Hispanic Children: The Rise of the Second Generation (from the Pew Hispanic Center)

Hispanic Children: The Rise of the Second Generation

The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, today released a report that finds that Hispanics now make up more than one-in-five of all children in the United States - up from 9% in 1980 -- and as their numbers have grown, their demographic profile has changed.

More than half of the nation's 16 million Hispanic children are now "second generation," meaning they are the U.S.-born sons or daughters of at least one foreign-born parent, typically someone who came to this country in the immigration wave from Mexico, Central America and South America that began around 1980. In 1980, a majority of Latino children were "third or higher generation" -- the U.S.-born sons or daughters of U.S.-born parents.

A Pew Hispanic Center analysis of U.S. Census data indicates that many social, economic and demographic characteristics of Latino children vary by their generational status. First and second generation Latino children are less likely than third or higher generation children to be fluent in English and to have parents who completed high school. They are more likely to live in poverty. But they are less likely than third or higher generation Latino children to live in single parent households.

Another characteristic that separates Latino children along generational lines is their legal status. Building on earlier research, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that fewer than one-in-ten of all Hispanic children are unauthorized immigrants. However, about one quarter have one or more parents who is an unauthorized immigrant.

Pew Hispanic Center population projections indicate that the generational composition of Hispanic children will change yet again between now and 2025. The share of Hispanic children who are second generation is projected to peak soon, while the share of Hispanic children who are third generation or higher will begin to rise in the coming decade.


The report, "Latino Children: A Majority Are U.S.-Born Offspring of Immigrants", authored by Richard Fry, Senior Research Associate, Pew Hispanic Center, and Jeffrey S. Passel, Senior Demographer, Pew Hispanic Center, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.

RWJF Toolkit for Translation

Clear communication is a cornerstone of patient safety and quality health care. Quality translated health materials can serve as valuable communications tools for both patients and providers, and can help to ensure the delivery of safe, effective and high-quality care. The More Than Words Toolkit Series, a new resource developed by Hablamos Juntos with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, clarifies the translation process and provides a roadmap to help health care organizations improve the quality of their translated materials in order to get better results.
The More Than Words Toolkit Series draws on the scientific literature, the experience of 10 Hablamos Juntos demonstrations and the initiative's own research on translation quality. It is designed to assist individuals and organizations in initiating translations of health care text of all types.

The toolkit can be accessed at: http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=39591

From the Pew Hispanic Center: Sharp Growth in Suburban Minority Enrollment Yields Modest Gains in School Diversity

Press Release
March 31, 2009
For Immediate Release

Contact:
Mary Seaborn
info@pewhispanic.org
202-419-3606
or
Paul Fucito
pfucito@pewresearch.org
202-419-4372

Sharp Growth in Suburban Minority Enrollment Yields Modest Gains in School Diversity
The student population of America's suburban public schools has shot up by 3.4 million in the past decade and a half, and virtually all of this increase (99%) has been due to the enrollment of new Latino, black, and Asian students, according to an analysis of the most recent public school data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. Once a largely white enclave, suburban school districts in 2007 educated a student population that was 41.4% non-white, up from 28% in 1993.

Despite the sharp rise in the racial and ethnic diversity of suburban district enrollments overall, there has been only a modest increase in the racial and ethnic diversity of student populations at the level of the individual suburban school. For example, in 2007, the typical white suburban student attended a school which had a 75% white student body; in 1993, this same figure had been 83%.

When it comes to changes in the geographic locus of minority education, the suburbs are where most of the action has been over the past decade and a half. In 1993 city school districts educated a majority of the nation's minority students. That is no longer the case. The movement of minority students into suburban schools has had the overall effect of slightly reducing levels of ethnic and racial segregation throughout the nation's 93,430 public schools.

The report also examines the changes since 1993 in individual suburban school districts. It lists the suburban school districts that have had the fastest growth in minority enrollment, as well as those with the highest levels of racial/ethnic segregation.


The report, "The Rapid Growth and Changing Complexion of Suburban Public Schools," authored by Richard Fry, Senior Research Associate, Pew Hispanic Center, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.

The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, is a nonpartisan, non-advocacy research organization based in Washington, D.C. and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Hispanics and the New Administration: Immigration Slips as a Priority; Latinos Optimistic About Obama (Pew Hispanic Center)

A year and a half after a lengthy, often rancorous debate over immigration reform filled the chambers of a stalemated Congress, the issue appears to have receded in importance among one of the groups most affected by it-Latinos. Only three-in-ten (31%) Latinos rate immigration as an "extremely important" issue facing the incoming Obama administration, placing it sixth on a list of seven policy priorities that respondents were asked to assess in a nationwide survey of 1,007 Latino adults conducted from December 3 through December 10, 2008, by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. The top-rated issue among Latinos is the economy; some 57% of Hispanics say it is an "extremely important" one for the new president to address.

Looking forward, Hispanics are optimistic about the incoming Obama Administration. More than seven-in-ten (72%) say they expect Obama to have a successful first term. Looking back, Latinos offer a negative assessment of the outgoing Bush Administration. More than half (54%) of Latinos say that the failures of the Bush Administration will outweigh its successes. In comparison, 64% of the U.S. general population holds the same view.

The latest report from the Pew Hispanic Center also examines the ways Latinos were involved in the historic 2008 presidential campaign such as using the Internet to research a candidate, trying to persuade someone else to vote for or against a particular party, and displaying material or wearing clothing related to a political campaign.
The report, Hispanics and the New Administration: Immigration Slips as a Priority,
authored by Mark Hugo Lopez, Associate Director, and Gretchen Livingston, Senior Researcher, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.

The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, is a nonpartisan, non-advocacy research organization based in Washington, D.C. and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Hispanics and the Economic Downturn: Housing Woes and Remittance Cuts (from the Pew Hispanic Center)

Like the U.S. population as a whole, Latinos are feeling the sting of the economic downturn. Almost one-in-ten (9%) Latino homeowners say they missed a mortgage payment or were unable to make a full payment and 3% say they received a foreclosure notice in the past year, according to a new national survey of 1,540 Latino adults conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. Moreover, more than six-in-ten (62%) Latino homeowners say there have been foreclosures in their neighborhood over the past year, and 36% say they are worried that their own home may go into foreclosure. This figure rises to 53% among foreign-born Latino homeowners.

The survey also finds that the economic downturn has had an impact on the amount of money that Latinos sent to relatives or others in their country of origin in the past year. Among Hispanic immigrants who sent remittances in the last two years, more than seven-in-ten (71%) say they sent less in 2008 than in the prior year.

Latinos hold a more negative view of their own current personal financial situation than does the general U.S. population. More than three-in-four (76%) Latinos, and 84% of foreign-born Latinos, say their current personal finances are in either fair or poor shape, while 63% of the general U.S. population says the same.

As a result of current economic conditions, many Latinos are adjusting their economic behaviors. More than seven-in-ten (71%) report that they cut back spending on eating out. More than two-thirds (67%) planned to curtail holiday spending. Over one-fourth (28%) report that they helped a family member or friend with a loan.
The report, authored by Mark Hugo Lopez, Associate Director, Gretchen Livingston, Senior Researcher, and Rakesh Kochhar, Associate Director for Research, is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website, www.pewhispanic.org.
The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, is a nonpartisan, non-advocacy research organization based in Washington, D.C. and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.