Thread: Area Hispanic population up by 50% since 2000, data say

Notice this sentence! If this is not in your face what is?

She said, however, that she's convinced the Hispanic populations of both Alabama and the nation will continue to grow unabated for many years. "We're not going to see it slow down any time soon."


http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/i ... xml&coll=2



Area Hispanic population up by 50% since 2000, data say

Friday, August 04, 2006
JEREMY GRAY
News staff writer

The number of Hispanics living in the Birmingham-Hoover metropolitan area has grown by 9,286 people in five years, accounting for almost a quarter of the area's population growth, according to U.S. Census estimates released today.

The new numbers show Alabama's Hispanic population topping 100,000 for the first time.

Three of the metro area's seven counties - Jefferson, Shelby and Blount - are among the 10 Alabama counties with the largest increases in Hispanic population from 2000 to 2005. In that five-year span, 5,017 Hispanics moved to Jefferson County, 2,386 to Shelby and 827 to Blount, the estimates indicate.

The seven-county metro area, which also includes Bibb, Chilton, St. Clair and Walker counties, has 1,090,126 residents and grew by 38,820 people, 3.7 percent, from 2000 to 2005, the Census Bureau estimates. The area's Hispanic population grew from 18,566 to 27,852, a 50 percent increase.

During that period, the state's Hispanic population increased from 75,834 to 104,968, according to the census estimates, including an increase of almost 7,000 from 2004 to 2005.

Those numbers are probably a fraction of the true increase in the state's Hispanic population, according to Don Bogie, director of the Center for Demographic Research at Auburn University Montgomery.

"It's a difficult population to count," Bogie said. The 2000 Census likely was not an accurate count, either, he said.

The latest numbers, an annual estimate of changes in population since the 2000 Census, reflect the population as of July 1, 2005.

Demand on services

While there may be some dispute as to how much the Hispanic population has grown, its rapid growth is undeniable and is making a greater demand on public services.

"We're expanding our program year after year," said Leah Dobbs Black, English as a Second Language area program specialist for Shelby County schools.

In the 2000-01 school year, 391 students were classified as "English language learners," the vast majority of whom spoke Spanish. In the school year starting Wednesday, that number will stand at more than 1,550, mostly Spanish speakers, Black said.

In response, the system has hired nine full-time ESL teachers, bringing its total to 45, she said.

In Pelham, where the Hispanic population has grown steadily over a decade, the Police Department has 12 officers who speak some Spanish but are not fluent, said Lt. Davy Lott.

"We are trying to recruit Spanish-speakers, but for some reason they just aren't applying," he said.

Business and politics

The ever-growing Hispanic population also means an increase in Hispanic-owned businesses and the rise of a new political base.

Isabel Rubio, executive director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, said the rise in business ownership among Hispanics has outpaced the growth of the community as a political force, but that soon could change.

Nationwide protests demanding a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants reached from New York City and Los Angeles to the small Alabama town of Sand Mountain in April.

"It's the beginning of a political movement," Rubio said. "There are a lot of people who are starting to get more involved."

Whether the influx of Hispanic immigrants will slow depends largely on immigration reforms being debated in Washington, Rubio said.

She said, however, that she's convinced the Hispanic populations of both Alabama and the nation will continue to grow unabated for many years. "We're not going to see it slow down any time soon."

"We're not going to see it slow down any time soon."

NO, it's going to STOP!!

NO, it's going to STOP!!

......or there will be a lot of politicians looking for a new job!