are dying out - if we don't recognize that fact we have to admit we are fighting a losing battle," Dr. Wolowyna told the 30 people who gathered for the summit.

Another significant trend, Dr. Wolowyna said, is that much of the most recent immigration - composed of roughly 150,000 Ukrainians - is settling in non-traditional areas in states like Washington and Oregon, were Ukrainian communities are not as active or organized. "We must be conscious of this fact - the dispersion phenomenon," said Dr. Wolowyna, who himself lives in North Carolina.

"The censuses provide a unique opportunity for analyzing, in an objective and quantitative manner, the size, characteristics and future of any ethnic group in America. This allows us not only to study Ukrainians in detail, and special topics like language assimilation, but also to measure trends between 1980, 1990 and 2000, and extrapolate from them into the future," Dr. Wolowyna said.

Organizers of the summit, which sought to bring various members of Ukrainian organizations together for an informal discussion on "Demographics and Communication in the Ukrainian American Community," said Dr. Wolowyna's presentation revealed some eye-opening trends and said Ukrainian organizations would do well to take a good look at the data.

Dr. Wolowyna's presentation was followed by a roundtable format discussion on the role of the Ukrainian American media. The session was meant to discuss challenges for the media and its future in a "brainstorming" format - a loose discussion organizers said was intended to "challenge assumptions and find new solutions." However, much of the session was spent on describing the different media organizations present.

Members of various Ukrainian news media, as well as representatives of a community/cultural publication and the Ukrainian Internet portal, Brama, described their organizations. The Ukrainian Weekly, Svoboda, the television program "Kontakt" and the Ukrainian-language magazine Nash Holos also participated in the discussions.

In contrast to last year's inaugural summit, this year's summit drew minimal representation from Ukrainian organizations and, more significantly, many leaders of community organizations were not present.

The summit, organized by members of the Ukrainian Engineers' Society of America and the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America, opened unofficially on Friday night, March 28, with a welcome reception and cocktails. UESA President Andrij Wowk officially convened the summit the next morning with opening remarks, a summary of the past year's inaugural summit and an overview of the 2003 summit program.

According to Mr. Wowk, Sunday's session focused on if, when and how to hold a summit in 2004. He said it was agreed that the next summit should be done by a working group of volunteers and organizations. He also said that discussion focused on how to continue communication among organizations even before the 2004 summit.

Mr. Wowk added that the suggestion for next year's summit - the diaspora on the internet, as part of the broader question of "What should be the role of the Ukrainian media in the diaspora?" - is being considered, since this year's discussions hardly touched the question.

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