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The U.S. Census Bureau announced today the establishment of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations and has named Saeed Fahia as a member of the committee.

The National Advisory Committee will advise the Census Bureau on a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau’s programs and surveys, including the once-a-decade census. The committee, which is comprised of 32 members from multiple disciplines, will advise the Census Bureau on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race and ethnicity, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other populations.

“We expect that the expertise of this committee will help us meet emerging challenges the Census Bureau faces in producing statistics about our diverse nation,” said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director. “By helping us better understand a variety of issues that affect statistical measurement, this committee will help ensure that the Census Bureau continues to provide relevant and timely statistics used by federal, state and local governments as well as business and industry in an increasingly technologically oriented society.”

The National Advisory Committee members, who serve at the discretion of the Census Bureau director, are chosen to serve based on expertise and knowledge of the cultural patterns, issues and/or statistical needs of hard-to-count populations.

Saeed Fahia is the executive director of the Confederation of Somali Community of Minnesota. He has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Somali National University, a master’s degree in physics from Eastern Michigan University and a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts. Fahia seeks to enhance the lives of Somalis in Minnesota by strengthening their capacity to become contributing members of society, while preserving their culture, delivering appropriate advocacy services, working to unite groups in Minnesota and educating the community-at-large about Somali people. He creates and supervises programs to assist Somalis to resettle in Minnesota and integrate successfully into American life.