Hispanic population grows on Milwaukee's south side

Hispanic population grows on Milwaukee's south side
The Business Journal of Milwaukee - by Pete Millard
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The fastest-growing neighborhoods in the city of Milwaukee are those with the greatest concentration of Hispanic residents.

While the city's overall population is shrinking, Milwaukee's near south side population expanded by 23 percent in some areas along Mitchell Street, Lincoln Avenue and National Avenue, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2000 survey.

Overall, there are now 72,000 Hispanic residents in Milwaukee, 12 percent of the city's 596,974 people. The final Census count for Hispanic residents was 17 percent higher than the 1999 estimate of 60,000.

"I think the Census numbers will be a wake-up call for politicians and businesses," said Walter Sava, executive director of the United Community Center (UCC) on the south side. "There is a growing market on Milwaukee's south side that has been ignored in the past. And the reality is if the Census counts 72,000 people, there are probably another 8,000 who went uncounted."

While the Census Bureau's income and other demographic data on Milwaukee will not be available until early 2002, Sava has surveyed hundreds of south side residents and has recorded dramatic increases in purchasing power among local Hispanics during the 1990s.

In 1997, a mere 4 percent of Hispanics in Sava's UCC service territory had incomes between $20,000 and $30,000. Sava's 2001 survey reveals that 27 percent of the city's Hispanic population earn more than $20,000.

At the same time, Sava said, there was a dramatic drop in the number of residents who earned less than $15,000. By 2001, the number of people who earned less than $15,000 went from 80 percent to 35 percent, he said.

"The strong economy has been good for Latinos," Sava said.

Sava was surprised by the home ownership rates and education levels of Hispanics. Home ownership rates among those in the neighborhood grew to 44 percent from 30 percent four years earlier.

Sava attributes some of the increase in home ownership to the city's redevelopment efforts administered by UCC. In the middle 1990s, UCC invested $2.7 million in the Walker's Square neighborhood. By 1997, residential tax assessments in the neighborhood had increased 12 percent, Sava said.

The number of local Hispanics who completed high school increased from 20 percent in 1997 to 35 percent in 2001, Sava said.

However, the education level for Hispanics, while increasing, is still a concern for Sava and other Hispanic community leaders.

"It should be a shock to politicians to learn that almost two-thirds of Hispanics have only a middle school education," Sava said. "We have an undereducated community here in Milwaukee, and it is a challenge for kids and parents. Many times, parents don't get involved in their kids' education because they don't how."

Maria Monreal-Cameron, president and chief executive officer of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, said the Latino population will continue to grow in coming years because the median age of the Hispanic community is 22.5.

The local Hispanic community elected its first Wisconsin Assembly representative in 1998 when Rep. Pedro Colon (D-Milwaukee) took office. In 2000, Angel Sanchez became the city's first Hispanic Common Council member.

Other findings in the 2001 UCC survey show that 52 percent of the area's Hispanics speak both English and Spanish; and 63 percent of the community's children live with both parents.

"Growth in the community is going to change a lot of perceptions," Monreal-Cameron said. "We are demonstrating (Hispanics) are a political force to be reckoned with."




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