Use these resources to learn more about the MENA ethnic category and to educate others on why adding a MENA category is so important for Arab American representation.
The Office of Management and Budget’s 2024 Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity
AAI’s statement on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity Data. AAI Welcomes New MENA Category & Revision of Race and Ethnicity Standards: Hailed Historic Category Fails to Capture Full Diversity of Arab American Community.
بقلم الدكتورة كارين أورفيس، رئيسة الإحصائيي بالولايات المتحدة
يف وقت سابق اليوم، ن رش مكتب الإدارة والميانية مجموعة من التنقيحات للتوجيه رقم 15 المتعلق بالسياسة الإحصائية (التوجيه رقم 15): معايي الحفاظ على البيانات الفيدرالية المتعلقة بالانتماء العر يف وجمعهاوعرضها،ويهالأولىمنذعام1997.وقدبدأتهذهالعملية يفحزيران/يونيو2022،معأول اجتماع لمجموعة العمل الف ين المشيكة بي الوكالات المكونة من الموظفي المهنيي يف الحكومة الفيدرالية الذين يمثلون ال ريامج ال ين تجمع أو تستخدم بيانات الانتماء العر يف.ومنذ ذلك الاجتماع الأول، قمنا بمراجعة 20 ألف تعليق وعقدنا ما يقرب من 100 جلسة استماع لوضع اللمسات الأخية على المعايي المهمة ال ين نعلن عنها اليوم.
By Dr. Karin Orvis, Chief Statistician of the United States: Earlier today, OMB published a set of revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 (Directive No. 15): Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity, the first since 1997. This process started in June 2022, with the first convening of the Interagency Technical Working Group of Federal Government career staff who represent programs that collect or use race and ethnicity data. Since that first convening, we’ve reviewed 20,000 comments and held almost 100 listening sessions to finalize the important standards we are announcing today.
AAI’s comment in response to the Federal Register Notice supports the revision of the race and ethnicity standards, including updating Directive 15 to include the addition of “Middle Eastern or North African (MENA)” as a new minimum reporting ethnic category, supporting a combined question format on race and ethnicity, and the mandatory collection of detailed race and ethnicity by default.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’ coalition comment in support of revising OMB’s race and ethnicity standards.
This draft community comment in support of the MENA category was submitted by hundreds of you during the Federal Register Notice open comment period regarding the Office of Management and Budget’s revision of the race and ethnicity standards.
The Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) checkbox would be a new minimum reporting ethnic category on the decennial census and other federal surveys. MENA populations, including Arab Americans, would get their own box for their ethnicity, while having the option to also check any other category, including another ethnic category or one of the racial categories.
Current federal standards are inadequate. Right now, we have a unique opportunity to impact how the federal government sees people and populations. OMB’s proposed revisions to the federal race and ethnicity standards include the addition of the MENA category to the classification system. AAI’s Claudia Youakim shares why this critically important update will bring visibility to Arab Americans, their contributions, and their particular needs.
A Fact Sheet and FAQ from the Leadership Conference Education Fund on why adopting a combined question would be a critical step forward in allowing more people to see themselves accurately reflected in federal data.
From the archive, a fact sheet from the first national Arab American get-out-the-count campaign. It was organized in the lead up to the 1990 Census: “Arab Americans are a growing ethnic constituency and contribute to every part of American society. The 1990 Census is our chance to get an accurate count of how many persons of Arabic-Speaking descent live in the United States and an understanding of their diversity.”
During a recent roundtable conversation, Meeta Anand, senior director of the census and data equity program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, joined Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, and Professor Neda Maghbouleh to discuss Maghbouleh’s book “The Limits of Whiteness” and why adding a MENA category matters.
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) undertakes periodic reviews of its Federal statistical standards to ensure that they are keeping pace with changes in the population and evolving needs and uses for data. In 2022, OMB convened the Federal Interagency Technical Working Group on Race and Ethnicity Standards (Working Group).
The Leadership Conference Education Fund’s Fact Sheet on Collecting and Publishing Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity: Understanding OMB Directive 15.
Coalition letter to OMB in support of a combined question and a MENA category signed by 160 national and community-based NGOs.
Estebanico Azemmouri, a Moroccan man, landed in the United States of America in 1527, and Antonio Bishallany who immigrated from Lebanon became the first member of a community today known as “Arab Americans.” This is the story of Arab Americans’ beginning in America – and the origins of their quest for fair representation.
Without a MENA Category, the source for Arab American data has historically been the American Community Survey. While incomplete, we use 2017 ACS data and AAI research and surveys to produce this document to provide a snapshot of the origins, population, education, occupation, and income statistical estimates for Arab Americans.
From the 2020 Census Get-Out-the-Count campaign, this fact sheet explains the difficulties in detecting disinformation. In the age of social media, there is a huge amount of information out there, and it can be hard to sort through it all. However, here are some generalizations about what disinformation looks like and some tools to let you dig deeper into disinformation online.
From the 2020 Census Get-Out-the-Count campaign, this document explains the many ways the Census impacts all of us, especially as Arab Americans.
From the 2020 Census Get-Out-the-Count campaign, this issue brief explains the importance of the census to our democracy and the recommendations we proposed for ensuring a fair and accurate count of Arab Americans in 2020.
Brief for the Arab American Institute as Amicus Curiae in Support of Respondents submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Brief focuses on the MENA category.
The Census Bureau’s Overview of the 2015 National Content Test presented at the Census Information Centers (CIC) Annual Conference in 2017.
The Office of Management and Budget’s 1997 Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity
