Cultural Diversity: Albemarle's Latino Residents An Overview

1. Cultural Diversity: Albemarle's Latino ResidentsAn Overview

2. Why did you come today?

3. Why offer this training? To avoid a “one size fits all” approach when serving our customers - Being aware and respectful of special needs (newcomers to our area, age (young & old), disability, literacy, victims of crime/abuse, ex offenders, culture & language) - Helping all customers to have a pleasant and productive experience, by treating them like you would want to be treated

4. Why offer this training? To help us understand the importance of culture: values, assumptions and perceptions that are instilled early on in life and are expressed in the way we behave and act To help us be more culturally competent: ability to work effectively with individuals from different socioeconomic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds

5. Immigrant Demographics - Virginia One in 10 Virginians is foreign born: - Come from 150 countries - 40% born in Asia; 36% born in Latin America - Largest nationalities: Salvadoran, Mexican, Indian, Korean, and Filipino

6. Immigrant Demographics - Virginia Virginian’s immigrants speak almost 100 different languages: - A small % speak English in the home - After English, the most common languages are Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino.

7. To help comply with federal laws (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) and guidelines regarding language access. Why offer this training?

8. What this training is/is not It is only an overview of our local Latino population; a beginning not an end It is not exhaustive due to time restrictions It cannot address Title VI and other language access legal obligations due to time restrictions It does not have a political agenda

9. The purpose of this training about our Latino residents To help generate discussion and ideas in our departments and agencies about cultural diversity and ways to implement change in our workplaces so we can improve customer access to our services

10. Terminology: How should we refer to our Latino residents? Americans Hispanics (Latin Americans, Puerto Ricans & Spaniards) Latinos (Latin Americans) Mexicans, Salvadorans, Hondurans, etc. Mexican American, Salvadoran American, Honduran American, etc.

11. Why this presentation about Latinos is important 50.5 million Hispanics or 16.3% of the U.S. population – largest U.S. minority Only Mexico has a larger Latino population Largest minority in 25 states (50% live in CA & TX); 3.7 million live in Puerto Rico

12. Beware of Generalizations! Not all Latinos are recent immigrants: some have been in the U.S. for centuries Differences among Latinos: from color, ethnicity, genetics, historic, geographic, language, socioeconomic class, and educational level to cuisine, reason for coming to the U.S., native born vs foreign born, & acculturation differences

13. Beware of Stereotypes! Mexicans Illegal immigrants Gangs & Crime Housekeeping and construction workers Take away jobs Etc. Salvadoran Gangs Salvadoran Police Agent in Albemarle

14. Hispanic Demographics: Emphasizing DiversityVirginiaCharlottesville/Albemarle

15. Latino Demographics – Virginia 630,000 or 8% of Virginians are Latinos - 53% of Virginia’s Latinos are native born U.S. citizens - 13% are foreign born naturalized citizens - the remaining 34% are non-citizen residents who are documented (permanent residency, work permits, visas, etc.) or undocumented (residing in the U.S. without legal permission)

16. Latino Demographics - Virginia Commonalities between non-Latinos and U.S. born Latinos marriage and childbirth rates educational attainment and college enrollment occupation, income, poverty rates

17. Latino Demographics – Virginia5largest occupations(2009) U.S.-born Hispanics 1. Cashiers 2. Retail salespersons 3. Military personnel 4. Managers 5. Secretaries and administrative Foreign-born Hispanics 1. Maids and housekeeping cleaners 2. Cooks 3. Construction laborers 4. Carpenters 5. Janitors and building Non-Hispanics 1. Cashiers 2. Managers 3. Secretaries and administrative assistants 4. Elementary and middle school teachers 5. Retail salespersons

18. Our Latino Demographics 8,000+ in the Cville-Albemarle area Largely Mexican, Salvadoran and Honduran Guatemalan Jaime Reyes at his Mexican store on Carlton Rd

19. Our Latino ResidentsWhere They Live - Albemarle Corridor between Barracks/Georgetown Rd and Rio Road/29 Solomon Court, Berkshire & Westgate, Barclay Place Georgetown Square, Hessian Hills, University Commons and the Townwood, Triangle, and Berkmar trailer parks Autumn Hill, Turtle Creek, and other apartments on Commonwealth, Peyton, Whitewood, Linden & Greenbrier

20. Our Latino ResidentsWhere They Live - Albemarle Fashion Square Mall area Rio Hill, Mallside Forest Abbington Crossing and elsewhere Southwood Trailer Park, Crozet, Schuyler, Afton …

21. Belmont (Carlton) Blue Ridge Commons Prospect area Michie Drive (Kmart) Fry’s Spring Fifeville Our Latino ResidentsWhere They live – Cville City

22. Our Latino Demographics- Cultural Barriers Adults are mostly * undocumented * 20 - 40 years of age * rural poor * have low literacy levels in Spanish and speak little or no English * have low acculturation Typical Salvadoran town

23. Our Latino Demographics –Cultural BarriersAdults have limited or no experience with Government offices, documents (birth certificates, licenses, etc), regulations (zoning, driving, etc.) & procedures Bank accounts, being paid by check … Doctors, hospitals & health insurance Civil, human and consumer rights

24. Our Latino Residents- Cultural BarriersAdults are unaccustomed to modern conveniences, from credit/debit cards to gas or electric ovens, home heating & air conditioning, indoor plumbing, and washing machines … Washing Clothes in El Salvador

25. Our Latino Demographics With few exceptions, our Latino children are U.S. born and bicultural; school age children speak Spanish at home and English elsewhere. Southwood Trailer Park (Albemarle County) Resident

26. Our Latino Residents - Lifestyle Work Construction, landscaping and on farms/orchards, restaurants home/hotel and office cleaning, child care, home food sales, etc. There are always exceptions … Martha Trujillo, United Way Miguel Martinez, Filmmaker Carolina Ortiz, CHIP

27. Our Latino Residents - Lifestyle Faith: 8 Spanish speaking churches and 5 other churches have Spanish speaking services for their Latino congregations Latino Soccer Leagues Spanish language media (Nuevas Raíces, Horizontes, Univision, etc.) Latino grocery stores, bakeries, restaurants & thrift stores

28. Our Latino Residents – LifestylePreparing and enjoying traditional food

29. Cultural Attitudes – How our Latinos see the world Spirituality Based more on widespread cultural beliefs, superstitions, folklore than on affiliation with a particular religion

30. Cultural AttitudesTraditional ideas Importance of family broadly defined, close knit, primary & lifelong source of support interdependent, collective good vs individualism Salvadorans Rosa Galvez, her mother, and husband at their Central American store off Rt 29 (by Pier 1)

31. Cultural AttitudesTraditional ideas Regarding gender roles and machismo Strong, positive work values pride, self-discipline, perseverance, grateful for having a job, loyal Fatalism or taking each day/moment as it comes: concepts of punctuality or planning ahead are foreign to many

32. Cultural AttitudesTraditional ideas Respect and/or fear of authority Fear of “rocking the boat”: reluctance to ask questions, report wrong doings Trust via Personalismo (warmth, friendliness, affectionate, direct personal contact, close physical proximity)

33. Cultural Attitudes: Fear and Mistrust of “the Government” unaccustomed to interacting with it socioeconomic, cultural & language differences unease and distrust of impersonal interactions perceived & real anti-immigrant sentiments undocumented immigrant status

34. Our understanding, patience and respect of: - Cultural differences - Their trauma: separation from family, experience of war, anti-immigrant sentiments - Their unease and distrust of impersonal and formal structures (Be warm and friendly!) - “Yes” or silence that may mean failure to understand - Their fear or embarrassment about asking questions or disagreeing What our Latino customers need from us

35. What our Latino customers need from us Our assistance with: • Language Access • Explaining policies & procedures in ways they can understand • Filling out applications and other forms • Understanding correspondence and written materials (even in Spanish) - Spanish language written materials with pictures and minimal verbiage

36. What Latino customers need from usOutreach

37. What our Latino customers need from us That we learn about and develop mechanisms to facilitate language access and to comply with LEP federal policy and guidelines (developing LEP guidelines at our workplaces, identifying ways to facilitate language access via bilingual volunteers, bilingual/bicultural staff, telephone interpreter service, local interpreter services, Spanish language written materials, etc.)

38. What good customer service requires from us That we make an attempt to identify and overcome the cultural barriers we have -as individuals and service providers - that make it difficult for us to provide quality customer service to all.

39. Appendix 1: References Creciendo Juntos (clearinghouse on local Latinos) Includes statistics on our local Latino population, like the 2011-2012 ACPS data, and similar statewide and national numbers/studies www.cj-network.org UVa Weldon Cooper Center (Virginia demographic studies) http://www.coopercenter.org Virginia 2010 Census by Location & Race http://opendata.socrata.com/dataset/VA-2010-Census-Population-By-Race/pnj7-fdqg 2010 Census Facts for Virginia http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51000.html

40. Appendix 2: References Pew Hispanic Center (studies about Latinos/national & State) http://pewhispanic.org Census Facts on Latinos for Hispanic Heritage Month 2011 http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb11-ff18.html Pew Center Report: Latino Poverty Level Soars (9/28/11) 6.1 million (35%) Hispanic children are poor, compared with 5 million (12%) non-Hispanic white and 4.4 million (39%) black children . Pew said Hispanic poverty numbers have soared because of the impact of the recession. Before the recession, poor white children outnumbered poor Hispanic children. Data for Virginia Latinos was not available for the 9/28/11 presentation. http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=147 Census Data Reminder: It is common knowledge the Census undercounts certain populations (the poor, the foreign born, etc.), largely due to difficulties reaching them (e.g., if they reside in apartment buildings) and among other factors, to literacy and language barriers. Regarding our local Latino population, it is not true that Albemarle’s largest population of Latinos resides off 5th St Extd (Southwood trailer park); its largest concentration of Latinos reside in apartment complexes in the corridor between Barracks/Georgetown Roads and Rio Road, along Rt 29.

41. Appendix 3: Reminder – Avoid Generalizations and Stereotypes “In order for a person to be bicultural and operate as a liaison between cultures, it is not sufficient for him or her to be from an ethnic minority. In fact, if a person who looks like a member of an ethnic minority group has adopted Anglo American values and identifies with the mainstream culture, he or she may be a poor choice to represent their culture of origin in collaborative efforts.” Source: Toolkit for Cross Cultural Collaboration, Chapter I

42. Appendix 4: Linda Hemby, Presenter • Political Sociologist, BA (University of Michigan), MA and two years of doctoral coursework (University of California, Santa Cruz) • Dual Citizenship: U.S. and Salvadoran • Bilingual (English/Spanish) – bicultural (U.S./Salvadoran) • Activist in the local Latino community, and founder and ex Executive Committee member of Creciendo Juntos (CJ) and former coordinator of its web site - www.cj-network.org - and weekly email bulletin • Albemarle Social Services Employee • In Latin America (1983-2004): directed regional anti-corruption and free press projects; author; researcher; lobbyist; university professor; and human rights/social justice advocate • In US (prior to 1983): D.C. Office of Human Rights (Title VII agency) and social justice advocate

43. This presentation was prepared for Albemarle County and delivered on September 28, 2011County employees from diverse agencies (Police, Fire & Rescue, Schools, Finance, Social Services, etc.), along with community service providers, attended the training.