Thread: San Joaquin Valley: Hispanics driving Valley growth

Hispanics driving Valley growth
Ethnic group is near or in the majority in several counties.
By Vanessa Colón and Brad Branan / The Fresno Bee
08/09/07 04:54:26


Hispanics are driving the population growth in the San Joaquin Valley, putting them in or near the majority in several counties, new census figures indicate.

Between 2000 and 2006, the nine San Joaquin Valley counties added a little more than 500,000 people, 79% of whom are Hispanic, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Only 1% of the new residents are non-Hispanic whites.

Hispanics now make up the majority in Merced and Tulare counties, and are two percentage points or less from becoming the majority in Fresno, Kings and Madera counties, according to the Census Bureau.

In the process, the face of the Valley has changed.

Hispanics have replaced non-Hispanic whites as the leading ethnic group, making up 45% of the nine-county population.

The growth is fueled by Hispanic births and immigration, said Hans Johnson, a Public Policy Institute of California demographer in San Francisco. Fertility rates among Hispanic women tend to be higher than other ethnic groups.

That demographic shift could mean a slow but gradual change in political participation -- and political leanings -- in the Valley and leave the economy with more unskilled workers and higher unemployment, he said.

"This is true not just for Fresno, but the entire state," Johnson said.

Hispanics tend to lean Democratic, but the growth of Hispanic registered voters hasn't kept pace with their numbers, Valley officials said.

"The only way things will change is if the new majority registers to vote and participates in elections. The turnout right now is extremely low," said Assembly Member Juan Arambula, D-Fresno.

One of the greatest challenges is increasing the number of college-educated Hispanics in a state whose economy increasingly depends on skilled labor to work in high-tech businesses, Johnson said.

High school and college graduation rates among Valley Hispanics tend to be lower than the rest of the state, Johnson said.

Even if many of them attend community colleges, few transfer to four-year universities because tuition is expensive, they are working and don't have the time to finish or they are academically unprepared, he said.

"Educators in the Valley and the state need to redouble their efforts to attract children" to college, Johnson said.

Arambula, a former Fresno Unified School District trustee, said schools need to graduate more students from high school. Schools also need to offer more choices for students uninterested in college, such as technical or vocational classes, and the Valley needs to attract more higher-skill jobs.

"We cannot accept dropout rates of 50%, and we cannot accept schools that are failing to educate our children," Arambula said.

Valley colleges have stepped up efforts to increase the number of college-educated Hispanics.

California State University, Fresno, has made an effort to promote higher education among young Hispanics.

Last week, for example, the university hosted the Fresno Hispanic Youth Symposium, a program offering workshops and information on colleges and careers.

About 30% of Fresno State's students are Hispanic, and the college has tried to recruit faculty to match its student body, said Virginia Rondero Hernandez, associate professor of social work at Fresno State.

As the Valley's population becomes more Hispanic, more language and cultural services might be needed to serve the growth, experts said.

In 2004, five Valley counties were in the nation's top 30 for the highest percentage of Spanish-speaking residents, the Census Bureau estimated.

Between 23% and 40% of all residents spoke Spanish at home in Fresno, Tulare, Kern, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties.

"In the human services sector, there's a gap between the number of folks available to work with folks of other cultures," Rondero Hernandez said.

But that will fade over time as successive generations integrate into the community, said Johnson with the Public Policy Institute.

Second-generation Latinos are bilingual but tend to prefer English. By the third generation, he said, most no longer speak Spanish.
The reporters can be reached at vcolon@fresnobee.com, bbranan@fresnobee.com

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/107841.html

But how many are LEGAL? And how many illegals are skewing our electoral votes?

I travel through these areas frequently. The changes have been dramatic from 20 years ago and not exactly good.

The question is: "They're driving the Valley's growth, but at what cost to the rest of California and to the nation?"