Saturday, March 17, 2001
Numbers reveal flow of Hispanics into area
By Ken Alltucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer
From the industrial underbelly of Chicago and the rolling hills of Central Kentucky, hundreds of Hispanics have migrated to Greater Cincinnati over the last decade in pursuit of a better life.
The small but growing influence of the Hispanic culture has made itself known in many subtle ways — different places to eat and shop from Over-the-Rhine to Madeira, bilingual classes in Hamilton and Spanish-language church gatherings in Carthage.
Newly released census figures show Hispanics have virtually pulled even with blacks as the nation's largest minority group (Tristate racial breakdown). The Hispanic population swelled 57.5 percent to 35 million over the last decade. Experts predict Hispanics will become the nation's largest minority group as soon as this year.
Census figures show Hamilton County's Hispanic population ballooned from 5,198 in 1990 to 9,514 in 2000. The ethnic group's numbers also have shot up to more than 7,900 in nearby Warren, Butler and Clermont counties.
Pockets of Northern Kentucky also have seen a significant increase in Hispanics. The Census Bureau will release detailed population, racial and ethnic counts for Kentucky next week.
“There are a number of factors drawing them here — availability of work, economic conditions, conditions of war in their countries,” said Joe Nelson, director of Su Casa, a Catholic ministry for His panics in Carthage.
Mr. Nelson said newly arrived Hispanics have sprinkled across the Tristate in communities such as Price Hill, Carthage, Over-the-Rhine, Forest Park and Fairfield.
So many have settled in Hamilton that Su Casa started a Mass there last October, drawing as many as 500 people. Hamilton's Hispanic population skyrocketed more than 500 percent from 1990 to 2000.
Hispanics now make up 2.6 percent of Hamilton's population, 3.6 percent of Springdale's and 2.4 percent of Sharonville's.
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HISPANIC COUNT
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Cincinnati area's largest Hispanic populations (as a percent of total population):
1. Springdale, 384, 3.6%
2. Hamilton, 2,000, 2.6%
3. Sharonville, 317, 2.3%
4. Norwood, 401, 1.9%
5. Fairfield, 646, 1.5%
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Jose Simental, son of a Mexican immigrant, is tracing Hispanic migration to the Tristate as part of his doctorate work at the University of Cincinnati.
Mr. Simental said his research shows Hispanics are more inclined to move to Cincinnati from other Midwest cities where they have family and employment connections, instead of from Mexico, Guatemala or other Hispanic nations. He acknowledged some direct immigration does occur and will increase as Cincinnati's Hispanic population grows.
“It seems more are trickling in from the Chicago area, and also the Louisville-Lexington area,” said Mr. Simental. “As soon as we see 50,000 Hispanics in Cincinnati, we will see more direct migration,” from Latin America.
For Hispanics, Cincinnati offers industrial jobs and relatively cheap living costs compared with California and the Southwestern United States.
“Cincinnati has a lot of labor (intensive) industries,” said Virginia Gonzalez, an associate professor at UC's College of Education. “They are looking for cities that are affordable.”
Census data show Hispanics have clustered in lower-income areas such as Lower Price Hill, Hamilton and Over-the-Rhine. They also tend to be younger.
That puts a strain on schools taking on Spanish-speaking children. The Hamilton City School District has created a program to teach English to Spanish-speaking children.
Hamilton has two full-time and three part-time teachers assigned to its English-as-a-second-language program.
“We are enrolling some students who have had no formal education,” said Kathy Leist, the Hamilton school district's director of continuous improvement.
Mary Benedetti, director of UC's Center for English as a Second Language, thinks Cincinnati residents largely haven't noticed their Hispanic neighbors.
“We are a very insular community,” Ms. Benedetti said. “I've had people come up to me and ask me why does my program exist.”
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