(Name-mce) ListServ Diversity Rises in Suburbs, Study Says

[KispokoT@aol.com]

Diversity Rises in Suburbs, Study Says

By Haya El Nasser, USA  TODAY
 (http://ar.atwola.com/link/93179288/990252534/aoladp?target=_blank&border=0) 
(Aug. 4) -- Suburban counties, once the bastion of white  America, are 
becoming multiethnic tapestries, and white populations are inching  up in some urban 
areas after big losses in the 1990s, according to new Census  estimates out 
Friday. 
"Suburbs and especially fast-growing outer suburbs are not  just attracting 
whites anymore," says William Frey, demographer at the Brookings  Institution, 
a think tank. "All minority groups are coming. They're a magnet for  blacks as 
well as Hispanics and Asians." 
The changes are dramatic in the South. About 74% of the  growth in the U.S. 
black population happened there from 2000 to 2005. The region  also generated 
about 71% of the national growth in whites, 42% of the Hispanic  growth and 27% 
of the Asian growth. 
"Things are becoming much more multicultural in areas that  weren't before," 
says Frey, who analyzed county population estimates for July 1,  2005. "The 
South's growth is probably more balanced than other regions in racial  and 
ethnic contributions." 
Atlanta suburbs in counties such as Gwinnett, Clayton and  Cobb had some of 
the largest gains among blacks, more evidence that the return  black migration 
to the South that began in the 1990s continues. 
Most suburban growth across the USA was buoyed  significantly by Hispanics 
and Asians. 
Some cities and close-in suburbs that lost whites  throughout the 1990s 
gained or at least stemmed their losses. In New York City,  Manhattan lost 18,000 
non-Hispanic whites in the 1990s but gained 51,000 from  2000 to 2005. Queens 
lost 175,000 whites in the '90s but has lost less than a  third of that so far 
this decade. Fast-gentrifying Brooklyn lost 43,000 whites  in the '90s but has 
added more than 5,000 since 2000. 
"Not only are young people going to Manhattan because it's  an exciting place 
to be, but also empty nesters are going," says James Hughes,  dean of the 
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers  University 
in New Jersey. "But prices have been bid up so high in Manhattan that  it has 
spilled over to Jersey City, Brooklyn and Queens." 
A study earlier this year by CEOs for Cities, a  Chicago-based network of 
urban leaders, found that adults ages 25 to 34 are 30%  more likely to live 
within 3 miles of central business districts. 
"It's part of the continuing story of the comeback of  cities," says Carol 
Coletta, president of the group. "Diversification is taking  place, and that's 
generally good news for everyone. When poor people are  isolated or racial 
minorities are isolated, it's not good for the economy." 
Other trends: 
-- Almost half of the growth among whites took place in  small metropolitan 
areas. Blacks, Hispanics and Asians gravitated more toward  large metropolitan 
areas. 
-- More than a third of Asian growth took place in large  metro areas in the 
West. 
-- Hispanics account for 71% of the Northeast's population  gains this 
decade. 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.nameorg.org/pipermail/name-mce_nameorg.org/attachments/20060806/e593aa82/attachment.htm