Study on rural Latinos turns heads

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

MANKATO---A recent study that shows a disconnect between Latinos and white in rural Minnesota is gaining some legislative attention.

While lawmakers say they don't expect to see action in the form of a bill this session, there is headway being made on both a rural Latino commission and what Sleepy Eye High School Principal Elia Bruggeman called "a best-practices kit" designed to help lawmakers in rural areas cope with issues like language barriers, high dropout rates, racial profiling and integration.

The hubbub comes nearly a month after the Center for Rural Policy and Development at Minnesota State University at Mankato identified five key challenges that researchers say affect communities as a whole, rather than being "Latino issues" as traditionally thought.

The 2000 U.S. Census showed Minnesota's Latino population grew by 166 percent in the last decade. It rose to 143,382 people--2.9 percent of Minnesota's 4.4 million population. People of Mexican origin make up about two-thirds of the state's Latino population. In the seven towns included in the study, Latino populations make up as much as a quarter of the city's population. The cities included in the study were Albert Lea, Long Prairie, Owatonna, Pelican Rapids, St. James, Willmar and Worthington.

The study found that Latinos were dropping out of school at alarmingly high rates, a lack of qualified interpreters with key community institutions, tensions and distrust between Latino communities and law enforcement and a lack Latino leaders in the communities.

Dr. Jack Geller, director of the center, said he got the idea to study Latino communities after reading the 2000 U.S. Census. He found that populations of color are growing faster than whites---and found Latinos make up most of that number.

"That means we're going through enormous change," Geller said. "It has a major impact on who we are in Minnesota."

The center issued a brief as a companion to the study outlining the five main concerns and possible ways to fix them. It said education and community leaders and parents should address the high dropout rate issue and also look at continuing education among the adult Latino population. It recommends more interpretive services for key community institutions like health services, law enforcement and government agencies.

Tensions and distrust between Latino communities and law enforcement shouldn't be underestimated, either, the brief said.

"This tension results from incidents ranging from simple misunderstandings about local regulations to racial profiling and outright harassment," the brief said, adding that hiring more bilingual and bicultural officers and improving the cultural competency of existing ones "would be a good place to start."

Finally, it urged local community leaders to discuss how to recruit Latino community members into local positions in city government and other leadership structures.

"We're not trying to be critical," said Claudia Fuentes of Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research, a St. Paul-based non-profit that researches Latino issues in Minnesota and helped Geller with the study. "But it's something communities should take a close look at."

What about Sleepy Eye?

Surprisingly, Sleepy Eye wasn't included in the study. In comparison with Owatonna, where Latinos make up 4.3 percent of the population, Sleepy Eye has a Latino population of 7.8 percent, or 274 people out of a 3,515-person town. Additionally, State Demographer Tom Gillaspy pointed to Latinos as Brown County's most rapidly expanding population.

Geller said he only learned of Sleepy Eye after a conversation with Elia Bruggeman, the principal of Sleepy Eye High School. Bruggeman, a Mexican immigrant, became principal of Sleepy Eye High School about seven years. She said that while Sleepy Eye's Latino dropout rate is lower than those of the towns in the study, she still sees a need for more Hispanic leaders in the community.

"We're new at this in Minnesota," she said.

Nadia Crooker, an interpreter for Sleepy Eye Public Schools, said she also knows the problem. Crooker recently started working in Sleepy Eye after several years in Long Prairie. In that city, the Mexicans she saw in the schools sometimes had police asking them to see immigration documents, which is illegal.

Both Bruggeman and Crooker also said they see many positives in Sleepy Eye. For example, Bruggeman said she often visits with Latino families in Sleepy Eye and gives them tours of the schools in Spanish. She also recalled a picnic that some local churches had seven years ago to welcome some migrant workers. Crooker pointed to a fundraising effort by some local churches in Sleepy Eye as way that its Latino community uses to better itself. Sleepy Eye also has a Latino school board member.

"Residents say they're proud of their community," Crooker said. "They're proud to help each other out."

Legislative action

possible

Since the report was first released nearly one month ago, its results have turned some heads in St. Paul.

Jack Geller said he recently shared his findings with state legislators in an informal meeting. Included in that meeting were State Representatives Bob Gunther (R-Fairmont) and Al Juhnke (DFL-Willmar). Gunther said the group discussed how communities can make assimilation quicker.

"The traditional majority will be a minority," Gunther said. "We'll be a minority by 2030."

Gunther represents Madelia and St. James, which both have large Latino populations. He said both cities' populations have grown, while other towns have shrunk, because of Latinos. He said that while legislative rumblings are going on, it might be some time before an actual piece of legislation dedicated to helping minorities integrate materializes.

"We have to find common themes and come up with a system that will assist the community because it's more diverse," Gunther said. "We might not have time to do a lot. I don't know if we have enough information yet."

Juhnke represents Willmar, which has the third largest Latino population in the state. He said the study sends "a mixed message" in that it points out the strengths and weaknesses of Latino communities in rural Minnesota. He said that legislature is acting on racial profiling and some dollars that traditionally stayed in the Twin Cities, such as funding for English-As-A-Second-language programs, is making its way into rural Minnesota. He said Minnesota also sees quite a few newcomers from Somalia, China, Bosnia and other parts of eastern Europe.

"Minnesota has been immigrant-friendly," Juhnke said. "We're thankful to have them."

The Center for Rural Policy and Development's report is available online at www.ruralmn.org and in Spanish at www.hacer-mn.org.

The Associated Press contributed to this report