Hispanics flocking to valley

Minority growth in Nevada

Here is the Census Bureau's 1998 statistics for populations of minorities in Nevada, and the percentage of change since 1990.

133,396, up 67.0 percent.

278,499, up 123.9 percent.

81,216, up 105.9 percent.

During the past eight years Clark County has had the fastest-growing Hispanic population of any major metropolitan area in the country, according to statistics released today by the United States Census Bureau.

The bureau estimates that the county had 198,473 Hispanic residents at the end of 1998, up 139 percent from the 1990 census count of 82,904.

The effect of this population explosion is now starting to filter through the Las Vegas Valley, said Tom Rodriguez, who serves as manager of diversity and affirmative action programs for the Clark County School District and has written five books on Hispanics in Nevada.

"This population group is going to be an essential part of the state of Nevada for years to come," Rodriguez said. "I don't think people grasp the impact Hispanics are going to have on the future of Nevada."

Hispanics now make up 17 percent of Clark County's population, the figures show.

Nationwide, the Hispanic population increased from 22.4 million in 1990 to 30.3 million in 1998, a gain of 35.2 percent or 7.9 million people, the census report said.

California's Hispanic population was the largest of any state in 1998, with a population of more than 10 million. Since the 1990 census, California's Hispanic population increased by 2.4 million, the largest gain of any state. Other big gainers were Texas (1.5 million), Florida (669,000), New York (411,000) and Arizona (345,000). New Mexico led all states with the highest concentration of Hispanics (40.3) in its overall population, the report said.

Nevada has the 13th largest Hispanic population (278,499) in the country. The report also noted that the state's Asian-Pacific Islander population increased by 105.9 percent to 81,216. Nationwide, the Asian population grew more than 40 percent to 10.5 million or almost 4 percent of the overall population.

Blacks, whose numbers grew almost 13 percent between 1990 and 1998, remain the nation's largest minority at 12.7 percent, or 34.4 million of the nation's population of about 270 million in 1998, the report said.

Hispanics made up 9 percent of the U.S. population in 1990, and that grew by 1998 to just over 11 percent of the total, 30.3 million, the report said.

"This (Hispanic) population increase will only abate if Nevada goes bust," Rodriguez said. "This state is built on service jobs, landscaping jobs and construction jobs, and those jobs draw Hispanic workers.

"The impact the Hispanic population is having on the valley is also very evident in the school district."

As the nation's eighth largest and fastest-growing school district, Clark County had about 191,698 students enrolled in 1998, and 50,300 of those were Hispanic.

"More than one in four of our students are Hispanic," school district spokeswoman Mary Stanley-Larsen said. "It's definitely a growing population that we are accounting for."

About 27,000 of the Hispanic children enrolled in Clark County schools are Spanish speaking and are learning English as a second language, said Lore Carrillo, director of the district's English Language Learning Department.

"We had an 11.5 percent growth in English as a second language students in 1998 compared to the district's overall growth rate of 6.7 percent," Carrillo said. "We've expanded our programs and currently have 21 elementary schools designated as bilingual learning centers."

Nearly all the schools in the district have a population that is at least 20 percent Hispanic, with some schools ranging as high as 70 percent, Rodriguez said.

"When I moved here 10 years ago there were about 150 Hispanic teachers in the district and now there are about 600, so that's another place where the impact can be seen," Rodriguez said.

The school district's efforts to meet the needs of the growing Hispanic population is something Fernando Romero, president of Hispanics in Politics, would like to see in other aspects of the community.

"The thing I see is that many people and government entities are covering their eyes to the growth of this population group," Romero said. "I don't see a widespread movement recognizing Hispanics for the economic and political impacts they bring to the valley."

Rodriguez agrees, saying that Hispanics are an emerging economic power in Clark County.

"The Hispanic population in Las Vegas is mainly made up of young families who are having children and need to buy diapers, homes and utilities," Rodriguez said. "Most of the Hispanic children in the school district are in elementary or middle school, and many of these families are first-generation immigrants.

"By 2010 I think we will see the emergence of a large Hispanic middle class in the valley."

The growing population could mean greater political representation of Hispanics in the valley, Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera said.

"The increased numbers will result in increased representation only if people get out and vote," Herrera said. "It will also increase the pool of candidates."

Romero says he can see Hispanics forming a strong voting block in upcoming elections.

"Politically this means that the Hispanic voters now have the numbers to help people get over the top," Romero said. "It's not to the point where it will carry any one election but it will empower the Hispanic community."

Rodriguez believes that more political representation will go hand in hand with the development of a Hispanic middle class.

"Right now the median age of the leaders of the Hispanic community in Las Vegas is around 50, but I think as these young families get established we'll see a shift," Rodriguez said. "We'll start seeing a lot more Dario Herrera's getting involved." The Associated Press

contributed to this story.

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