Community Action Research with Census Data: The Latino Coalition for a New Los Angeles, 1992-1993

Census data generally are considered boring lists of numbers. Yet in the immediate wake of the Los Angeles civil disturbances of 1992, a group of Latino community, political, and business leaders requested assistance in understanding the 1990 U.S. Census sufficiently to prepare a Latino agenda for rebuilding barrios and ghettos in Los Angeles. This chapter is a brief discussion of that experience in action research.