Community leaders celebrate passage of bill making Arab Americans count in Illinois data

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Arab American community leaders on Thursday celebrated the passage of a new state bill – which requires collecting data on Arab Americans for the first time.

This follows yearslong reporting by the CBS 2 Investigators, revealing the devastating impact of a lack of data collection on Arab Americans.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed the bill on Friday, Aug. 4. Illinois is the first state to pass such a bill.

Community leaders said counting Arab Americans as their own separate group in the Middle Eastern North African (MENA) category – instead of counting them as white or "other" – will improve their health, education, and economic conditions.

"This is one, acknowledging folks that have been underrepresented – or not represented – for various reasons, and two, understanding that we need accurate information. We need data. We need to do the outreach to better understand what makes up our communities; what makes up our state," said Illinois state Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago). And that's what we've accomplished here today."

The bull requires state agencies to include the MENA category. The state-level change is important, because the U.S. Census does not currently count Arab Americans as their own separate category.