Perspectives on the Latino Population in Sussex County, Delaware Dr. Jennifer Fuqua | Dr. April Veness Perspectives on the Latino Population in Sussex County, Delaware, conducted by Dr. Jennifer Fuqua and Dr. April Veness of the University of Delaware, was made possible by a grant from CFLeads to the DCF. The study was completed in collaboration with Dr. Christine Cannon, executive director of the Arsht-Cannon Fund at the DCF; La Colectiva de Delaware; La Esperanza; and many other partners. We are particularly grateful to the people who shared their stories and insights. Acknowledgments Dr. Jennifer Fuqua, University of Delaware lacolectivadelaware.org Dr. April Veness, University of Delaware laesperanzacenter.org cfleads.org Photos by Dave Chambers and Beto Santana arshtcannonfund.org Table of Contents Introduction 3 Part 1: Change Comes to Sussex County, Delaware By April Veness Development and demographic change—making space for newcomers 7 Opportunities for Latinos: the pull of Sussex County 16 Adversity and Crisis in Latin America: the push to leave home 21 Remittance lifelines between the United States and home 23 Latino diversity: four dimensions of status 26 Nationality status: strength of numbers 26 Immigration status: strength of authorization 31 Socio-economic status: strength of class privilege 34 a) Educational attainment 34 b) English language abilities 39 c) Ethnic/racial discrimination 41 Vignette: Indigenous Latinos in Sussex County d) Employment/housing: challenges for the future Assimilation status: strength of timing, placement and person 46 50 56 a) First wave of Latinos 58 b) Second wave of Latinos 59 c) Negotiating inclusion and making place 61 Accomplishments and satisfaction: perspectives on success 65 Milestones along a life-course trajectory 66 Contributions and satisfaction with life in Sussex County 75 Conclusion: prospects for Latinos in Sussex County 81 1 Part 2: Current Conditions for Latino Immigrants in Sussex County By Jennifer Fuqua How are Latino immigrants in Sussex County faring economically? 83 How are Latino Immigrants in Sussex County faring in education? 87 Leading the way: Latinos in Sussex County 95 The Public Domain 96 The Private Domain 99 Underrepresentation in Latino leadership 101 Serving Latino immigrants in Sussex County 102 Typical service provider constraints 103 Framing need among Latino immigrants in Sussex County 105 Unauthorized status 106 Authorized but temporary status 106 Authorized and on a pathway to permanent protection status 107 Refugee/asylee status 107 Lawful permanent resident status (LPR) 107 Naturalized citizenship 107 Asset building for new immigrants to the U.S. 107 Challenges to building personal assets for Latino immigrants 110 Challenges to building financial assets for Latino immigrants 112 Challenges to building social assets for Latino immigrants 113 Opportunities for impact Asset development 114 115 a) Need for legal counsel and services 116 b) Need for family literacy 117 c) Need for health and social services 117 d) Acquiring financial services 118 e) Participation in faith-based communities 118 f) Enrolling the first child in a U.S. school 118 g) Qualifying for homeownership 119 h) Navigating successfully in higher education institutions 120 Service provider capacity building 121 Specific service recommendations 122 Advocacy 123 Specific policy recommendations 125 References 127 Appendices for Parts 1 and 2 141 2 Introduction This study was made possible by a grant from CFLeads to the Delaware Community Foundation and is a first step in a long-needed look at the Latino population in Sussex County, Delaware. It builds on work done in previous studies of Latinos in Delaware, such as the 2008 Hispanic Needs Assessment. Avoiding state and county data that too often depict the Latino population as a homogeneous entity, we explore the differences within the Latino population by starting with who is included. We delved deeper into differences within the Latino population to understand how those differences intersect to shape the life experiences of specific subgroups of Latinos in Sussex County. Finally, with the help of numerous well-informed individuals (some who agreed to be interviewed as study participants and others who simply shared their trove of knowledge with us), we learned about what matters most to individuals and families who proudly identify as Latino. How do they see themselves and talk about their lives? What do they need and how might service providers more effectively respond to that need? This study is far from exhaustive or complete. It is limited by census information that is, in 2019, quite dated and based on estimates. It is limited because Sussex County has received a lot less attention from researchers. State agencies and the University of Delaware are issuing fewer reports and findings specifically about Sussex County. This study is limited because we had neither the resources nor time to gather primary or first-hand information from a large sampling of Latinos in Sussex County. Instead, we relied on secondary sources and second-hand information obtained from a smaller but well-positioned and highly knowledgeable group of study participants. Those limitations aside, we feel confident that we have pulled together some of the most pertinent information available now, and that we have thoughtfully and critically provided valuable perspectives, from multiple viewpoints, on the Latino population in Sussex County. We also hope that additional research about Latinos in Sussex County and other parts of 3 Delaware is forthcoming, especially research that bring together the breadth and diversity of experiences as well as the depth and richness of Latino life in Delaware. Finally, we hope this study provides important information about the Latino population that will assist funders, providers, educators, elected officials and community leaders in their efforts to include and support the Latino communities of Sussex County. Structure of the report In Part 1, information from various sources is woven to tell a story about who the Latino population of Sussex County is. Veness looks at when and why Latinos settled in Sussex County and, if they are immigrants, their homelands and why they left. She also explores the diversity within the Latino population, attempting to understand how differences in nationality, immigration status/authorization, socio-economic backgrounds, time of arrival and interactions with other Latinos and non-Latinos collectively establish the context within which individual and family life happens. She pulls together different voices to hear what Latinos and non-Latinos say about the accomplishments, aspirations, frustrations and needs within the Latino population. In Part 2 of the report, the story narrows its focus to pay closer attention to the current situation for Latinos in Sussex County and the roles that service providers and policymakers can take to address unmet needs. Fuqua examines how different segments of the Latino population are faring and identifies ways that Latino leadership initiates and undertakes community building in the public and private domain. Using information from study participants and published reports, she turns to the needs of some segments of the Latino population. She introduces a conceptual framework for asset building designed by scholars to assist immigrant communities across the United States. Fuqua looks at the resources and services that matter most to Latino youth and families and identifies strategies for more effectively engaging leadership and investment of Latinos in Sussex County. She highlights the importance of immigration status on the lives of Latino individuals and families and offers strategic recommendations to increase engagement and active participation of 4 Latinos in La Colectiva network. Notes on terminology The term Latino is being used in this study, even though Hispanic may be the preferred label for some members of this inclusive Spanish-speaking group and Hispanic is the label used by the United States Census Bureau. When census information is directly used in mapmaking, the label Hispanic is retained to avoid confusion, or it is used interchangeably with Latino. We also acknowledge that the terms Latino, Hispanic and Spanish-speaking may not be the most appropriate identifier for the indigenous or Native American immigrants from Latin America who may continue to speak one of their tribal languages. Likewise, Latino may not be the best label for Afro-Latinos, such as Haitians, who do not speak Spanish but are from countries in Latin America and are considered to be Latin American by the Census Bureau. Finally, although Puerto Ricans are Latinos, Hispanics and Spanishspeaking, their U.S. citizenship means that often they are not counted in some census data that appears in mapped and tabular form. For example, they would not be counted as foreign-born or as an immigrant in the census. To the best of our abilities (e.g. when the mapmaking tool on FactFinder and PolicyMap allow), we included this population in our maps and statistics. Puerto Ricans were included in our interviews. Notes on methodology The mixed methods employed in this study are widely used in our respective fields of academic training. Part historical description, part spatial analysis, part sociological inquiry and part public policy, information was gleaned from multiple published sources and presented in narrative, graphic and tabular form. The historical narrative is based on studies conducted at the national, state and local level as well as newspaper accounts at the regional and local level. Many maps, diagrams and tables were based on U.S. Census data, plus work published in academic journals and at research centers. The photographs were taken by Veness during her fieldwork in Guatemala between 2002 and 2014. Information 5 provided by 15 highly knowledgeable, and very generous, study participants is another important data source. A more detailed description of the sampling procedure, interview script and process for analyzing the information from study participants can be found in Appendix A. 6 PART 1: Change Comes to Sussex County, Delaware by April Veness Department of Geography University of Delaware (veness@udel.edu) Development and demographic change—making space for newcomers For many decades, all but the most northern part of the Delmarva Peninsula was cut off from the wave of urbanization that stretched along I-95 from Boston to Washington, D.C. Flanked by the Chesapeake Bay to the west, and the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean to the east, this sparsely settled part of the eastern seaboard was long known for its fisheries and agriculture. Until relatively recently, most families traced their ancestries to the Native American tribes long settled in the region, the northern European immigrants who arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries, or the African slaves brought in to work the land. With the 1952 opening of the Bay Bridge linking the Washington-Baltimore conurbation with the Delmarva Peninsula, and the advent of refrigerated transport that increased the commercial potential of agriculture and agro-processing on the Delmarva, the economic and demographic profile of the Delmarva Peninsula changed. In the Maryland counties of the western half of the Delmarva Peninsula, and the Delaware counties of the eastern half of the Delmarva Peninsula, traditional livelihoods and taken-for-granted social dynamics were rapidly reshaped in the face of development, due in part to the in-migration of retirees and tourists who were not raised in this part of the mid-Atlantic. After a visit to Sussex County in 2006, a newspaper columnist from Washington, D.C., compared the county to the American South with one caveat: “One difference between Sussex County and the Deep South is that the white population of Sussex County is much less diverse. Virtually all the white people here are English, Welsh, or Scots-Irish—and Methodist, for this is the cradle of American Methodism, with the denomination’s very oldest churches. You seldom meet a person whose surname isn’t also the name of a nearby street” (Caldwell, 2006). 7 When change finally arrived in Sussex County in the 1950s and 1960s, and accelerated in the 1970s-1990s, the effects of that change were not experienced at the same time in all places across the county. The demographic, economic, social, political and environmental changes brought about by development were first felt along the coast where local residents and the media both celebrated and decried them. In the early 1970s, a journalist from The (Baltimore) Sun documented the struggle over where and how development would occur in Sussex County, as well as whose interests would be served by development. In 1972, she described Baltimore-Washington vacation homeowners gathered at public hearings to protest proposed zoning amendments designed to allow higher density development along the coast (Corddry, 1972a). Eager to protect their private getaways from throngs of other vacationers, these out-of-state homeowners opposed amendments that would open the door to additional in-migration. The next month the journalist reported on a lawsuit filed by several property owners who held undeveloped acreage at the beach (and were also in the real estate business). They, with other beach residents, opposed a developer’s plan to build high density condominiums near the Indian River inlet (Corddry, 1972b). Delawareans who permanently and seasonally resided in one of the beach communities; out-of-state homeowner/vacationers who had, or wanted to have, dibs on these coastal spaces; anyone with interest in and revenue to open up and develop this part of Sussex County: each group of stakeholders tried to define and manage how Sussex County would change, in the courts of law and in public opinion. Once legislation on how development would proceed was decided, development took off. Between 1980-1990, “the four eastern census divisions . . . grew nearly twice as fast as the western and northern areas,” according to Homsey et al. (2007, pg. 11). This population growth contributed to an increased demand for housing, services, transportation infrastructure, and newcomer-friendly attitudes and practices. With the construction of the four-lane Delaware Route 1 during the 1990s, and improvements that continue today, Delawareans with second homes at the beach—as well as out-of-state seasonal visitors and permanently relocated retirees—could easily travel the length of Delaware. The landscape, politics and culture of communities along the coast were being altered; and census data used in Figure 1 clearly show the lasting imprint of out-of-state 8 newcomers to Sussex County. The dark purple census tracts along the Atlantic Ocean coastline and Chesapeake Bay shoreline indicate where these newcomers settled. Between 2013 and 2017, more than 50 percent of the population living in the eastern half of Sussex County, as well as the southwestern corner of the county, were non-native-born Delawareans. Figure 1: Percent Population Born in State Other than State of Residence, by census tract. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. Demographic change based on population growth did not go unopposed. By the mid1990s, residents and officials along the coast were calling for moratoriums on rezoning that enabled the expansion of businesses and housing, which, in turn, made that part of Sussex County even more attractive to retirees and tourists (Marshall, 1994; Murray, 1996). The benefit of living in southern Delaware, access to beaches, quaint small towns and taxfriendly laws, was just the ticket more than 3000 “Garden State refugees” needed to move from tax-burdened New Jersey to tax-free Delaware between 2007 and 2008 (Walsh, 2009, pg. A8). According to income tax return data used in an article about the overall wealth of retirees moving to Delaware, “In 2007, residents arriving in Sussex County from Middlesex 9 County, New Jersey, had the highest county-to-county AGI (adjusted gross income) for the year, at more than $155,000 per [tax] return for 25 returns” (Montgomery, 2015b). As the graph taken from Montgomery’s 2015a article “Greying of Delaware” shows, between 2000 and 2010, Sussex County offered New Jerseyans over age 55 an escape from some of their financial worries (see Figure 2). Figure 2: Percentage Population in Different Age Cohorts: Kent County, DE, Sussex County, DE, and New Jersey. Source: Montgomery, 2015b. While retirees’ spending power (and their contributions to state, county and town tax bases and civic life) were welcome, some native Sussex Countians near the coast were not convinced that this change was good. Their cars began sporting bumper stickers that read “Don’t Hassle Me, I’m Local” to protest the unwanted impact of changing demographics in their backyard (Gaffney, 2007). “Runaway development” that snarled traffic, blocked scenic vistas and created water and air pollution had long been a cause for concern, but local economic interests and political gains repeatedly were approved, while more restrictive and prudent policies were not, reported Barrish and Wallick (2006). 10 Opposition to out-of-state newcomers, and the negative changes that occurred from development, was apparently offset by improvements those changes brought to some longtime Sussex County residents. This influx of relatively wealthy retirees continued unabated through the 2000s to today. It fueled a housing boom that saw listing prices of average single-family homes in Sussex County top prices in Kent and New Castle counties by more than $100,000 (Milford, 2002); and it reinforced perceptions that Delaware was the go-to state for well-informed and well-heeled retirees (Montgomery, 2015a, 2015b). As seen in Figure 3 in 2017, the most affordable housing in the county was in census tracts inland and away from the amenities of the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Figure 3: Median Sale Price, Residential Homes, by census tract. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. In his exposé about the “grey wave” reshaping Delaware, Montgomery (2015a) reported that the numbers of incoming retirees “are so high in Sussex County that older residents are seen as an emerging economic force, both because of the investments made by homebuyers and their spending and service needs. An increasing presence of seniors is driving an increase in healthcare workers and service industry jobs.” According to Ratledge, the author of a 2012 University of Delaware report on the housing industry, "Sussex County will not grow without an annual influx of retirees and workers necessary to support this new 11 population. . . . What happens is, as those people move, they need plumbing services, landscaping services” (Montgomery, 2015a). See Figure 4. Figure 4. Percentage of the population of Sussex County over the age of 65, by census tract. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. If better-educated millennials across Delaware are leaving the state in search of employment commensurate to their degrees, which Murray reported in 2016, an outcome of this out-migration may be a shortage of workers in Sussex County who will build, clean and landscape the houses, care for the aged, and work in businesses that cater to Sussex County’s increasingly diverse population. This is where another part of the picture comes into focus. Over the past 30 to 40 years, Sussex County has not only been a magnet for older out-of-state newcomers seeking an economically friendly, amenities-rich lifestyle. It has been a magnet for younger foreign-born newcomers seeking an economically friendly, opportunities-rich livelihood. Researchers have shown in studies elsewhere that these two migration streams—one amenities migrants and the other economic migrants—are often linked and tied to processes of globalization (Nelson, Nelson and Trautman, 2014). 12 Moreover, in rural places in the United States where retirees and upwardly mobile professionals flock to live, researchers have found that it is quite common for native and foreign-born Latinos to step into the low-wage jobs in the service industry created by their presence (Nelson, Trautman and Nelson, 2015). Sussex County, then, has faced the need to house, serve and protect, a) the increasing numbers of retirees and seasonal visitors attracted to the county’s amenities, and, b) the increasing numbers of immigrant laborers attracted to the county’s job opportunities in the agro-processing and service sectors of the economy. The coincident, and, in part, interactive arrival of these two very different migrant streams has had economic, demographic, social, political and environmental impacts on Sussex County—impacts not fully researched. In other parts of the United States, and in other countries, the arrival of a wealthier, more educated and politically astute group of amenity migrants leads to the geographic displacement and social dislocation of long-term residents who once lived in the spaces being sought by these newcomers. This process is called rural gentrification (see Ghose, 2004; Kondo, Rivera and Rullman, 2012), and signs indicate it is occurring in Sussex County. Downes (1994), in her master’s thesis research, examined the displacement of lower-income white and African-American families that once lived in census tracts along the Sussex County coastline—census tracts that became unaffordable when housing prices skyrocketed and property taxes increased. These families sought hard-to-obtain and often-substandard housing in the central and western parts of Sussex County, “in places called Shockleyville, Peppertown, Coverdales Crossroads, Greentop, Eagles Camp and McMillon’s Camp” (Humphrey, 1987, A3; Kester, 1996). Many of the houses in those tucked-away places lacked indoor plumbing and, if families could not manage by doubling up and making do, they might have landed in one of the county’s homeless shelters (Veness, 1993). Away from the coast, in and around Georgetown, the growing Latino population was also facing housing problems, which ranged from difficulty finding housing, to living in deteriorated conditions, to dealing with negligent landlords (Rivera, 1997; Rivera 1999). Instead of housing becoming more affordable and accessible as the housing supply gradually expanded, 13 middle- and lower-income Sussex County families continued to face problems. Life as Sussex Countians once knew it was being transformed by the “grey wave” of out-ofstate retirees that swept across the amenities-rich coastline and bays and moved incrementally inland to the central and western parts of Sussex County. It was also being transformed by a “brown wave” of Latino laborers that eased its way into the county via the jobs-rich agricultural hinterlands of the Delmarva Peninsula, and found several footholds in census tracts along the coast. According to the 2018 Sussex County Comprehensive Plan (pg. 4-6) “the County is expected to have an additional 46,515 permanent residents in 2045, and more than 23,960 additional seasonal residents,” continuing a pattern of population growth and cross-cultural, inter-generational blending that is “bringing population diversity” to the county. The Hispanic population, however, is the only ethnic/racial group in Sussex County predicted to experience growth over the next few decades. While the projected growth of the Hispanic population in Sussex County is bringing increased diversity to the county, it is also changing the relative proportions of whites, African-Americans and people of “other races or mixed races,” according to demographic projections offered in the Sussex County Comprehensive Plan (2018, pg. 16). Whites comprised 74.8 percent of the county’s population in 2015. That percentage is projected to drop to 67.6 percent by 2045. African-Americans comprised 12.2 percent of the county’s population in 2015, and that percentage is projected to rise slightly to 13 percent by 2045. Sussex Countians of “other races and mixed races” are also projected to increase slightly, from 3.5 percent in 2015 to 4 percent by 2045. The percentage of Hispanics is projected to increase from 9.4 percent in 2015 to 14.8 percent by 2045. Although it experienced an infusion of newcomers from other parts of Delaware, the United States and abroad, compared to the more urbanized regions to the west and north, Sussex County was only moderately diverse in 2010. Its diversity index score of 41 was lower than the 56 score in New Castle County and 55 for the United States as a whole (Overberg, no date). The diversity described by this index is based on ethnic and racial diversity. It does not take into account other types of diversity, such as: differences in income, education and 14 employment (socio-economic); differences in age and family status (demographics); differences in culture and language (family background); differences in immigration status (authorization, citizenship); and differences in gender identity, sexual orientation and ability (individual). While this narrow definition of diversity is the basis for Figure 5 and reflects how Sussex County looks in comparison with nearby counties, diversity as a concept will be expanded and examined later in the report when looking at Latinos in Sussex County. Figure 5: Diversity of Sussex County, Del., in 2010, compared with other counties in the mid-Atlantic region. Source: Overberg, no date As development fever spread westward from the Atlantic coastline and eastward from the Chesapeake Bay, Latinos filled newly opened jobs. Some of these jobs were created by the rapid expansion of and labor turnover in Delmarva’s agriculture and agro-processing industry (Miller and Horowitz, 1997). Other jobs were created by the rapid expansion of the tourist and retirement industry. It is against this backdrop of rapid economic growth and demographic change, then, that this study seeks to describe the arrival, settlement and integration of Latinos in Sussex County. 15 Opportunities for Latinos: the pull of Sussex County Immigrants to the United States have always been lured by the opportunities that await them, whether in the era of mass European migration at the turn of the past century or in the current era of mass migration from Latin American and Asia. It was no different for successive waves of Latino immigrant newcomers who found their way to the Delmarva Peninsula and Sussex County, Delaware, starting in the late 1980s. According to an article in The (Baltimore) Sun (Bock and Willis, 1996), “Spanish-speaking immigrants have become a presence across the Delmarva Peninsula. They harvest crops in Westover, care for seedlings in Kennedyville, bottle pickles in Hurlock, work on assembly lines in Salisbury and process chickens by the millions at plants that would be hard-pressed to produce without them.” According to Bock and Willis (1996, pg. 26A), “Poultry processing [was] replacing farm work as Latinos’ chief occupation,” with “[n]early 3,200 immigrants—overwhelmingly Latinos— work[ing] for six poultry processors.” Purdue alone employed 1,138 of those 3,200 Latinos, making Latinos nearly 20 percent of Purdue’s labor force in the mid-1990s (Bock and Willis, 1996). In an effort to explain this shift to Latino labor on the Delmarva, several sources are helpful. Bock and Willis (1996) turned to the observations of a priest working closely with Latino workers, who said “The poultry plants turned to immigrants after they had ‘pretty much exhausted’ the black work force.” Miller and Horowitz confirm this shift, describing how daily life in Georgetown quickly and dramatically changed with the arrival of Mexican, Guatemalan and other Central American immigrants—a transition that “constituted the most important change in the city since the colonial era.” Seemingly overnight, “The centuries old question of the relationship between the African American minority and the European origin majority had been superseded by a new question of how to live together with the Central American immigrants about whom so little was known” (1997, pg. 2). For residents in a county that had not experienced immigration in more than a century, the arrival of foreign-born newcomers from Latin American and other parts of the world was a challenge (see Gaffney, 2007). It was also a sign that their swatch of slower, lower rural 16 Delmarva was starting to look and feel too much like cosmopolitan places to the north and west with their higher concentrations of foreign-born immigrants. This type of transition can be very upsetting to rural residents who have long defined themselves, in part, by the fact that they are not urban, not cosmopolitan, and not part of a globalizing world in which unfamiliar strangers inhabit familiar spaces (Agygman and Spooner, 1997). Most of the census tracts in Sussex County, and the nonurbanized Delmarva Peninsula and beyond, are places in which less than 10 percent of the total population is foreign-born, according to census estimates from 2013-2017. Five tracts in the northern and western parts of the county are places in which 11 percent to 20 percent of the population is foreign-born, and in two tracts, in the center and far south, foreign-born people comprise more than 20 percent of the population. All of the tracts where more than 10 percent of the population is foreign-born are tracts in which immigrants from parts of Latin America have settled. Figure 6: Percent all Foreign-born Population in Delmarva region, 2013-2017 estimates, by census tract. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. Another way to look at the dramatic demographic change occurring in Sussex County over 17 the past few decades is to map the predominant foreign-born population in Sussex County by census tract. Immigrants from Latin America make up the largest proportion of foreignborn people in most of the tracts by 2017 (this includes Caribbean countries, but not Puerto Rico because Puerto Ricans would not be immigrants or foreign-born). The only census tracts in which Latinos are not the predominant foreign-born population are tracts along the eastern and western sides of the county; and data from other census tables indicate that the total numbers of foreign-born in most of those tracts are relatively small. See Figure 7. Figure 7: Predominant country of birth among the foreign-born population, 2013-2017, by census tract. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. According to newspaper accounts in the 1990s, the first wave of Latinos on the Delmarva Peninsula were from two sources: American-born migrant farm workers who "settled out" or decided to seek year-round permanent employment, and authorized and unauthorized immigrant workers from Mexico and Guatemala who found jobs (paying $6 to $7 an hour) in the poultry plants (Bock and Willis, 1996). An informant in the study by Miller and Horowitz (1997, pg. 15) said “2,000 Guatemalans arrived in the Georgetown area, mainly in 1992 and 18 1993, and over half of them arrived directly from Guatemala and a quarter of them after a sojourn elsewhere in the U.S., principally Florida.” A front-page article in the Wilmington News Journal (Pringle and Guerrero, 1994) described these Latino laborers contributing to the $1.3 billion-a-year chicken business on the Delmarva. Industry officials indicated that “If we didn’t have these people, we wouldn’t run the plants as much. . . . The growers wouldn’t have as much income. The farmers growing the corn and soybeans wouldn’t have as big a market” (Pringle and Guerrero, 1994, pg. 10). Employment at local chicken processing plants increased steadily “from 10,800 [employees] in 1983 to 14,200 in 1993,” according to the official cited in the newspaper article, making the broiler industry the state’s largest agricultural business. Not only were Latinos eager to take jobs, business experts argued that “Americans just don’t want to do the dirty work” that Latinos will do because they have “other opportunities” (Burau, 1996, pg. 1). In 1999, Washington Post reporters wrote that Latinos filled approximately one-third of the physically demanding and often dangerous jobs in poultry processing on the Delmarva Peninsula (Sun and Escobar, 1999). In the same decade, according to an article by Pack (1997), the Delaware Population Consortium estimated that between 1990 and 1995, the Hispanic population in Sussex County grew from 2,317 (the number cited in the 1990 census) to nearly 8,000. Diligent and dutiful in their obligations to employers and family members at home, many of the young single men from this first migrant wave struggled to find affordable and decent housing, learn English and overcome loneliness (Pringle and Guerrero, 1994). This population boom, made up of many immigrants from villages in the impoverished western highlands of Guatemala, put a big demand on some of the oldest and less-well-kept rental housing stock. In turn, this contributed to a host of other problems: profiteering by landlords who did not maintain their properties; overcrowding by renters who were economizing by sharing space and did not understand local norms about how those spaces were to be used and maintained; and lots of finger pointing as longtime residents tried to make sense of what was happening (see Rivera, 1997 and 1999; Williams, 2001; Guy, 2002). Looking back at the settlement history of Latinos in Sussex County, one study participant talked about the attractiveness of employment opportunities and peace of mind that came 19 from joining friends and relatives who had found work and housing in Sussex County: It’s word of mouth, it’s a big deal. So [Latinos in Sussex County] tell people [back home], ‘All right, I have a cousin, I have a friend, I have a neighbor, I have friends. There’s people there. You can definitely get a job. There are poultry plants, there’s a meat packing plant, there’s a this. You can get a job no matter what.’ They’re like, ‘That’s all I need to hear. I can get a job so I’ll go to where my people are.’ I don’t even know if it’s necessarily family. . . . One gentleman I know, he said, ‘I didn’t even know they spoke a different language, I didn’t even know it was really a different country. I didn’t know anything. I just knew it was going all the way up north and that there was a stable job.’ And so, he said, ‘I went’ (Spence, 2008, pg. 15). If available steady work and a general sense of security attracted Latinos to Sussex County in the 1990s and through most of the 2000s, lost work opportunities and a diminished sense of security would persuade some of them to leave. Spence (2009a) wrote about the outmigration of Latinos from Georgetown during the 2008-2009 economic recession. In Spence’s conversations with local leaders, the reasons for Latinos moving to Sussex County in the first place were reiterated. They first took jobs in soybean and corn fields and later sought full-time, year-round work in poultry processing plants located along the central Route 113 corridor. But the economic downturn and several raids by the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the poultry plants changed that. “[T]he poultry plants are having a hard time operating—a charge human resource officials at the chicken plants deny” (Spence, 2009a, pg. 18). In 2009, plant officials indicated that the Georgetown Perdue plant had 1,300 employees, and its Milford plant 1,350 employees. Mountaire Farms in Millsboro and Selbyville employed 3, 215. (No data were available for Allen Family Food in Seaford.) Notwithstanding denials by poultry plant officials that the economy and raids were behind the high turnover rates, Spence (2009a) noted that Perdue had begun to advertise for workers in a broader area to maintain its labor force. A decade on, the economic and demographic changes that transformed the look and feel 20 of life in Sussex County were happening across the United States and world, according to a Pew Research Report (Cilluffo and Cohn, 2019). For one, “Hispanics are projected to be the largest racial or ethnic minority group in the U.S. electorate” in 2020. In addition, according to the report, “The immigrant share of the U.S. population is approaching a record high” with immigrants accounting for 13.6 percent of the U.S. population, according to U.S. census estimates in 2017. While “The U.S. unauthorized immigrant population is at its lowest level in more than a decade,” because of a decline in the number of Mexicans entering the country, the numbers of unauthorized immigrants from the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras are anticipated to increase (Cillufo and Cohn, 2019). Adversity and Crisis in Latin America: the push to leave home The first wave of Latinos to Sussex County is barely visible in the 1990 census, which lists 15,820 Hispanics for all of Delaware, with 1,476 of them living in Sussex County. Of those, about half, or 708, were Mexican, according to the U.S. Census. The total population for Sussex County in 1990 was 111,163, making Latinos approximately 1 percent of the total population. Using census estimates from 2017, 19,860 Latinos lived in Sussex County, and they make up 9.2 percent of the total population of 211,224 (American Factfinder, table DP05). This significant increase in the numbers of Latinos residing in Sussex County over the past three decades can be explained by in-migration (from other counties, states and countries) and the births of children to Latino parents living in Sussex County. In the same way that Sussex County became attractive to other newcomer groups (such as retirees), Latino newcomers were attracted to its many opportunities. Unlike those other groups, however, many of the Latinos arriving during the 1980s and 1990s left their homelands out of desire and desperation. Lack of economic and educational opportunity, grinding poverty and hunger, political oppression and social upheaval, plus displacement due to natural disasters: these were the reasons to leave home. Bock and Willis (1996) wrote about one man who “used to work for $2 or $3 a day on Mexican coffee plantations before returning to Guatemala to help his father grow a subsistence crop of corn and beans.” That man finally followed a friend to Georgetown after risking “$650 in borrowed money to pay a 21 ‘coyote’ to bring him across the border at Nogales, Arizona, and to pay a smuggler to drive him and others in a van to Delaware.” The reasons for leaving home, costs of getting into the United States, and physical risks incurred along the migrant journey have only multiplied in recent years. Economic opportunities for young people have disappeared in many immigrant-sending home countries. Public investments in health, education and infrastructure have stagnated or shrunk, and political corruption and lawlessness have become entrenched in state actions and civil society. This toxic brew of desperation and hopelessness is being felt throughout Latin America and other parts of the world where people are on the move looking for refuge in faraway places. As a recent article in The New York Times points out, “For the masses fleeing violence and poverty in Central America, the United States is both a cause and solution — the author of countless woes and a chance to escape them” (Ahmed, 2019). Many scholars and journalists point out that policies and actions taken by governments and corporations in western democracies in North America, Europe, Australia and other parts of Asia are contributing to unstable conditions in the developing world (for example, Nevins, 2018, Peterson, 2019). In addition, the U.S. government seems to be making little headway addressing the root causes of today’s emigration crisis in Central America (Kirby, 2019), although the topic of a global migration crisis has been examined in recent research studies and policy briefs (Negroponte et al., 2017). Getting out of unstable and bleak conditions and getting into more stable and beneficial conditions, then, are the primary motivators behind assuming the costs and dangers of migration. The reasons for leaving home often fall on the shoulders of the most vulnerable segments of Latin American society. According to a 2016 article in Al Jazeera, indigenous Guatemalans are practically forced to flee their homeland because of frequent assaults and kidnappings in their villages and increasing food insecurity due to climate change and land deterioration. In addition, gross neglect by the Guatemalan government—or its failure to invest in infrastructure, education and health especially in predominantly rural, impoverished, indigenous communities in the western highlands—has led to outmigration (Sullivan, 2016). Economic opportunity, if it exists at all, is intricately connected to a corrupt police force and 22 money to be made in the illegal drug trade, according to Mayan leaders. This has created a system designed to “oblige” and “trap” people in fear and debt. Gangs play a significant role in the reasons for leaving home as well, a situation felt in Mexico, particularly in states with the highest percentage of indigenous people (Martinez, 2018, Pleven and Ornelas, 2019). Findings from a recent U.S. government report document a steady increase in immigrant numbers. “Guatemala and Honduras have seen over 1 percent of their total population migrate to the U.S. in the first seven months of this fiscal year,” according to a speech by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan (Miroff, 2019). “One department of Guatemala, Huehuetenango, has seen almost 35,000 of its residents — close to 3 percent of the population — migrate to the U.S. in that time frame,” according to that report (Miroff, 2019). A strong correlation exists between places that send the most immigrants, ethnic/racial discrimination of marginalized populations, entrenched poverty, civil unrest and government failure, a correlation often missed in policy briefs. “The departments with the largest indigenous populations—San Marcos, Huehuetenango, Totonicapan, Alta Verapaz, Solola, Chimaltenango—are . . . the ones that expel the most migrants because these departments are on the margins of state policy,” according to Alvaro Caballeros, a sociologist at the University of San Carlos (Sullivan, 2016). According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, “Some 34 percent of the 94,500 immigrants the U.S. and Mexico deported to Guatemala last year came from Huehuetenango and the neighboring border region of San Marcos, Guatemala’s interior ministry said. The two regions [departments] make up the country’s leading source of migrants” (Montes, 2019). Most Guatemalan immigrants arriving in Sussex County are from San Marcos and Huehuetenango. Remittance lifelines between the United States and home In a situation where out-migration is one’s only escape and way to survive, remittances from family members in the United States have been an essential lifeline for communities left behind. But even this has not been enough to ensure the well-being of families abroad. According to findings from a 2017 survey of more than 2,000 Guatemalan emigrants, 23 conducted by the Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos, the total amount of remittance money Guatemalan emigrants in the United States send home is larger than any other country (Cervantes Gonzalez, 2017, pgs. 2 and 9). The average monthly remittance sent home, however, is lower in the U.S. ($451) than it is in other countries where Guatemalan emigrants live, such as Canada ($803), Mexico and Central America ($748) and Europe ($591) (Cervantes Gonzalez, 2017, pg. 32). See Figure 8. Figure 8: Average monthly remittance sent to Guatemala by Guatemalan emigrants residing the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America and Europe. Source: Cervantes Gonzalez, 2017. Interestingly, remittance flows from the United States into Mexico continue to increase despite a reduction in the number of immigrants from Mexico coming into the United States. In 2017, the average amount of monthly remittance money going from Delaware to Mexico was $375 (Ortega and Orozco, 2018, pgs. 10-11). Statements from study participants reinforced the description above: “The number one [reason for migrating] is always economic opportunity, but I think also there’s been an increasing number of people coming here to escape different types of violence, or domestic violence, gang violence, things of that nature.” With no trust in local officials or the police, it is not unusual for Guatemalan immigrants to Sussex County to report that in their home country, they had to remain indoors after 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. because it was unsafe: “When I came here I felt a difference, security.” 24 This same scenario is being played out in Guatemalan immigrant communities across the United States, and it helps explain why “Migration has been a key survival strategy, not only for those who have left the country but also for those who have stayed” (Yates-Doerr, 2018). In 2017 alone, an estimated 7.5 billion U.S. dollars were remitted to Guatemala, predominantly from Guatemalans living in the United States, according to Yates-Doerr (2018). “Several communities in the Maya highlands rank among those where families receive more remittances than in other regions of the country, and most of the money is spent on basic household needs” (Yates-Doerr, 2018). Remittances also pay debt incurred for sending family members to the United States. In situations where indigenous families use their land as collateral for those loans, ancestral lands are being lost because of the family’s inability to repay the loans (Heidbrink, 2019). When a relative sent north cannot gain access to the United States or has been detained and deported once inside the United States, it is disastrous to the family and one more reason to send someone north again in search of that lucky break and opportunity to work. These dangers have not slowed the numbers making the migration. “Between October 1, 2017, and August 31, [2018] the U.S. government arrested 42,757 Guatemalans who came to the U.S. with family members—the highest number of migrants with families from any one country, according to Yates-Doerr (2018). U.S. involvements in the economics and politics of Guatemala, and other Central American countries, range from helping to keep farmers afloat and on their land with U.S. aid dollars (Castillo and Solomon, 2019) to helping create the very conditions immigrants now wish to escape (Yates-Doerr, 2018; Peterson, 2019). Climate change, which is contributing to extreme weather events, has destroyed croplands and contributed to worsening hunger; and this has added to the massive debt families have incurred, a debt that can only be reduced by emigrating to find work elsewhere (Blitzer, 2019a and 2019b). 25 Latino diversity: four dimensions of status In an effort to take into account the multiple dimensions of diversity and how they collectively shape the life-course trajectory of individuals and families, the next section of the report looks at four dimensions of status: nationality status (based on numerical strength), immigration status (based on whether and how an individual is authorized to reside in the U.S.), socio-economic status (based on a combination of ethnic/racial/cultural background, educational attainment and English language skills, income, employment and housing), and assimilation status (based on time of arrival, degree of social and spatial inclusion in a place, and personal efficacy). The relative power/privilege an individual or family has vis-àvis other Latinos, and non-Latinos, is shaped by their position along these four dimensions of status. Other dimensions of status empower and disempower segments of society in specific historical and geographical contexts that this study does not examine. For instance, this study does not look at the status accrued or denied based on age, gender, sexuality, physical/mental ability, or intimate relationship status (marriage, cohabitation, singlehood). Nationality status: strength of numbers According to 2017 census estimates, 19,860 Latinos/Hispanics live in Sussex County, and they are distributed throughout all census tracts of the county (see Figure 9). The largest numbers of Latinos, however, are found in the central and northwestern census tracts along the Routes 113 and 13 corridors. 26 Figure 9: Number of Hispanics or Latinos in Sussex County, by census tract. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. The Latino population of Sussex County does not have a lot of geographical diversity, according to 2017 census estimates. The vast majority of Latinos (94.5 percent) are from Mesoamerica (the region that includes Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean), and the three largest nationality groups are from Mexico (7,876 people or 40 percent of all Latinos); Guatemala (5,895 or 30 percent of the total); and Puerto Rico (2,678 or 15.5 percent). Smaller but sizeable nationality groups live in Sussex County: El Salvador (832 individuals, 4 percent of the total); Ecuador (434, 2 percent); Honduras (366, 2 percent); Dominican Republic (288, 1.1 percent); Cuba (216, 1.1 percent); and all other Hispanic or Latino countries (474, 2.2 percent). See Figure 10. South Americans comprise about 4.6 percent of Sussex County’s Latino population, with Spaniards, from Europe, comprising 0.9 percent. There are 14,709 Latinos who speak Spanish or Spanish Creole at home (excluding children under age 5). 27 Figure 10: Percentage of Hispanics/Latinos from largest nationality groups. Source: U.S. Census, American Factfinder. It is important to note that Latinos are not the only non-English speakers or foreign-born immigrants in Sussex County. According to the U.S. Census’s American Community Survey of 2017 (B1603), 204,120 people above the age of 5 live in Sussex County, and 10.7 percent of them (21,855) do not speak English at home. Of the 21,855 people who do not speak English at home, 70.7 percent (15,461) are Spanish speakers. Out of the 15,461 individuals who speak Spanish at home, 50.8 percent are foreign-born (7,859). One sizeable group of foreign-born, non-English speaking immigrants from Latin America that does not figure into the above data is the Haitian population. An estimated 1,615 Haitians living in Sussex County likely speak French and French Creole at home. Latinos from these nationalities tend to cluster with other co-nationals, creating several census tracts where one nationality group dominates (see Figure 11). Interestingly, Latinos in the coastal tracts are predominantly from El Salvador, Puerto Rico and Cuba, whereas Latinos from Mexico and Guatemala tend to be located in tracts adjacent to the central Routes 13 and 113 corridors. Immigrants from Ecuador and Haiti, and Latinos from Puerto 28 Rico, have clustered in tracts on the western side of the county. What the map below cannot show, because the data is aggregated at the census tract level, is where within a tract Latinos and Latino nationality groups reside. In tracts that are more urban, such as those in and around Seaford, Laurel, Selbyville, Georgetown, Milford and in the coastal communities of Lewes, Rehoboth and Bethany Beach, further residential clustering of Latino nationality groups may occur. This is the case for Kimmeytown, a Georgetown neighborhood with a significant concentration of immigrants from Guatemala and where the numbers of Latinos run into the thousands. The data presented here also cannot show how individual nationality groups, or individuals within a nationality group, are dispersed according to their socioeconomic background. Figure 11: Number of Foreign-Born People Born in Latin America, with concentrations of Puerto Ricans superimposed on map. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. The spatial clustering of co-nationals is not unusual if one thinks about the process of migration and the role of family and community networks in the flow of information, money 29 and people. Information about opportunities for work in the United States, economic assistance to family members traveling to the United States, and help given to recently arrived family and friends (seeking jobs, housing, transportation and conviviality with people who understand them and where they are from) all work to bring co-nationals together socially and spatially. The process of leaving one’s homeland and emigrating to the United States is not simply the result of push-pull factors, or chain-migration whereby family or friends follow the footpath of someone before them. Rather, argues Bashi (2007, pg. 13), the process of migration typically involves immigrant social networks within which information and opportunities for migration are shaped and shared in particular times and spaces. It is through these social networks that migration pathways, resettlement patterns and relative status are established. The Latino population of Sussex County, like the Latino population of the United States, is diverse in ways that go beyond differences in country of origin. Latinos are differentiated according to the cultural practices and languages spoken in their native countries, and they are differentiated by their immigration status (i.e., whether they were born in the United States, have permanent residency, as is the case of Puerto Ricans, or have gained authorization via other means). They are also differentiated by their socio-economic status or class position—a position shaped by education and income, type of employment, and accumulation of assets (which includes the socio-economic stability that homeownership gives, and the upward mobility that an ability to speak English and Spanish offer). Latinos in Sussex County, like non-Latinos in U.S. society, are also marked by and differentially privileged according to racial characteristics and the degree to which those characteristics lead to discrimination. As this report discusses in greater detail later, a portion of the Latino population in Sussex County is first- and second-generation immigrants of Native American ancestry. This Mam-speaking indigenous subgroup primarily is from impoverished rural areas of the western highlands of Guatemala, in the Departments of Huehuetenango, San Marcos and Quetzaltenango (see Appendix A). Some may also come from the state of Chiapas, in Mexico, in a small region along the border with Guatemala. 30 Immigration status: strength of authorization Based on the data compiled by the Migration Policy Institute in its “Profile of Unauthorized Population: Delaware (no date),” immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala make up slightly more than half of individuals with unauthorized status in Delaware (13,000 people). Given that Mexican and Guatemalan are the two largest nationality groups in Sussex County (13,771 of the 19,860 Latinos in the county), it is reasonable to assume that a sizeable subpopulation of unauthorized immigrants resides in Sussex County and lives in a state of insecurity. Immigration status insecurity negatively affects individuals, families and the larger community, and fear is a real deterrent to public engagement for unauthorized Latinos. The continuing threat of exposure, possible detention and deportation, loss of earnings and family disintegration shapes how unauthorized individuals, and their family members, go about their everyday lives and make decisions. Several study participants pointed out that generalized distrust, along with communication barriers and wariness about being in public unnecessarily, can undermine a person’s confidence about engaging with people he or she doesn’t know. Some participants in this study shared their observations about how one’s social status in the Latino community is shaped by immigration status, socio-economic or class position, English language skills and racial-ethnic attributes. In their statements, we learn how power imbalances between segments of the Latino community play out in intragroup dynamics. Given that unauthorized immigration status can threaten not only individuals but families with mixed status (e.g. where some members are unauthorized and others are not), it is no surprise that Latinos who have never had to worry about authorization are privileged in ways that other Latinos are not. “In general, there seems to be this distrust of Puerto Ricans, where it could be a combination of things that they could [use to] exploit us. They don’t understand us because they’re citizens,” said one study participant. Puerto Ricans have automatic citizenship and many of the rights of other Americans. They can travel freely between Puerto Rico and the United States, participate in the presidential primary process (but cannot vote in U.S. elections), and access programs exclusively for U.S. 31 citizens. They can also access and benefit from educational systems in both countries, which translates into higher graduation rates and levels of literacy, as well as higher exposure to bilingualism. According to the U.S. census, 74 percent of all adults in Puerto Rico over age 25 have a high school diploma, and almost 25 percent of these adults have a college degree (Puerto Rico Quick Facts, 2017). That compares favorably to high school graduation rates of 89 percent and college graduation rates of 30 percent in the state of Delaware, as well as high school graduation rates of 87 percent and college graduation rates of 25 percent in Sussex County (Sussex County, Delaware QuickFacts, 2017). The relative privilege Puerto Ricans have with birthrights and access to U.S. resources may lead to intragroup tensions within the Latino community. As statement by one of the focus group participants cited in Delaware’s Hispanic Needs Assessment report (2008, pg.15) describes, “There is actually more discrimination between different Hispanic groups – like Puerto Ricans and Mexicans – than between Hispanics and non-Hispanics.” A finding by Lopez (2012, pg. 58) in his research about college access for Latinos in Sussex County highlights challenges faced when navigating identity politics and status differences within the Latino community: “Latinos as an ethnic group are difficult to identify as they usually tend to self-identify themselves from the country or place they came from as opposed to any other terminology. Most Puerto Ricans are offended when they are called Latino or Hispanic because most see themselves not only as American by birth but Puerto Ricans as well.” This statement suggests that at least some Puerto Ricans in Sussex County see themselves as not the same as other Latinos. Birthrights, and the birthrights of parents and grandparents, put Puerto Ricans in a different position—an elevated, surer position—compared with all other nationality groups subsumed under the umbrella label “Latino.” Birthrights allow Puerto Ricans to distance themselves from the messiness and meanness of the topic of immigration, with its attendant worries about insecure status, incomplete acceptance and questionable belonging. Members of other Latino nationality groups in Sussex County are, for the most part, first- and second-generation immigrants. Though many have birthrights (because they were born in the U.S), those birthrights seemingly do not insulate and protect them from the “immigrant stigma” that touches the lives of foreign-born migrants and their families (see Hellgren, 2019, for a discussion of “immigrant stigma” in Europe). 32 It is important to point out that immigration status is not static. Latinos who enter the United States as authorized immigrants (for instance, on a student or tourist visa, or as a refugee) may become unauthorized if they overstay the time limits allowed on the type of authorization they hold. The number of Latinos overstaying their visas and becoming unauthorized immigrants has decreased in recent years. In particular, this is the case for Latino immigrants from Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina, and demographers attribute this change to improved conditions in their respective home countries (Warren, 2019). The status privilege conferred by having authorization upon entry to the United States can quickly change, just as the status privilege conferred by being unauthorized while in the United States can quickly change. This leads to tremendous status insecurity for segments of the Latino population in Sussex County, and opens multiple opportunities for the nonimmigrant population to misconstrue and misrepresent the immigration status of their Latino neighbors. In response to confusion about differences in immigration statuses and claims being made that many Latinos were wrongfully living in Sussex County, the League of Women Voters held a public forum in 2007 to dispel notions that all or most Latinos in the county were “illegal” or unauthorized. At this public meeting, representatives from Community Legal Aid Society and the Governor’s Advisory Council on Hispanic Affairs first pointed out that Puerto Ricans in Sussex County were U.S. residents (Spence, 2007b). Then they pointed out that other Latinos in the county were also authorized by virtue of holding one of the following special visa or immigration statuses: a) Temporary Protected Status given to nationals of specific countries, b) general amnesty, or authorization given to a broad group of Latino immigrants who arrived ahead of critical changes in U.S. policies (for instance, general amnesty in 1986), and c) refugee status, or authorization based on conditions in the country of origin (Spence, 2007b, pg.12; see also Borland, 2001, pgs. 8-15). Latino immigrants in Sussex County, then, might go through several statuses over their life-course trajectory in the United States, and not all of these immigrants will necessarily chose to become U.S. citizens once eligible. What is indisputable, however, is immigration status affects all aspects of immigrants’ lives in the United States, from feeling confident about future returns on 33 investments in housing, job training and education, to feeling secure that one’s Americanborn children will not be faced with the turmoil of moving to a country they do not know, because one or both parents were deported. Socio-economic status: strength of class privilege For the first generation of Latinos who moved to the United States as adults, certain attributes of their socio-economic background (such as their childhood educational experience and their family’s ethnicity, race and culture) are brought with them and often stay with them throughout their lives. Other attributes of one’s socio-economic or class position (such as occupation and income levels), however, may change dramatically in the United States as immigrants learn English, take jobs and earn wages far different from what they would have known at home. Even the more fixed attributes used to define class position in the home country and the United States (e.g. ethnicity/race and, often, educational attainment) may have a different significance in the U.S. context where prejudices and privileges, as well as opportunities and protections against discrimination, move groups of people who might once have been at the top, or bottom, of their country’s social class hierarchy. It is worth examining more closely where many of the Latino immigrants residing in Sussex County began their life journey. Knowing more about where they began, and what some of them hoped to gain by emigrating, may make it easier to appreciate the strides already taken and dreams already realized. It may also make it easier for educators, service providers, public officials and neighbors to engage with members of the Latino community where they’re standing, or according to their own sense of how far they have come and what they have gained. a) Educational attainment One striking difference between the home countries of the largest nationality groups in Sussex County is the percentage of adults in those countries who are literate. While 97 percent of the adult population of Puerto Rico is literate, that percentage drops to 91 34 percent in Mexico. In El Salvador it is 79 percent, with 69 percent in Guatemala and, in AfroLatino Haiti, 49 percent, according to 2001 data from the United Nations (cited, in Edwards, 2002, pg. 4). Those national level statistics, however, do not show intragroup disparities—or differences between ethnic and racial groupings, or men and women, or rural vs. urban areas within each nation. For instance, the average number of years of schooling for nonindigenous Guatemalan children is 5.7 whereas it is only 2.5 years for indigenous children. Up to 61 percent of indigenous Guatemalan women between ages 15 and 64 are illiterate (Hallman et al., 2006, pg. 3). In Mexico, indigenous people also have lower rates of literacy than nonindigenous people. Because Spanish is not the first language for many indigenous children in Mexico and Guatemala, they struggle to learn Spanish once in school, a situation that hampers their progress and contributes to their dropping out of school. High levels of poverty in indigenous families, along with unequal access to and enforcement of compulsory education, also lead to situations where children are kept out of school by their parents to provide labor to help support the family, or where children do not attend school because the parents cannot afford to purchase needed school supplies or transportation (Edwards, 2002). According to a 2018 Pew report about the educational attainment levels of immigrant groups in the United States, immigrants from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean are less likely to be high school graduates than people born in the United States. (Lopez, Bialik and Radford, 2018). Between 25 percent and 57 percent of foreign-born adults from the above Mesoamerican countries have less than a high school education, compared with 16 percent of foreign-born adults from South America (9 percent of U.S.-born adults do not have a high school diploma). Immigrants from Latin America also vary considerably in terms of the percentage that holds a four-year college degree: 32 percent of all South American immigrants are college graduates, a figure on par with the percentage of college graduates born in the United States (32 percent) as well as the percentage of immigrants from all parts of the world with a college degree (30 percent). In contrast, the percentage of immigrants from Mesoamerica with a four-year degree ranges from 20 percent (Caribbean), to 9 percent (Central America) and 7 percent (Mexico). See table from Pew Report in Appendix B. 35 About 98 percent of the Latino immigrants in Sussex County are from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, with only 2 percent from South America. Given the lower educational attainment levels in the home countries of most Latino immigrants in Sussex County, it is not a surprise that many Latinos in Sussex County have not had an opportunity to complete high school or earn a college degree. But it is important to note that within that small subset of likely-to-be highly educated immigrants from South America, significant differences often exist in educational attainment depending on whether the immigrant grew up in a city with greater access to a well-funded, quality education, vs. a rural area with little access to even a poorly-funded and mediocre education. The same urban-rural distinction holds true in Mesoamerica. “Obviously,” said one study participant, “someone who's coming from a very rural background may not have the same opportunities as someone that may be coming from a bigger city.” In addition, highly educated immigrants with college degrees, credentials and other qualifications in their home countries may not be able to use their knowledge, skills and human capital in the United States, doing work commensurate with their training. Too often they lack the state licensing or specialized credentials required in the United States, blocking the upward mobility associated with their chosen career path. Sussex County Latinos older than age 25 with less than a high school diploma tend to be clustered in census tracts with the largest numbers of Latinos. As the maps in Figure 12 show, very few Latino men or women with lower educational attainment levels live in tracts along the eastern side of the county. Instead they are distributed in tracts along the Routes 113 and 13 corridors in the central and western part of the county. The largest concentration of men and women without a high school di is in the census tract associated with the Kimmeytown and Race Street neighborhoods of Georgetown and the Gardens Mobile Home Park just outside Georgetown to the north. Of the 10,401 Hispanics/Latinos included in this countywide census estimate, 2,083 men and 1,048 women over age 25 have less than a ninth-grade education (30.1 percent of all Latinos). See Appendix C. This group of adults tends to be clustered in census tracts with the two largest nationality groups, Mexican and Guatemalan. 36 Figure 12: Number of Hispanic men and women over age 25 with less than a high school diploma, by census tract. Source: U.S. Census American FactFinder, table C15021. Using 2011-2015 census data (Table B15002 in Appendix C), it is possible to examine the educational attainment levels of several nationality groups. Of the 9,526 Latinos age 25 or older in this sampling, 6.8 percent (644 people) received no schooling at all, and most of these individuals were from Mexico (315 people) or Guatemala (246 people). Another 22.5 percent (2,147 individuals) left school before seventh grade. Nearly 30 percent of all Sussex County Latinos in this sample survey did not go beyond elementary school, and most were from Guatemala (1,210) or Mexico (813). Census tracts with the lowest levels of educational attainment for Latinos are also some of the tracts with the highest numbers of Latino households in poverty. The census tract in the center of the county (which corresponds with the Kimmeytown and Race Street neighborhoods in Georgetown and Gardens Mobile Home Park to the north of Georgetown) has more than double the number of households in poverty (848) compared to surrounding census tracts with large numbers of households in poverty (391 households in the tract south of Milford and 391 households in the tract northeast of Seaford). The percentages of Latino households in poverty, however, are higher in other census tracts. Latino households east of Seaford comprise more than half of all households in poverty in that tract, and Latino households in Millsboro comprise more than half of all households in 37 poverty in that tract (see Figure 13). One pocket of Latino household poverty stands out in a census tract to the south of Lewes, with 130 Latino households in poverty. This likely corresponds to low-income/subsidized income housing found in that tract. Figure 13: Percentage of Latino households in poverty by census tract (selected numbers of people in poverty superimposed on map). Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. At the other end of the socio-economic spectrum, many Latinos in Sussex County are not in poverty and have high school and college diplomas. Puerto Ricans tend to have more college education than other nationalities, partly because of the more secure footing they have in the United States. Looking only at the number of Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Guatemalans who have received a bachelor’s or higher degree in the 2011-2015 census estimate (398 individuals), 55 percent are Puerto Rican, 35 percent are Mexican and 9 percent are Guatemalan. If graduates with associate of arts degrees are included, the number of people with college degrees increases by 352. Guatemalans earned 38 percent of those associate degrees, Mexicans 31 percent, and Puerto Ricans 31 percent. Gender differences of those who graduated with associate of arts degrees are significant: 100 38 percent of the Guatemalan graduates were men, 98 percent of the Mexican graduates were women, and 68 percent of the Puerto Rican graduates were women. This suggests that Latinos from less-advantaged positions are making significant educational gains, with Latinas (women) leading the way in some nationality groups. A few years later, in 2017, census data show that 1,230 Latino women over age 25 had accumulated college credits after high school graduation (but not received their associate degree), while only 358 Latino men were in the higher education pipeline. Men outnumber women two to one, however, when looking specifically at Latinos over age 25 who held a bachelor’s, master’s or graduate/professional degree. See Appendix C. A possible complicating factor for U.S. educators accustomed to classroom norms that place a high value on students’ independence, autonomy and assertion, research has shown that some Latino parents prioritize norms consistent with their cultural and educational backgrounds. According to a study of Mexican and Dominican immigrant parents, respect and obedience in their children were given a higher priority than achievement and individual success, particularly as demonstrated within the family context (Calzada, Fernandez and Cortez, 2010). Latino parents’ levels of education, and their orientation to the U.S. educational system and the social norms it encourages, need to be taken into account when developing strategies to help Latino youth and families access and realize the benefits of education (see also Mercado and Trumball, 2018). b) English language abilities The ability to speak and write in Spanish and English also creates status differences between Latinos in Sussex County. Immigrants who arrive in Sussex County with the ability to read and write in Spanish may find it easier to learn to speak and write English (because Spanish is their first language, and/or because they have had an opportunity in their home country to complete their education, and/or because their family backgrounds, education history and employment have placed a high premium on literacy). This advantage has ramifications at the individual and family level. Literacy in one language makes it easier to learn and use another. It also makes it easier for literate and bilingual parents to help their children with 39 homework, interact with authorities and perform work that requires employees to read and write in English. The U.S. census collects data about knowledge of and ability to speak English, and the map below identifies census tracts in Sussex County where limited-English speaking Latinos are clustered. More than 310 Spanish-speaking people over age 6 have limited-English abilities, and they are concentrated in five census tracts. These tracts are north of Seaford, south of Milford, as well as in and around Georgetown and Selbyville. These five tracts also have a large number of Latino residents and are some of the poorest in Sussex County. Hundreds of individual Latinos with limited English are scattered in tracts along the central Route 13 corridor (see Figure 14). These limited-English Latinos are also clustered in lower-income tracts that also have larger numbers of Latinos residents. This geographical clustering/segregation of Latinos with limited English/lower incomes into five tracts may indicate that Latinos in those tracts are recently arrived immigrants—immigrants who have had less time in the United States to learn English. Or it may indicate that in tracts with higher concentrations of limited-English, lower-income Latinos, people can get by without knowing much English. This feature of life in Sussex County (where specific neighborhood or place-based groups of Latinos can operate without English inside an ethnic enclave) was alluded to by a study participant who mentioned the widespread use of Spanish in parts of Georgetown where Latino immigrants have lived for 20 or more years. This situation may change for second-generation Latinos who are fully bilingual, advancing educationally and economically, and able to find jobs and seek housing outside the enclave. “They're coming of age now. They're becoming professionals because of sacrifices of their parents,” said a study participant. 40 Figure 14: Numbers of Spanish or Spanish-Creole speaking people older than age 5 who speak English less than very well, by census tract. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. c) Ethnic/racial discrimination Over the past few years, several newspaper articles have described the challenges faced by U.S. authorities encountering a growing number of Latin America immigrants entering the country speaking an indigenous language (Carcamo, 2016; Sanchez, 2018; “In Oregon, requests for indigenous language translators up,” 2018). The New York Times reported immigration courts nationwide scrambling to find indigenous-language speakers from Guatemala to help translate a backlog of immigration cases (Medina, 2019). In addition, the number of immigrants apprehended at the U.S. border who speak an indigenous language (and do not speak Spanish at all, or not well) has been increasing, a situation with dire consequences when these migrants cannot communicate with U.S. immigration officials (Jawetz and Shuchart, 2019). Translation is not the only challenge in dealings with a growing indigenous population from Latin America. Salient racial, cultural and class differences can separate indigenous immigrants from Latin America from nonindigenous immigrants— differences that shape social status, self-esteem and the life-course trajectories of individuals 41 and families with indigenous backgrounds. Prejudices in the sending country, plus intergroup and intragroup status hierarchies in the United States, put indigenous immigrants from Latin America in a relatively disadvantaged position. Historically, to be identified as indigenous in Latin American put a person at the bottom of the social hierarchy, in a position of economic and political disenfranchisement (Vienrich, 2019). Openly expressing one’s indigenous identity had significant disadvantages. One participant in Borland’s 2001 study of Hispanic migration to rural Delaware spoke about the discrimination he faced growing up in the Department of San Marcos, Guatemala. In a country where indigenous people equal or outnumber nonindigenous people, this man and members of his family stopped speaking Mam (their indigenous language) and stopped wearing traje (their typical dress). They recoiled in shame when laughed at or called “Dirty Indians” by the nonindigenous Ladino population (2001, pg. 336). Without money to pay for school, he left before the fourth grade and began working on a coffee plantation at age 13. Years later, during the Guatemalan Civil War, he left for the United States. This story of prejudice, poverty, limited education, shame, child labor and out-migration is a common refrain across Guatemala, one that received international attention in the autobiography written by Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Peace Prize winner and indigenous activist from Guatemala. In the context of the United States, immigrants from Latin America with an indigenous background may also minimize this aspect of their identity, especially if being open is harmful. In their study of a large community of Mayas in southern Florida (Hiller et al., 2009), a Mam-speaking immigrant voices her experiences of oppression. Her story also recalls mistreatment she suffered from more privileged members of the Latino community where she lived. But that community was not in Guatemala, it was in an elementary school in the United States. [It] was pretty difficult, especially trying to learn the language and not using the language correctly. We were ridiculed a lot. Interestingly, we weren't really ridiculed 42 by the Americans or African­Americans, we were ridiculed by the Mexicans and Latinos—Spanish people. In hindsight, the reason why is ‘cause we were trying to learn Spanish first and our Spanish was broken, so then they would ridicule us’ (Hiller et al., 2009, pg. 8). The feeling of being out of place or not fitting in with other Latino students continued into college for that young woman. She chose to associate with Native American students on her campus instead of Latinos. In some U.S. cities and towns where the numbers of Latin Americans of indigenous descent are substantial (and where they can find acceptance and celebration of this ethnic/racial identity), many indigenous immigrants are actively deciding to self-identify as “American Indian” rather than Latino (Decker, 2011). The numbers of immigrants from the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras), including those with indigenous heritage, are predicted to increase (Sullivan, 2016, Cohn, et al., 2017, Yates-Doerr, 2018, Whelan, 2019). Evidence shows that immigrants from this region often move to places where family members and friends have settled (Obinna and Field, 2019). It is very possible that more and more indigenous Guatemalans will find their way to Sussex County, creating new challenges for service providers, educators and policymakers. Relatively little has been explicitly written or said about the ethnic/racial differentiation of the Latino population in Sussex County, other than referencing some social-economic, geographic and linguistic differences. Borland (2001) observed that the more middle-class, educated urbanites who made their way to southern Delaware were better equipped to learn English and be promoted at work. Whereas immigrants from working class and agrarian backgrounds “have fewer transferrable skills in the new environment, tend to remain in ethnic enclaves, and are more likely to make lateral shifts in employment—from one factory to another, or from factory to field to construction” (Borland, pg. 4). Cathell, in her 2018 testimony to legislators in Washington, D.C., referred to the “indigenous and tribal students” recently enrolled in the Sussex County school system as unaccompanied minors. They speak one of the 21 dialects found in Guatemala, she reports, are often illiterate in their own language, and have “little to no exposure to formal 43 education and educational environment and expectations” (see Gaffney, 2019, for a full transcript of this testimony). Other indirect references are made to immigrants who are either indigenous or come from places with a sizeable indigenous population. For instance, when Latinos in Sussex County state that someone is humble, has humility, or comes from humble socio-economic circumstances, or when Latinos use any of these descriptors to differentiate themselves from other Latinos, they are very likely highlighting ethnic and racial distinctions. “The people we come across,” said one study participant, “are just very much more humble folks. But like I said, their biggest asset is that determination. A lot of those humble folks, a lot of those people that come from those humble beginnings, are ones that now may have opened up their own businesses, and may be doing well.” Use of the word humble seems to be a polite way of indicating that an immigrant is from a lower-income, lesser educated, likely indigenous and rural background. They are campesinos, or farmers. Being humble is also a badge of honor and way to assert solidarity and strength of character vis-à-vis the reputed less-humble Latinos who grew up in presumably wealthier countries and urban environments. An advocate for the Guatemalan immigrant population that began to settle in Georgetown in the late 1980s and early 1990s liked to point out the sharp contrast between Latino immigrants from rural backgrounds vs. urban backgrounds—a contrast she used to explain the “cultural clash” that emerged between this group of immigrants and longtime residents (Bock and Willis, 2006, pg. A26). “Most [Guatemalans] have never lived in a town this big,” she offered (a comment that might have sounded strange from the perspective of the approximately 3,500 white and black residents of this small town in rural Delaware). Based on my interactions with Guatemalans in Georgetown, it appears that many, if not most, are from remote, impoverished villages in the rugged western highlands of Guatemala, in the departamentos (states) of San Marcos, Huehuetenango and Quetzaltenango. Data from online sources in Guatemala show that the percentages of indigenous Mam-speaking people in those departamentos range from 27 percent to 57.5 44 percent (“Población indígena de Guatemala,” 2017). Fieldwork done in San Marcos and Huehuetenango between 2002 and 2015 confirms that Mam is spoken in many highland villages, particularly in older generations (see Veness, 2011, as well as Figures 15-18). Younger generations are losing the ability to speak Mam, although this could change if a resurgence of interest in Mayan languages takes hold in Guatemala, or speakers of indigenous languages in the United States retain and pass on their language. See the Vignette about indigenous Latinos in Sussex County, according to the words of one study participant. Figure: 15: Photo taken by Veness in San Marcos, Guatemala, near the border with Huehuetenango. Many of the Mam-speaking immigrants in Sussex County are from villages in this part of Guatemala. 45 Figure 16: Photo taken by Veness in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. An indigenous family with ties to Sussex County shares a meal with Delaware visitors. Vignette: Indigenous Latinos in Sussex County One of the participants in this study spoke at length about this indigenous Latino subgroup in Sussex County and the challenges these immigrants face: Most of them don't know how to write in Spanish, let alone in English, or speak the Spanish language. Because we have such a diverse community in Sussex County, these people are coming from indigenous parts of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras . . . non-Latinos [often] think that all these Latinos are coming here just speaking Spanish. We have a lot of friends, or my dad’s friends, that still speak Mam. They don't really speak Spanish. I think this is more of a case that these people are growing up in villages or an indigenous part of the country, of Central America. When they come here, nobody's really helping them speak any kind of Spanish unless they're assimilating with the other Latino members of the community … 46 What I've seen within the Latinos is the next generation doesn't retain the indigenous language as much as their parents do. Whether it's because for Spanish speakers, like myself, there tends to be a discrimination factor between people who are indigenous and people who are not. Indigenous people tend to be of darker skin. They tend to dress differently. They tend to speak an indigenous language. I think the children that are growing up in the American culture, with an indigenous and Spanish mix, I think for them it's more like, I want to separate myself from the indigenous part of my family. Retain the Spanish identity that people hold for me, and also assimilate within the American culture. Interviewer: Do you think most non-Latinos, gringos like me, would be able to identify who was indigenous and who wasn't? Or is it only within the Latino community that you're getting this form of discrimination? For people who are non-Latinos, they tend to view us as one group. That's not necessarily the case. Within our Latino community there are different types of people, from different countries, different religions, different languages. Within our own community we can differentiate whether someone's indigenous or someone's not indigenous in their way of speaking. If they speak Spanish, they speak it in a way that they still retain their indigenous accent. If they are indigenous, for females they tend to wear the long skirts and the tucked in shirts with some kind of headwear. You can also differentiate between an indigenous and a non-indigenous by their language, if they start speaking randomly some kind of Mam or other indigenous language. I was reading this one article, which I found really relevant. [It said] that for lighter skin Latinos, [skin color] serves as a way to boost their ego, or their confidence, or their assimilation within the American culture. Interviewer: Do you think this internal variation within the broadest Latino community should be talked about? It's been skirted over, not discussed. Is it time to bring it into the light and start dealing with those variations? Yes. I think one of the things that we are losing within the Latino culture is the sense of who we are as one, because we're all Latinos regardless of whether we're indigenous 47 or not, or dark-skinned or not, or whether we speak Spanish or not. We all tend to forget that we all come from these [Latin American] countries, and we're here initially for a purpose, which is to find better opportunities for ourselves, or our children. I think keeping a discrimination barrier between or within our community, now that we're in the United States, does not serve us well as a population. We're already facing discrimination by other non-Latino groups. To divide us even more within our community is not the proper way to go. Interviewer: Should we tailor programs for a specific subset of Latinos? Or would that be criticized by other Latinos? Personally, I think if we were to help the Latino community, we need to start with those who are less successful than the people who arrived first (those who are [native] Spanish speakers, are non-indigenous and better off than the indigenous and the darker skinned part of our community). [Ignoring this group] creates more problems for the indigenous people, the people who are lacking the representation, . . . because, if they don't speak Spanish, then they can't assimilate themselves with the other Spanish-speaking members of the Latino community. They're not getting those connections, or job opportunities, or information about where or how to send their kids to schools or extracurricular activities and stuff like that. If they're not aware, then that just diminishes their opportunities, compared to the Spanish-speaking majority within the Latino community. 48 Figure 17: Photos by Veness. Woman in Kimmeytown (Georgetown, Del.) and woman in San Isidro de la Frontera (San Marcos, Guatemala). Figure 18: Photo by Veness. Mural in a Spanish and Mam-speaking town in San Marcos, Guatemala. The images and words, in Spanish, reaffirm the importance of Maya culture to one’s education, success and wisdom. Passersby are reminded: culture is our identity and do not accept discrimination. 49 d) Employment/housing: challenges for the future Securing steady work and decent housing in labor and housing markets that have been changing will be a concern for many Latino families. This will be particularly worrisome for families that are vulnerable because of their immigration status, inability to speak English, lack of education and lower incomes. According to 2016 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reported in the Sussex County Comprehensive Plan (2018), food manufacturing and agricultural have been declining in Sussex County since their peak between 2005 and 2009. In Sussex County, more than 83 percent of food processing is in poultry, and “while the County is ranked number one in the Country for poultry production in 2012, the national dominance of the industry has been declining over time” (pg. 123). This relative decline affects many members of the Sussex County Latino population because they continue to rely on employment in that industry. Overall, predicted growth between 2014 and 2024 will be in the construction industry—an industry that hires many Latino workers. But, according to a table in the 2018 Sussex County Comprehensive Plan (pg. 154), the more significant job growth between 2014 and 2024, is in education and health care (2,830 new jobs), leisure and hospitality (1,480 new jobs), and retail trade (1,060 new jobs). This data about anticipated changes in projected employment growth in Sussex County parallel employment projections at the national level, and these projections could have significant implications for specific segments of the Latino community. According to a national study about workforce participation for all U.S unauthorized immigrants (not exclusively Latinos), unauthorized immigrants “were overrepresented in the agriculture (17%) and construction (13%) sectors, as well as in the leisure and hospitality industry (9%); [they were also] underrepresented in some sectors such as the educational and health services sector and the financial and information industries” (Passel and Cohn, 2016). Industries where unauthorized immigrants as a whole are overrepresented nationwide are some of the same industries in Sussex County where employment decline or stagnation is being projected. This means that unauthorized as well as authorized Latinos in Sussex 50 County who have relied on work in those industries may have a harder time finding and keeping those jobs. Statewide, the demographic of younger working-age people (ages 20 to 34) is expected to increase by 30 percent over the next 40 years, according to the Sussex County Comprehensive Plan (2018, pg. 155). But, as the plan states, the more significant demographic change in Sussex County over the next decades will be the retiree population over age 65. One implication of this demographic change on the labor market in Sussex County is that individuals facing multiple status hardships (such as unauthorized immigration status, limited English and lower educational attainment) may have a harder time. Piecing together information from multiple studies by the Pew Research Center, individual Latinos with those status hardships may face job shortages in the future, particularly women without a high school diploma or other form of credentialing. As the Migration Policy Institute graphic in Figure 19 below shows, first-generation immigrant men (from all immigrant groups) without a high school or college degree, or other form of credentialing, fare well in the labor market, with more than 95 percent participating in the labor force. First-generation immigrant women at all levels of education do less well than their male counterparts, with about 50 percent of those without high school degrees and credentialing inactive in the labor force (Batalova and Fix, 2019, pg. 19). (See Figure 19) 51 Figure 19: Nondegree credentials and labor force participation of first-generation immigrant adults, by gender and educational attainment. Source: Batalova and Fix, 2019, Migration Policy Institute. A second area of concern for Latino newcomers to Sussex County is the housing market when they arrive. By the mid-1990s, many Sussex County public officials knew of the substandard housing faced by low-income county residents. Hoping to raise awareness of the existence of housing with dirt floors, no plumbing and no electricity (and of the actions of landlords who received rent for housing in such serious disrepair), a group was formed in 1996 to devise strategies for community outreach, code enforcement and landlord/tenant disputes (Kester, 1996, pg. 12). The arrival of Latinos seeking affordable rentals put additional pressure on a housing market strained by retirees and seasonal visitors seeking accommodations. It also led to situations where a group of immigrants might share a $500a-month house with five or more others to economize (Bock and Wills, 1996). According to a study by Miller and Horowitz (1997, pg. 17), “Housing has been one of the major flashpoints of conflict between immigrants and native-born residents. Single male immigrants tend to share housing where they frequently sleep in shifts. They thereby are able to reduce expenses and perhaps send more money home. . . . As more and more immigrant workers 52 arrived, a number of private residences were subdivided and rented out to the immigrants for what were widely perceived as exorbitant rates.” Reflecting on housing conditions faced by the first wave of Latinos to Sussex County, one study participant said: “I think they moved into a lot of homes that were nonowneroccupied, so they were tenants. They were homes that afforded them running water, sanitary facilities and a roof over the head. Some of the conditions I’ve seen aren’t probably the best, but it was better than what they left.” Unfortunately, many of those Latinos did not know their housing rights and, even if they did, were afraid to report problems to landlords or officials for fear of being evicted, or worse, deported. Two decades later, housing remains an issue for all low-income residents and many Latinos in Sussex County. In a 2011 Cape Gazette article, the executive director of the Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council said one of the “biggest fair housing issue[s] in Sussex County is exploitation of Latinos and immigrant populations” with another being the steering of minorities into areas where other co-ethnics live, a long-used tactic by real estate agents to maintain residential segregation (Walter, 2011, pg. 70). For many lower-income Latino families in Sussex County (as well as lower-income white and African-American families), finding affordable and decent housing is a challenge. As one study participant reported, “There are a lot of locations where two and three families live in one house, a lot of substandard conditions and a lot of slumlord activity. It’s a big problem . . . code enforcement is really minimal around here, and the county code enforcement is all complaint-driven. So if the code officers or if anybody in the county see something, they don’t necessarily have to act on it.” The Sussex County Comprehensive Plan (2018, pg. 118) indicates that “According to the DSHA Needs Assessment, almost half of all renters and one-third of all homeowners have housing challenges (also known as cost-burdened), defined as paying more than 30 percent of their income or living in overcrowded or substandard housing conditions.” In a county where the 2017 median income is $65,900, an affordable rent for a low-income household would be $464 per month, and affordable house price would be about $111,000. 53 Information from the 2014 Delaware Housing Needs Assessment, based on somewhat dated HUD statistics and shown in the map insets below (Figure 20), identify where Latino renter and homeowner households are cost-burdened. Latino homeowners in and around Georgetown and Lewes, as well as renters in and around Georgetown and Selbyville, face these burdens. Figure 20: Hispanic owners and renters with housing cost burdens. Source: Delaware Housing Needs Assessment, 2014, pgs. 47-48 (data from HUD Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy, 2006-2010). Renters in Sussex County would need to earn $17.60 hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment (Sussex County Comprehensive Plan, 2018, pg. 121), a situation that translates into a serious shortage of affordable housing for low- to moderate-income households, even for households with full-time, year-round workers. According to 2017 census data, there are no census tracts with a median gross rent below $700, or at the affordable threshold level for a low-income family. Some tracts have housing in the $750-$850 and $850-$950 range in the central and western parts of the county. Few of the tracts along the coast and bays of the county are below a $1,000 median monthly rent (see Figure 21). 54 Figure 21: Estimated gross (median) rent for all types of housing in Sussex County, by census tract, between 2013-2017. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. It is no surprise, then, that crowding and poor housing conditions are a continuing issue for Latino renters and owners. As shown in the left map in Figure 22 below, at the center of Sussex County is a tract that stands out because of the large number of households (more than 146) living in dwellings with one or more occupants per room (the same census tract that encompasses the Kimmeytown and Race Street neighborhoods in Georgetown, and the Gardens Mobile Home Park to the north of Georgetown). This measure of crowding also shows up in a number of census tracts along the Routes 113 and 13 corridors in the western part of the county where Hispanic families are clustered. The map on the right in Figure 22 identifies census tracts where more than half of the Latino-renter occupied housing units has one or more physical or financial conditions that burdened those renters. These maps illustrate housing stress on lower-income Latino households. 55 Figure 22: Housing stress as illustrated by households with one or more occupants per room and rental housing with one or more physical or financial problems, by census tract, 2013-2017. Sources: American Fact Finder and Policy Map https://udel-policymap-com.udel.idm.oclc.org/maps Assimilation status: strength of timing, placement and person When immigrants from any country arrive in a new place (time of arrival) and the number of years these immigrants have lived in the new place (length of stay), make a difference in their status relative to other immigrants who arrived before or after they did. This situation exists for Latinos—whether they are Latino immigrants arriving directly from their home country, Latino immigrants arriving from another part of Delaware or the United States, or Latinos who are not immigrants and were born in the United States or the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Where Latino newcomers reside in Sussex County upon arrival also makes a difference in their relative status. Time of arrival and place of initial settlement not only provide the context within which Latinos experience life in Sussex County, those experiences (good, bad or mixed) can shape the life-course trajectory of individuals and families. For example, when the first wave of Latinos started to move to Sussex County in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they arrived at a time when long-time residents were anxious about the changes occurring along the coastline. The first wave of Latinos also entered a place, or county, that was predominantly occupied by whites of European ancestry. 56 Scattered across the county in segregated communities were also many African-Americans, a population with deep roots in the county. Even today the dominance of the white population across most parts of the county is noticeable in Figure 23 below. All but one census tract is a shade of green, the color representing tracts where more than half of the population is white, according to census data from 2013-2017. Though the black or AfricanAmerican population of Sussex County is about 12.5 percent, in no single tract do they represent more than 50 percent of the population. At the center of the county, in Tract 505.03—the tract frequently identified as Georgetown’s Kimmeytown and Race Street neighborhoods and the Gardens Mobile Home Park north of Georgetown—the population is not predominantly white. This census tract is predominantly Latino/Hispanic, according to 2013-2017 census estimates. If the African-American population in this tract is added to the Latino population, this tract can be called a “minority-majority” or “majority-minority” place, or a place where ethnic/racial minority groups make up the majority of the population (approximately 60 percent of that tract is minority). Figure 23: Predominant racial or ethnic group in Sussex County, by census tract with selected percentages superimposed on the map. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. 57 Superimposed on the map in Figure 23 are the percentages of white, black and Hispanic/Latino residents in selected parts of Sussex County. Along the eastern side of the county, whites comprise more than 70 percent of the population. The percentages of Latinos and blacks in those coastal tracts are much lower than those found in tracts located away from the coast. In the towns of Milford, Seaford and Laurel, some of the tracts were between 37 percent and 41.45 percent black, and in outlying rural tracts to the west, blacks also made up a quarter of the total population. Latinos in Sussex County are distributed across the county, but the highest concentrations, as noted various times in the report, are in tracts along the Route 113 corridor running north to south through the center of the county, and along the Route 13 corridor running north to south along the western side of the county. The 505.03 census tract, especially the Kimmytown and Race Street neighborhoods in Georgetown, is described as the “absolute heart” of the Latino community in Sussex County by a study participant. Geographically at the center of the county, Georgetown has long been a hub for businesses and services used by Latinos. a) First wave of Latinos In some ways much has changed since the first wave of Latinos arrived, and in others little has changed. A 1996 newspaper article published in The (Baltimore) Sun described life for the first wave of Sussex County Latinos from a somewhat detached and impersonal perspective: “Poultry processing is replacing farm work as Latinos' chief occupation on the Delmarva Peninsula. Nearly 3,200 immigrants -- overwhelmingly Latinos -- work for six poultry processors, according to Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. Perdue alone says it employs 1,138 Hispanics, nearly one-fifth of its work force.” Poultry plant officials recognized the importance of this labor force to their economic growth: “They're excellent workers” (Bock and Willis, 1996). Starting in the mid 1990s, local community organizers and Latino leaders took note of the immigrants in their midst and began pressing for legal and educational services as well as fairer treatment of immigrants by employers and landlords (Borland, 2001). La Casita 58 community center was opened in Georgetown, and the Sussex County Association of Towns called for the establishment of formal protocols that local governments would use when dealing with the “soaring influx of Latinos in the county” (Short, 1996, pg. 4). Language used to describe this formal resolution, which was designed “in the interest of an orderly assimilation of this substantial number of immigrants into the fabric and structure of life in Sussex County,” may not have been as sensitive as it could have been, but the desire to help the first wave of Latino newcomers appears to be genuine. Actions listed in the resolution included creating bilingual signage, encouraging Latino families to participate in activities at the public library and local sports fields, allowing government employees to take time for Spanish language training, and putting pressure on local landlords who were renting substandard housing to immigrants (Short, 1996). In part, the president of the Sussex County Association of Towns proposed this resolution as a wake-up call: as he told other public officials and community leaders around the county, Georgetown may be the first Sussex County town to face this “soaring influx” but others would soon face the challenges of integration (Short, 1996). Looking back at the first wave of Latinos, one study participant commented, “I think they kind of had it harder . . . a lot of those jobs were more lower paying, lower skilled, like working in a poultry processing plant. Working really hard, a lot of hours to make ends meet. Then to be able to advance economically. I see these newer waves of immigrants having a little more opportunity in terms of different jobs.” Another study participant remembered how the first wave to arrive “walked to [a nearby poultry plant], you know. Or they had to get a ride or whatever. And so, I think it is very different today. Now there's a lot more people who are bilingual, so there's a lot of people who know someone who can help them interpret if they have an appointment.” b) Second wave of Latinos There is a sense that Latinos arriving over the past decade have benefitted from the struggles experienced by earlier arrivals. In the early 2000s, according to one study participant, “You started to see more of the business owners, the media [in place]. For 59 instance, . . . the radio station brought in more of that infrastructure. [Plus] you've had more professionals coming in,” said one study participant. In addition, “Not only are there organizations and leaders, but also state agencies have stepped up, as well as nonprofits” to assist, according to other participants in this study. Even so, many of the most recent Latino arrivals continue “to need access to education, access to educational opportunities, access to ways for advancement, access to social services. . . . [If they] don't have a handle on the [English] language or have low levels of educational attainment . . . there's that struggle.” The challenges faced by more recent arrivals, however, are very different if the individual is an unauthorized immigrant and unaccompanied minor. “A lot of them are the ones that still kind of have this idea of I want to go back home, and I just want to be able to help right now, because there’s a need … They’re struggling so much in their home country that they’re willing to risk it here.” According to another study participant, “Some of them are children of the people who are here. So, they’re coming up to reunite with family, with moms and dads. Some of them are younger nieces and nephews, and their aunts and uncles are up here. But, obviously, there was a big shift in terms of what, I’d say, 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds need; [these] kids were registering in public schools and learning English.” Despite important efforts to include Latinos in the fabric of Sussex County life, interactions between Latinos and non-Latinos have been conflicted for a long time, according to one study participant: When the economy takes a downturn, sometimes the Latino immigrants are blamed for taking people’s jobs, and taking up social services, and things like that. During good economic times, the Latinos are more appreciated. Now that Latinos have been here for a number of decades, they’re starting to become more entrenched in the [local, non-Latino] community, and become members of the community. Beyond the challenges of being accepted and settling in after arrival, many Latinos in Sussex County face the additional challenge of their unauthorized immigration status. “It’s easy for 60 them to be taken advantage of,” said one study participant. It is also easy for non-Spanish speakers to hurry past and/or dismiss immigrant neighbors because of their limited ability to speak English. “I always encourage my [ELL (English Language Learners)] students to practice your English. So, they are trying to practice at the pharmacy, at any clinic and other places, but people are not patient with them. They are trying to rush them, or they cannot listen, or they said, ‘Oh, let me get a Hispanic person’ [to assist you].” Overall study participants noted a growing acceptance of the Latino population in Sussex County. Non-Latinos appreciate the diversity of food, music and culture at their doorstep. As the children of immigrant parents are more fully integrated into school and after-school activities, language and cultural barriers between Spanish and non-Spanish speaking adults are bridged by the bilingual second-generation youth. Children often care less about differences that divide people and more about the similarities that unite them. c) Negotiating inclusion and making place Making home in a new location is not an easy task for anyone, and the story of immigrants struggling to find their place in American society has been told many times. For Latinos who arrived in Sussex County over the past 30 or more years, and for native-born Sussex Countians who watched their arrival, mutual understanding was bittersweet. In the early years, a study participant recalled hearing a woman say: "I hate them, I just hate them, I just hate them." To which the study participant asked, "Why do you hate them?" The woman repeated, "I just hate them.” Eventually the woman changed her mind, said the study participant, “at least with the Guatemalan population.” According to the study participant, this woman came to realize that Guatemalans “. . . were so nice. They pretty much won her over.” The study participant then offered this interpretation: once the white community started to understand and respect the immigrant community, a deep respect and regard grew. This, in turn, altered how the host community viewed its immigrant neighbors. The process of seeing other people as human beings and learning to welcome them as members of the Sussex County community is far from over. “I just want to be able to be 61 recognized as a person,” complained one study participant. “I just want to be able to go to the store, and have the cashier say, ‘Good morning,’ or ’Good afternoon’ to me, and me respond without having to feel like I’m Othered," (without feeling you are known only as a person belonging to a social category). Another study participant observed “There’s a ton of judgment, and racism is very real and prevalent. I think that Georgetown was a little bit on the front end politically, as far as embracing the Latino population. It was one of the first towns in the area to have bilingual police officers and things like that. At the same time, there’s still some deep-rooted resentment to the changing population.” Study participants also provided stories about longtime Sussex Countians being “unbelievably welcoming, very kind and generous,” and “trying to open the door, wanting to kind of step outside of their Sussex County, Delaware bubble.” But, as the participant above also pointed out, “I’m not sure how you instill that [openness to other cultures] into somebody who’s never been on an airplane, never left Sussex County, and, unfortunately, listens too much to what the news media says, or what their friends say based on rumors versus facts.” Taking a more pragmatic and wishful perspective, another informant speculated “[O]nce the Hispanic population sees that the American population is really trying to understand them, I think the Hispanic population, they [will] want to assimilate. They [will] want to be able to talk to their neighbors, speak English. But it’s very difficult for them. They want to be respected as human beings, but because of experiences, because of stories, fear, everything else, they just stick to themselves.” There are many reasons why Latino newcomers and long-time Sussex Countians might be uncertain about whether to trust one another. From the very beginning, as Miller and Horowitz (1997) noted, there was confusion about the immigration status of the first wave of Latinos. Contrary to a widely held belief that this wave was comprised primarily of unauthorized immigrants, many of these newcomers fell into different categories of immigration status: refugee, asylum seeker and temporary resident. A “misunderstanding of federal immigration policies” created “a major barrier to successful integration of a population, which for the most part, appears destined to remain in the area” (Miller and Horowitz, 1997, pg. 23). Adding attention and tension to the situation at that time, political 62 leaders in Delaware did not take a clear stand on whether these newcomers were to receive their civil rights. Against the recommendation of advocates for the Latino community, Republican U.S. Sen. William V. Roth Jr. supported efforts to a) bring an Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) office to Delaware, b) require employers to verify legal status of employees with an INS data base, and c) involve local law enforcement in monitoring criminal activities in the immigrant community (“Roth supports Sussex officials facing immigration problems,” 1996). In addition, in the eyes of Americans determined to limit Latinos’ political power with inflammatory rhetoric about an invasion of illegal aliens streaming across the southern border, or with questions about whether these newcomers were the right type or right fit for U.S. society, it was convenient to ignore the status of other immigrants who entered the United States over the past three decades. It was easy to dismiss the large numbers of immigrants from other parts of the world who entered the United States on a tourist, student or worker visa, only to overstay that visa and become unauthorized. In the past seven years, “Visa overstays have significantly exceeded illegal border crossings” (Warren, 2019). What this suggests is that immigrants of a different class and mode of transportation, may be less targeted for condemnation than Latinos crossing the border by foot. If foreign-born people have the discretionary time and income to enter the U.S as tourists, or sufficient education and income to be accepted into an U.S. university, or specific job skills that are in demand by employers, they not only may enter the country without problems, they may be able to bypass problems when their immigration status is no longer authorized. All of these discriminatory attitudes and actions contribute to mistrust. A common refrain in the literature looking at the ebb and flow of immigrant arrival and integration is the question of how to build trust. This was a concern in Sussex County when local leaders realized that Latinos congregating in and around Georgetown needed assistance. Borland (2001) described the process of building the capacity of service providers and establishing trust, and she gives much credit to leaders in the very small Latino community of Sussex County at that time. Bilingual and often college-educated professionals from Spain and several South American countries stepped forward to provide 63 leadership. They served as spokespeople for a group of Latino newcomers hesitant about being visible to authorities and uncomfortable—socially and culturally—about making their needs known. Starting in the early 1990s, a series of changes occurred that helped the first wave of Latinos adjust to life in Sussex County. As one study participant remembered, “The Sisters came around ’94 [and] there was already a group [of Latinos] here that was going to the Catholic church, and the Sisters kind of came and reached out to them and started to provide services.” The process of garnering trust, creating effective programs, and building the capacity of Latino communities to stand on their own has been well-studied, and models in other cities and towns across the United States can be used to assist providers in Sussex County (see Pope, 2017; Pastor et al., 2018). When Caldwell was gathering information for his 2006 article about Georgetown, he noted less political organizing and grass-roots advocacy than he anticipated. Yes, conceded Caldwell, local religious leaders had organized an impressive assembly of several thousand Latinos and their supporters in the center of Georgetown to protest proposed national legislation. Demonstrators in support of a National Day of Action for Immigration Justice were present. But something was missing, thought Caldwell. Where were the voices of those who labored with their backs and hands? There is another curiosity about the protests in Georgetown. One constantly meets leaders of the Hispanic community in South Delaware who are Puerto Rican, Spanish, Colombian, Dominican, Ecuadoran, Mexican . . . but never any Guatemalans from Kimmeytown. Why is that? Most people, when you ask, will say something about the legacy of Guatemala's civil war, and lessons learned in a place where the slightest political involvement can be deadly. But [one pastor] thinks the incentives to keep one's head down come from closer to home. ‘Their status does not allow them to speak out’ (Caldwell, 2006). The relative silence of Guatemalan immigrants referenced by Caldwell and the pastor was likely due to those immigrants’ fears about their immigration status (i.e., being deported). 64 According to one study participant, other factors may also create mistrust between different segments of the Latino population: “One of the things that I would hear . . . that surprise[d] me was, in general, [was immigrants] saying [they] don't trust people of their own background. . . . They often felt that they were being taken by Spanish-speaking professionals in this country.” More than 10 years ago when the Delaware Hispanic Needs Assessment was completed, some participants in that study felt that Latinos across the state were not sufficiently engaged in the political process. They were not involved in ways that would actually help them progress. A public-sector leader interviewed in that study said: “The number one issue that should be addressed by the Consortium is the lack of political representation among Hispanics. The Hispanic community must organize. They must come together and do something about these issues. There are no influential Hispanic people in this state – no political power” (Delaware Hispanic Needs Assessment, 2008, pg. 26). This lack of political power addressed in the needs assessment intersected with other pressing issues, such as the need for: increased access to and improvements in education; better coordination of services; better public transportation; less discrimination; increased cross-cultural understanding; and improved access to health care. A decade later, several participants in this study also talked about the relative lack of political representation for Latinos in Sussex County. Latinos may not have been adequately represented in Sussex County, but articles in the Sussex County press routinely described fleeting efforts to incorporate more voices into the political process (Spence, 2007c; “Coalition hopes Latino outreach will broaden Democratic base,” 2013; “Latino-focused Civic Engagement Campaign kicks off in Sussex,” 2016; Fernandez, 2019). Accomplishments and satisfaction: perspectives on success While a sense of accomplishment, and definitions of success, are culturally and socially prescribed and shaped by personal preferences and experiences, it is nonetheless possible to see common milestones in the lives of Latino individuals and families in Sussex County. These are moments when people pause to take stock and celebrate significant steps. 65 Comments from study participants, combined with data from national surveys, highlighted a common path: from finding one’s footing in a new place, securing a steady paycheck and fulfilling family obligations; through establishing domestic rhythms and a sense of community; to looking to the future and hoping for better opportunities for one’s family and self. A theme repeated in many of the interviews with study participants is the importance of doing for one’s family. People leave their homelands “because of their families. There is no sense of individualism . . . It's a collective society, that's what we are. Not deep collective as the indigenous people, [which] means, ‘I am one with this rock, with this tree, with this plant,’ one participant explained. “There is no way they will not be here [in the U.S.] . . . no reason to progress, if they are not doing something for [the] family.” What Latinos say about their accomplishments and successes depends on where they began their life-course journey. If one’s life-course journey began in an urban neighborhood, in a relatively safe South American city where education was taken for granted and food was always on the table, accomplishment and success may mean something different than if one’s journey began in an impoverished, isolated village where there was little to eat, and little to no chance of attending school or finding work. For the Latino immigrant in the second example, it was a huge step forward simply to get out of a desperate situation and into the United States, and to able to find an unskilled minimumwage job, especially if you could not speak English (or possibly Spanish) and had no educational qualifications. Add the ability to send a small amount of savings home to help family members or pay off debts left behind, one had truly climbed to the top of a mountain. As one study participant told us: “I have seen a lot of people say, ‘I made it. I came here. That’s it.’ Being able to pass through a life-or-death border crossing and make it, pay the coyote the $1,000 you will never ever think you can ever put in your pockets, and get a job and have a place that you can stay is to be done, is to say you made it.” Milestones along a life-course trajectory Given that the largest portion of the Latino population in Sussex County is from very humble home situations, it is not a surprise to learn that a steady paycheck is contentment. "I come 66 from a place where we don't have stability. Not political stability, not economic stability," one study participant stated. “I go to work every day, and I know exactly what I'm supposed to do, and I get a paycheck every Friday." Some immigrants, then, may have no burning reason to aspire to anything more, especially if they have a stable job, are surrounded by a loving family and supportive community, can look forward to weekly diversions, and have gained confidence in their surroundings. It does not take much to feed that sense of accomplishment, at least not for a time. Being able to fulfill family obligations and maintain ties to relatives in the home country are also priorities. These include making sacrifices in the United States to send remittance money home to family to help pay for their food, housing and clothing. As one study participant described, families in Sussex County might also “pool money and everyone chips in 100, 200, 300 dollars, so that someone [at home] can have a couple thousand dollars for surgery.” Another commented, “They have all paid for younger brothers and sisters to finish school. So, lots of younger siblings have graduated from high school and gone on to college, and the family members here [in Sussex County] paid for that education.” Yet another told a story about how groups of immigrant families in Sussex County would get together to solve a basic infrastructure problem in their home village—a problem such as the need for electricity or water, or a school. These investments of Sussex County earnings into basic family needs and infrastructure abroad highlighted the continued connections and obligations that many immigrant families have to their home communities in Latin America. They also underscore the fact that governments and financial institutions in some of the poorest home countries are not investing in basic infrastructure and social wellbeing, which is why people leave. Sussex County Latinos on several occasions have collaborated with non-Latino organizations and congregations to jointly conduct humanitarian work in their hometowns and home countries. The transnational immigrant community of San Isidro (in San Marcos, Guatemala) partnered with Rotarians in District 7630 (Delaware and Eastern shore of Maryland), Rotarians in San Marcos, Guatemala, and a University of Delaware faculty member to implement a Rotary-funded potable water project (see Figure 24). 67 Figure 24: Photos by Veness. Rotary-sponsored potable water project in San Isidro de la Frontera, San Marcos, Guatemala. Habitat for Humanity in Sussex County, with its non-Latino and Latino volunteers, traveled to Guatemala to build housing. Congregants from non-Latino and Latino churches in Sussex County have participated in mission trips and humanitarian aid trips to Guatemala. In another development project, the transnational immigrant community of San José Petacalapa (in San Marcos, Guatemala)—in partnership with University of Delaware Engineers Without Borders students, UD faculty and several off-campus professional engineers—collectively designed, funded and built a bridge (see Figure 25). 68 Figure 25: Photos by Veness and University of Delaware Engineers Without Borders students. Bridge Project in San José Petacalapa, in the Departamento of San Marcos, Guatemala. These cross-cultural, international partnerships demonstrate the degree to which Latinos are making valuable connections to local civic organizations and becoming engaged in community projects that are mutually beneficial. There are many other examples of crosscultural projects based in Sussex County that have been undertaken between Latinos and non-Latinos. Investments in the wellbeing of Latino families in Sussex County also flow from south to north. One study participant mentioned a client who received $1,500 from her hometown in Guatemala to use as a down payment for a house in Sussex County. The client’s “whole town pulled together to get that money sent to her,” a gesture and feat that was “just amazing” to this study participant. Once an immigrant has achieved a degree of economic stability in Sussex County and fulfilled family obligations in the home country, they reach other milestones. The ability to purchase a car is important. “I’ve seen people here just a couple of months start off living in 69 a friend’s house, and then a couple months later they have their own car,” said a study participant. Also important is finding decent housing and building a community comprised of family and friends in Delaware. One indicator used to talk about an immigrant group’s capacity to stand on its own and serve its members is its “institutional completeness” (Breton, 1964). Latinos in Sussex County have made significant strides over the past decades to provide for their own, be it in the establishment of churches where services are held in Spanish, the opening of businesses that cater to the Latino community, or the creation of organizations that serve the Latino community. Success and achievement in one’s life-course journey is also centered on the ability of a family to be secure into the future. Thus, forming a family through cohabitation, marriage, the birth of children and bringing relatives to the United States, and gaining authorization to work, permanently reside and become a citizen of the United States are very important to Latino immigrant families in Sussex County. As one study participant said, “If you don't have legal status you don't feel stable. You don't know what your future is like, you don't have hope. If you don't have legal status, you can't go home and visit, that's a very big stressor on the family.” Instead of returning to their hometown themselves, unauthorized parents might ask a trusted friend with a U.S. passport to accompany one of their children on a trip to visit relatives in the home country. Photos, clothing, consumer items and cash are some of the “tribute” immigrant families in Sussex County send home with their offspring. But it is the much-anticipated arrival of a never-met grandchild or cousin that reinforces family ties and introduces these American-born children to their parents’ culture. Homeownership and the ability of first-generation immigrants to speak English also become increasingly important to many families. Census data from 2017 show an impressive number of Latino homeowners. In several tracts more than 70 percent of Latino households own their own home, and these households are spread across the county in both higher and lower income tracts (see Figure 26). 70 Figure 26: Percentage of Hispanic households who own their home, by census tract, between 2013-2017. Source: Policy Map, www.policymap.com. This increase in homeownership rates has not escaped the attention of the Sussex County Association of Realtors (SCAR). With an increasing number of Latinos “buying homes and putting down roots in Sussex County,” the president of SCAR saw the future: “It is important that we, as Realtors, do all we can to make these new residents feel welcome, while also ensuring their ability to achieve the American dream of home ownership . . . [for] the makeup of our county is changing dramatically, and it’s up to all of us to change with it” (“Hispanics make up larger percentage of new homeowners in Delaware,” 2013). The president also saw economic opportunity. He encouraged other realtors to learn Spanish so they could communicate with potential Latino buyers. Seeing a lucrative market, the president went on to say, “Georgetown, the seat of Sussex County, already boasts the largest percentage of Guatemalan residents of any town in the United States and is poised to be on the leading edge of this new era of home ownership” (“Hispanics make up larger percentage of new homeowners in Delaware,” 2013). Other milestones, or markers of accomplishment and success along the life-course 71 trajectory for many Latinos, include the ability to plan for the future, find and cultivate opportunities, and believe that one’s dreams can be realized. The dream might be as basic as visiting relatives whom they haven’t seen in many years. Unauthorized Latino immigrants cannot return home for fear that re-entering the United States would be next to impossible. Other Latinos can’t return home because of travel costs and obligations in Delaware. According to one study participant, however, “If they have legal status, they’ve been able to travel back home. And I think Mexicans are going home more often now than they have in the previous years, you know. Let’s say the first 10 years they were here they didn’t go back hardly at all, but now they go back as often as they can.” Legal status, having savings and getting time off work make all dreams possible. Evidence of children doing well in school and being prepared for their futures is another milestone. The 2008 Delaware’s Hispanic Needs Assessment report (pg. 9) identified education, including English language classes and parenting classes, as one of the key needs for Hispanics across the state. Though many first-generation immigrants, particularly from impoverished, remote rural areas of Guatemala and Mexico, did not have the opportunity to attend school beyond ninth grade (or at all), their children have succeeded in school. The desire parents had for their children to advance educationally was described by Caldwell in 2006: Given their vulnerability, their high levels of illiteracy, and the language barrier, one naturally expects the children of these immigrants to be struggling a bit. They are not. They are doing extremely—almost shockingly—well. Latinos make up 40 percent of the student population at Georgetown North elementary school [sic], and that percentage is steadily rising. They will make up 55 percent of the first graders who arrive on the first day of school next month. Thanks to No Child Left Behind laws, there is a bevy of data broken down all sorts of ways on school progress. Hispanics in the third grade at Georgetown North are outscoring both whites and blacks in reading comprehension. Following up on the success of Latino schoolchildren, Caldwell reported they “come to 72 school as ready to work as their parents do at the plant.” When Caldwell asked the principal at North Georgetown Elementary School whether Latino parents raised their children differently, the principal replied: “The first question parents ask at parent-teacher conferences is not ‘How are my child’s grades?’ but ‘How is my child’s behavior?’” This focus on manners, or how a child comports himself or herself at school, is deemed an important component of a child’s education. It reflects a culturally held belief among some Latinos that a being well-educated is not entirely about classroom learning—knowledge and skills acquired at school. It is also about life learning, or all of the experiences that happen outside school. It is wisdom generated in the context of Latino parents’ lives, their “educational and occupational struggles, their immigration status [worries], and [their] perceptions of opportunity in the United States” (Langenkamp, 2017, pg. 2). Latino parents without a formal education might call a person “bien educado” (well educated) if that person is respectful and honorable, if that person has mastered the lessons and made the adjustments “the university of life” demands of us (Guajardo and Guajardo, 2017, pg. 10). Remembering interactions one Sussex County educator had with immigrant students in the classroom, this study participant recalled: I have a picture of a student who graduated from Delaware Tech years ago, and he wasn't my student, but he's from a Guatemalan family, and I have a picture. At graduation, the whole family got together, there were like 40 people at his graduation. And so, I took a picture of the whole group and every time I see that picture, the impact of that associate degree on everybody in the family, it was not just his accomplishment, it was everyone's accomplishment. Another study participant put it this way: “Even though they may not have accomplished their dreams, they're propelling. They're investing all this energy, all this work into their kids, and a lot of their kids are coming up and becoming engineers, becoming doctors, or becoming successful in whatever way that they believe success is.” Learning English and finding an opportunity to get better employment are also important. As one study participant said, “I think anybody who’s been able to start a 73 business, or open a business, that’s definitely a sense of accomplishment.” The community as a whole takes pride in the business successes of other Latinos. Starting a business might not be a top priority, one participant offered: "Who cares about business? The first thing they want to know is how to read and write in Spanish. They know if they don't [learn to read and write in Spanish] they'll never learn English and they will never understand their children.” Yet another study participant pointed out that learning to speak English may also not be the top concern for some Latino immigrants (something that service providers and the American public often do not understand). At a church event this participant attended, where invited immigrants shared their stories with non-Latino congregants, one of the immigrants who had been in Delaware for more than a decade said they were not here to get to know the people or place, or to “sightsee.” They were in the United States to work. This Latino’s comment was made somewhat awkwardly and with some embarrassment, thought the participant. For the immigrant was, effectively, asking to be excused from the social expectation that he assimilate and learn English when his first priority was to work and make money for his immediate and extended family. This insight may dovetail with the comment of another participant who believed there were unaddressed problems with the ways schools handle translation and design programs for parents. Definitions and measures of success among Sussex County Latinos are very much in line with what has been reported for Latinos across the United States. Family needs and functioning take precedent over individual success. According to a 2016 Pew Research Center survey of Latinos, priorities that make up Latinos’ goals center very much around family: being a good parent, providing for family, owning a home and having a successful marriage (Lopez, Gonzalez-Barrera and Krogstad, 2018). See Figure 27. When Pew survey participants were asked if they had realized their American dream, “About one-third who believed they achieved the dream said they did so by coming to the U.S.” In contrast to individuals who satisfy their life goal by making a home for themselves in the United States, a study participant recounted a story about her brother, whose steadfast dream was to return home once he had made money in the United States. “He asked my mother to keep his room. Everything he left, and that was his room, and he was gonna go back. He married, and he told his wife, ‘I want to go back. We are going to go back. You [are marrying] a man 74 that is gonna go back.’ Until he had his daughter in his arms and then he realized, ‘Oh, sheesh. This is my daughter's country. I can't take her.’ And he never went back . . . There is always that feeling that we will go back. But of course, life treats you better and then you remain here,” the study participant reflected. In some families, watching children benefit from opportunities the parents never had is reason enough to remain in the United States. For others, going home never was an option. Figure 27: Percentage of Hispanics who say family-related life priorities are extremely important. Source: Lopez et al., 2018, Pew Research Center Report. Contributions and satisfaction with life in Sussex County Research about immigrant newcomers documents significant and long-lasting benefits to immigrant communities at their destination(s) and origin(s). Immigrants from around the world contribute to the local, state and federal tax base as workers, consumers, homeowners and small-business owners and contribute to community revitalization and economic growth. According to data gathered in Delaware, immigrants contributed more 75 than half a billion dollars in taxes in 2014 and added billions of dollars to the state’s economy as consumers (Immigrants in Delaware: Fact Sheet, 2017, pg. 4). Latinos have been a significant asset to the economy with their labor and their consumption, said one study participant: “The poultry industry has benefited incredibly, the whole construction industry, landscaping industry, hotel, you know, all that tourism at the beach industry. There’s also the informal economy: the consumption and revenue flows associated with renters [in private homes] and second-hand cars [repairs and sales] and the yard sales.” Sometimes overlooked is the fact that many Sussex County Latinos perform manual labor others might not like to do. “They bring a strong back, they can do physical work that probably is not nice, but I think they do the work that, the quote, the ‘white people’ don’t want to do anymore” said one study participant. Latinos in Sussex County are doing work that others are not interested in doing, said another participant. Those jobs are “hard, and require long hours, and I think that, like I said, one of the biggest assets is that you have people of determined and hardworking people that they just know that no matter what, that they have to work for the future of their family or the betterment of their family.” Their labor not only contributes to longtime key industries in Sussex County such as agriculture and agro-processing, but industries that have grown as a result of in-migration of tourists, retirees and foreigners—industries such as construction and landscaping, restaurants and retailing, housekeeping and handyman services, and health care aides. The value of Latino newcomers as generators of economic growth is also recognized in the local press. “[T]hose needs have fueled perhaps the most impressive economic change in Georgetown, which has been the proliferation of small businesses that cater to a Hispanic, predominantly Guatemalan, clientele” (Tyson, 2016, T37). Restaurants, markets and businesses also cater to non-Latinos, added the reporter: "It has made our local economy more textured and diverse, it has brought about opportunity, and it has exposed the consumer base to new flavors, products, and services" (Tyson, 2016, T37). One study participant said Latinos have “amazing purchasing power. I mean, Walmart should love Latinos all over the country because they are the ones buying their [inaudible]. Anywhere you go you'll see a Latino buying cars. The car insurance benefits greatly. They [Latinos] pay 76 and receive almost nothing. They pay double.” The local press in Sussex County has made an effort to report on Latino business ventures and showcase the successes of some. In the 2000s, the Cape Gazette reported on: a) the establishment of a full-service financial services company designed to assist immigrants with microloans, remittances and financial education (“New bank to cater to local Hispanic population,” 2006), b) a newly formed Sussex County chapter of the Hispanic Business Association of Delaware (Spence, 2007a), and c) the opening of the Latino Store near Lewes by three brothers from El Salvador (Spence, 2009b). More recently, the Cape Gazette featured the story of an immigrant entrepreneur and “community change-maker” who was “living the American Dream (Driscoll, 2018, pg. 11). Latino immigrants may arrive in the United States with skills and knowledge they can immediately put into action, while others arrive with practically nothing, said one participant. No money and little education, “they just start learning and learning and learning . . . [When] you have your knowledge, you can contribute.” Participants in this study felt proud of the cultural diversity Latinos bring to Sussex County. “I’ve come across a lot of natives, or native to the U.S. people, who may have a non-Latino background who really desire [the ability] to be multilingual, to be able to speak another language. They see the benefit of this,” said one participant. Cultural differences are assets to be celebrated by Latinos and non-Latinos because “in general, [we] become better people when we learn to work with people who are different than us.” The study participant continued, “These migrants have given an opportunity to the [non-Latino] community in southern Delaware—an opportunity to expand their knowledge about diverse communities.” In addition, “It’s nice to have a little bit of ethnic food and diversity in our food around here.” An often-unrecognized asset brought up by a study participant, a “big contribution . . . that is not being quantified . . . is the wealth—cultural, geographical, linguistic wealth—that Latinos bring to schools.” Unaccounted in the calculus of Latino contributions are the teachers and students who collectively turn cultural differences in a diverse classroom into teachable moments, argued this study participant. Important lessons about past and contemporary civilizations, international migration, regional cuisines and food production, or words that 77 have been transferred from one language to another, can all be had when diversity is regarded as a valuable asset to the entire community. Non-Latinos in Sussex County also recognize the benefits of Latino culture, even if unconscious questions remain about how to respond to those benefits. In a 2015 newspaper article, Tyson (2015) said “the influx of Spanish speaking immigrants has had a significant impact on Georgetown and the surrounding area — economically, spiritually and academically.” Offering an example of the benefit Latino culture has had on others, the nonLatino soccer coach interviewed for the article said he embraced the young Latino athletes on his team: “[W]hy not celebrate that culture, why not celebrate that diversity?” Culturally inclusive team sports for youth are a way to “help Hispanics assimilate . . . [and] feel comfortable in their new homeland,” the coach said. A parent volunteer who helped by “transporting Hispanic players to practice and games” added, "Once they [the children] are on a team, skin color doesn't matter." Without wanting to diminish the importance of this type of cross-cultural interaction or question the good intentions of the coach or parent volunteer interviewed in the article, the comments of those adults carry unspoken assumptions. One is that Latino youth in Sussex County—youth very likely born in Sussex County—have changes to make before they can be fully assimilated, before their skin color won’t come up in a conversation, before others recognize they are not newcomers, they are living in the only homeland they’ve ever known. Latinos in Sussex County also contribute to the social and cultural fabric of Sussex County society. Demographically, median age for Latinos is 24.8, whereas the median age for whites in Sussex County is 51.5, and blacks 35.4 (American Community Survey, 2013-17 estimates, B01002). This youthful Latino population located in the center of the county has implications for the less youthful retiree population along the coast and bays who rely on younger workers for many of the services they use (see Figure 28). Latinos “are an asset to Sussex County [because] . . . [t]hese migrants tend to be younger. They tend to have children. They’re contributing to our society by bringing younger people into the workforce, to the education force.” Another adds: “I know we need immigrants for the Social Security. 78 We have two workers to pay Social Security. We need four. So, I think this influx of immigrants brings security for the future. So, that is part of the important equation of how we bring the future of Social Security.” Figure 28: Median Age of Latino Population in Sussex County between 2013-2017, by census tract. Source: American FactFinder table B10021. In addition to the demographic advantages that Latinos bring to an aging population in Sussex County, the state of Delaware and the rest of the United States, Latinos reinforce many of the traditional values espoused across the country—values that many fear have been lost or forgotten: faith, family, sacrifice and resilience. The cultures and societies in which Latinos were raised take seriously obligations to one another, according to one study participant: One of the very first things that I was so impressed by, and inspired by, were their strong family values, strong faith in God, and in the possibilities that exist. [Faith] is an extension of their homelands or home countries. It's woven in the fabric of their culture. You went to the church in your country. You worshiped together, and there was a sense of community, so here they've found churches that have given them that sense of community as well and allowed them to feel a part of something. 79 Latinos, said another study participant, “have a really big heart. They help each other. If someone they know needs something, they help each other.” This too relates to their faith, said this respondent. Faith also girds Latinos’ focus on the family: “There’s a huge value on family, and that is something that I believe is healthy for everybody . . . demonstration of their faith is something that is a stabilizing factor in society in general.” Non-Latinos have noticed how seamlessly family and faith are worked into the daily lives of many Latino families, from the work ethic they uphold without complaint, to the ways they raise their children to be respectful, to their attitudes about fairness. According to one newspaper reporter, ‘Even though they're from a different country,’ [the mayor] said, ‘this Guatemalan population is a lot like us from Sussex County.’ He said, ‘They love to work, they're hard workers,’ he said. ‘They're family people, they love to spend time with their family, and they're faith based. They spend a lot of time at their church.’ And he said, ‘And they're calm, peaceful.’ He said, ‘They're just like us, the only difference is that language barrier’ A study participant also saw connections between values inherent in Latino culture and values embraced by American society (but too infrequently practiced by youth who never witness or experience struggle): I can tell you something that they bring is a conscience for social justice. That is a contribution, as well, because the children that have seen the struggle of their parents are not like the average American children . . . there is something different when you see the struggles of families and your parents, especially the [younger] generation that sees how their parents need to hide, need to be worried when they drive, where they go, and when they see a police or something. They are witnessing . . . [and developing] a social conscience.” Latinos’ sense of belonging and participation in the civic life of Sussex County is slowly but surely increasing, although it may not have happened as quickly as some would have 80 imagined or hoped. As Latino families establish deep roots in Sussex County, their perspectives have changed: Home is Delaware. One study participant summed it up: “My parents have been here for more than 25 years now. Delaware and the U.S. is what they call home now. Whether it’s a good or bad thing, they have assimilated to this country.” Another said: “Eventually, even when they came with the idea of going back, it seems like they soon realized, ‘No, we’re going to stay here.’” Conclusion: prospects for Latinos in Sussex County Hispanics are more likely than U.S. public to believe in the “American dream,” according to a Pew Research Center Report (Lopez, Gonzalez-Barrera and Krogstad, 2018). They have experienced upward mobility partly because of their belief in hard work, and partly because many Hispanics are from contexts/countries where conditions were a lot worse than here in the United States. Whereas 62 percent of the U.S. public agreed that most people can get ahead with hard work, 77 percent of Hispanics believed this. In addition, 75 percent of Hispanics in their poll said that compared with their parents and when they were the same age, their standard of living is much or somewhat better. Only 56 percent of the American public said that. Only 46 percent of the American public was confident their children will be living as well as they are today; 72 percent of Hispanics believed that their children will do as well or better than they (Lopez, Gonzalez-Barrera and Krogstad, 2018). Mobility, like success, is relative. About half of the Latinos in the Pew national poll described themselves as having achieved the “American dream” (Lopez, Gonzalez-Barrera, and Krogstad, 2018, pg. 3.). They are happy about what they have achieved and hopeful for the future, while aware that it may take a lot more work to hold onto that progress. This sense of “Yes, we are content, but not fully” is illustrated in the voices of the participants in this study. One issue for Latinos in Sussex County is that “There are a lot of people who are still undocumented. Their futures are uncertain. They don't know when they could be stopped, or deported, or stuff like that. I don't think they're necessarily content, in the way that their future is still unpredictable.” Another is the problem “with the politics changing every four years, or even every single month. That changes their emotions, that can change their stability, that can change their psychological peace of mind . . . [life’s not] under their 81 control.” Frustrated by the slow pace of political change, and by culturally insensitive remarks on the part of non-Latinos, one participant summed up the situation this way: “In their white privilege [they think] that they know everything.” Well-meaning people from the non-Latino community carry unfounded assumptions, this participant observed. For instance, a former executive director at one of the agencies said to this participant: "You know what they [the other, mostly non-Latino board members] think? They think if we give [immigrants] more services, then that will make them be here permanently." This attitude of let’s help the Latinos, but not too much, is an issue for this participant “because what happens is that these types of boards depend on money so they want to bring people from these banks, bring them from these corporations, and guess what? They are interested in getting [something] out of the Latino community, not really giving to the Latino community.” There are other mixed emotions about the overall progress and degree of contentment in the Sussex County Latino community. As one study participant put it, “If you can speak English, you’re comfortable going anywhere. You have families, and you have individuals, who may have been here for years, and years, and years, and have been able to pick up on the English language, or maybe get an education, and they feel comfortable going into spaces that maybe traditionally recent arrivals may not go.” Those places where Latinos as a whole feel welcome, however, may not be as numerous, or inviting, for Latinos as they are for whites. The all-too-common human desire to aspire, to want more, nudges some members of the Latino community. Some will say “They made it, they are happy, but they are always looking for what's the next thing. . . Where are my children going to go study? What's the next house I'm going to get that is bigger than this one? . . . They are emotionally content [but] they are never content with what they can get in this country. There is always the next thing,” said one study participant. It remains to be seen whether Hispanic/Latino identity fades across the generations, as was reported in a Pew Research Center Report (Lopez, GonzalezBarrera, and Lopez, 2017). 82 PART 2: Current Conditions for Latino Immigrants in Sussex County by Jennifer Fuqua Biden School of Public Policy and Administration University of Delaware (jfuqua@udel.edu) In many ways, the conditions of life, family and work for Latino immigrants in Sussex County mirror the conditions for Latino immigrants living and working in suburban areas near urban sites of traditional migration all over the United States. As discussed in Part 1 of this report, waves of migration from multiple countries in Latin America over the past 30 years have created a complex mix of communities identified as Latino in Sussex County. This group is increasingly diverse in status on multiple dimensions, and this diversity drives the size and scope of their contributions to life in Sussex County, as well their specialized needs. We conducted in-depth interviews with 15 highly knowledgeable study participants who live with, work with and engage with Latino immigrants on a regular basis in Sussex County to provide context and rich description for larger datasets available through the U.S. Census, American Community Survey and Bureau of Labor Statistics; mapping available through Policy Map, local news articles, and documents produced by Latino-serving nonprofits and foundations (see Appendix D). How are Latino immigrants in Sussex County faring economically? The short answer is that, as a whole, Latinos in Sussex County are faring better than they were in 2013. A comparison of total aggregate income shows a 165 percent increase in Latino income from 2013-2017, a higher rate of income growth than the county as a whole (Figure 29). 83 Figure 29: Latino Aggregate Income Comparison 2013-2017 (U.S. Census) Labor force participation among Latinos in Sussex County averages 67.5 percent compared with 56.3 percent in the county as a whole (see Appendix D). When looking closer at differences within the Latino community, more disparities are evident. While Latinos living along the coast report average income levels at and well above the federal poverty line (FPL) for a family of four ($25,201), average per capita income in the 10 lowest income census tracts is below 50 percent FPL (see Appendix D). Roughly 80 percent of all Latinos living in Sussex County report an income below 100 percent FPL. In at least 14 census tracts (Figure 30), however, Latinos report an income above 100 percent FPL, and a significant number report up to 200 percent FPL (see Appendix D). Figure 30: Median Hispanic Income 2013-2017 (U.S. Census, created in Policy Map) 84 Overall, this reported income results in a significant contribution to local and federal taxes, including Social Security. An estimate of annual contribution using effective tax rates for 2018 shows that Latinos in Sussex County are contributing nearly $50 million in tax revenue, with nearly $4 million contributed to Social Security and $1.2 million contributed to local and state tax revenue (see Appendix D). These figures do not reflect other contributions to the county, such as purchasing power. The buying power of the Latino population in the United States was $1.4 trillion in 2016, a 181 percent gain since 2000 (Humphreys, 2017). The Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (2019) estimates that the annual economic contributions of Dream and Promise Act households (immigrants with temporary status) in Delaware amounts to $36.5 million in federal taxes, $12.2 million in state and local taxes, and nearly $160 million in spending power. As the population in Sussex County ages, the solvency of government-supported retirement and medical programs will be directly dependent on the future productivity and payroll tax contributions of a youthful workforce that is increasingly comprised of Latinos. All of our study participants noted the significant economic contributions that Latinos are making in Sussex County, primarily referring to first- and second-generation families. Many discussed newcomers in particular, and their willingness to work difficult labor-intensive jobs to build stability and provide for a family. One participant stated, “They’re willing to sacrifice a lot by working in these low-paying jobs, working tremendous hours. When they do this they’re also contributing to our economy.” Many noted how industries employing them also benefit from their labor. “I think that they’ve helped also keep the cost of living down because a lot of newly arrived people are going on to do different types of jobs for lower wages, which keeps some of the costs down in some of these industries.” The influence of the Latino workforce in the local hospitality industry was also appreciated for its contribution to diversity in cuisine. When I think about the beach area … the whole coastal area of Delaware, where there’s a lot of restaurants, a lot of business … a lot of the immigrants are important to 85 the daily task[s], and the work that’s being done, but you [also] see kind of this mix of different cuisine, and of different influences are going into the business. Others noted the industriousness of many first-generation Latino entrepreneurs who have been able to successfully operate businesses that cater not only to the Latino community, but also the wider communities of Sussex County. These include bricks and mortar businesses in Latino hubs such as Georgetown, and landscaping and construction businesses operating throughout the county that make significant financial contributions to the local tax base. As one participant said, “They’re occupying a space. They’re consuming utilities. They’re paying business license fees. Obviously, if they’re enhancing their building then they’re paying a building permit, increasing assessed value and they keep the street busy. They’re providing a service …” A difference exists, however, between the opportunities available to a bilingual Latino with secure immigration status (citizenship or authorization) and insecure immigration status (unauthorized). This professional class of Latinos was recognized as having secure immigration status, “… people that are working here, like bilingual professionals … they can legally do it.” For newcomers, getting paid “under the table” may be one of their only options, as industries’ hiring practices change in response to the current immigration policy environment. As several participants pointed out, cash is preferable and “… restaurants, they pay in cash.” Former avenues for steady employment, the poultry industry in particular, are more difficult for newcomers to access. “… It’s nearly impossible, if you are migrating here without authorization. I mean, they have pretty much figured out the loopholes and have stopped that. So, they’re not working, at least not at the more established ones [poultry plants].” This leaves unauthorized workers open to potential abuse in the unregulated workplace, whether through negligence or intentional harm. As one participant noted: “They’ll start at these entry-level positions and do the hard labor, to the best of their abilities. And sometimes that results in them being abused and working many, many hours or working 86 many hours and not having a break …” At least one study participant suggested that some industries are not particularly interested in employees building new skills that would allow them to be promoted or move to a better job. “I don’t think jobs are against their employees learning English. But I don’t think that they want to give them enough English that they’ll walk out the door and go find a different job.” Study participants suggested that even Latino bilingual professionals also experience barriers within the service community of Sussex County. … sometimes they think that we’re trying to get their jobs because we are bilingual and if they are not, at least in Sussex County, … a lot of bilingual staff is needed … because of the population that we have down here. Some of them … we have noticed … not everybody is so welcoming to bilingual staff. For some Latino immigrants, the sacrifice of hard labor and long hours is worth it to have a stable income. As one participant noted, “I have a good friend who works at --- and she says, ‘I love my job.’ She goes, ‘I go to work every day, I know exactly what I’m supposed to do, and I get a paycheck every Friday.’ And she said, "There’s stability.’” Evidence indicates that priorities for Latinos in the United States are primarily related to family life, such as being a good parent and providing for your family (Lopez, Gonzales-Barrera, and Krogstad, 2018). “I might go work in the [foreign language], the chicken factory, I come home. I can go to parties. I’m very satisfied. I said you know, you’re so interested in your quote, ‘Career,’ that is not my goal. My goal is to be with my family.” This dynamic shifts, however, with successive generations born in the United States and educated in U.S. schools. How are Latino Immigrants in Sussex County faring in education? The most pressing and immediate impact of the increase in the Latino immigrant population in Sussex County is being felt in schools, which, among other challenges, must instruct children who speak a language other than English at home and communicate effectively with parents who may not be literate, even in Spanish. Sussex County has seen a huge 87 increase in numbers of Latino students attending public schools in the past 10 years. Between 2010-2017, Latino student enrollment in Sussex K-12 public schools increased on average by 185 percent (see Figure 31). The percentage of Latino enrollment in schools far exceeds the percentage of Latinos living in the county, which is roughly 9 percent. School District Percentage Number of Latino Percentage of total (Sussex County) increase Latino students enrolled student enrollment population Cape Henlopen 186% 788 15% Delmar 210% 84 6.4% Indian River 189% 3338 31.9% Laurel 217% 300 12.7% Milford 136% 785 19.2% Seaford 177% 679 19.4% Woodbridge 180% 562 22.4% Totals (Average) 185% 6536 18% Figure 31: Sussex County Latino Public School Student Enrollment (K-12) 2017.Source: School Report Cards published before 2019 at www.doe.k12.de.us. Study participants discussed their organizations’ commitment to children and youth, and the great extent to which the host society has embraced the children of new immigrants. A few participants mentioned the new Spanish Immersion Program implemented in public schools across Sussex County (and the state), and its favorable effects for native and non-native Spanish speakers. Sussex County will soon have several integrated groups of students in multiple schools that graduate with fluency in Spanish and English. As one study participant noted: In Sussex County, you have various school districts that are now turning to immersion programs. You have students learning in Spanish, learning content in Spanish from elementary school, first grade, kindergarten and up. A lot of these classes are mixed 88 with kids from host society and Hispanic/Latinos. I think there's an appreciation, in that sense, that's growing. This is a national trend of two-way dual immersion programs that enroll approximately equal ratios of native English speakers and speakers of another language – in this case Spanish. This model has replaced former bilingual education models in places such as California, in part because of lackluster performance of traditional models, but also because it’s an easier sell to school boards that want to see more educational benefit to all students. The Rodel Foundation reports, however, that only 5 percent of EL students in Delaware have access to dual-language programs, and are more likely to attend ESL (60 percent), bilingual instruction (10 percent), or no additional programming at all (20 percent) (Rodel EL Factsheet #2). Many benefits have been noted in studies of two-way immersion programs, including metalinguistic advantages for program participants in both languages, and increased English proficiency and academic performance in non-native speakers (Williams, 2015). As multilingual schools become “cool,” however, some worry that demand from privileged, English-dominant families can detract from the goals of educational equity that traditional bilingual education was designed to address. At least one study participant noted that responsive practice in the classroom could make up the difference. “If you have quality teachers from quality backgrounds that are culturally responsive, I think that that can make up for the gap in economic resources, to be honest with you.” While high school graduation rates vary between districts in Sussex County, evidence suggests that Latinos are faring well when compared with four-year graduation rates for all students. In general, however, English Learners show a lower rate of four-year graduation (see Figure 32). It should be noted that the EL category includes all ELs, not only Spanish native speakers. A majority of ELs in Sussex County, however, are Latino. While school districts such as Indian River, Milford and Seaford have experienced the largest growth in 89 Latino student enrollment, every school district in Sussex County has experienced significant growth in their Latino student population between 2010 and 2017 (see Appendix E). School District 4 year ESEA Latino 4 year ESEA EL 4 year ESEA Grad (Sussex County) Grad Rate Grad Rate Rate All Students (average 2010-17) (average 2010-17) (average 2010-17) Cape Henlopen 80.3% 74.8% 83% Delmar 72.8% *several years not 87.7% reported Indian River 79.6% 66.6% 85.2% Laurel 69.4% 70.2% 72.6% Milford 83.4% 71.3% 81.5% Seaford 82.8% 77.4% 73.8% Woodbridge 79.6% 82% 75% Figure 32: Sussex County Latino Public High School Four-Year ESEA Graduation Rate (2010- 2017). Source: School Report Cards published before 2019 at www.doe.k12.de.us. English Learners (ELs) in Delaware are highly diverse in language, culture and nationality. Roughly 8 percent of the total student population in Delaware is classified as EL. About 75 percent of these ELs are native-born Americans, and while 97 native languages are spoken by Delaware ELs, 75 percent of all ELs in Delaware speak Spanish. The Rodel Foundation of Delaware, a nonprofit dedicated to improving public education, reports that Sussex County has seen a 597 percent growth in ELs since 1997 (Rodel Foundation, EL Factsheet #1) In fall 2018, the “Yes, We’re Going to College Initiative,” a collaboration led through University of Delaware with partners TeenSHARP, Delaware Technical Community College, La Colectiva, and two Sussex County high school college access clubs, held three half-day workshops for Latino students and their parents. Some of the parents involved in this initiative decided to keep the initiative going under the umbrella of the community-based organization called the Hispanic Student Parent Mentor Association. In January 2019, they held a community potluck at a Georgetown church that drew more than 20 families 90 interested in learning more about how to prepare for college. Youth and their parents were asked to contribute to a conversation about their goals and needs for getting into college. During this information-gathering session, youth made it clear that they had goals: • In five years I see myself with a degree … • In five years high school, part-time job, taking college classes, learning about business … • Being in high school … • I see myself working hard until I get where I want to be … • I see my little sisters getting good grades for their future … • We are going to have to get involved, try and make this organization get heard, or spread the message to others, help them get involved as well … The words of this motivated group of young adults support the statements made by our study participants, who indicate that newcomer families are interested in their children being educated and successful. The sacrifice to provide for family includes paying for education. As one study participant noted, “… lots of younger siblings have graduated from high school and go on to college, and the family members here had paid for that education.” While the current policy environment may be uncertain, students previously authorized through DACA can renew their authorization and no legal barrier bars attendance in college (see Appendix F). Service providers pointed out that getting this message out was key. “Not having those barriers for the undocumented students has really created access for all Hispanic high school graduates. So, anybody who graduates from a Sussex County high school knows that they can come to [college], I think. We go out and talk to high school students and make sure they know that.” Since the 1990s, the number of Latino students enrolled in schools, colleges and universities in the United States has significantly increased from 8.8 million to 17.9 million. Latino students make up 22.7 percent of all people enrolled in school. Between 2000 and 2015, college enrollment among Latino high school graduates grew from 22 percent to 37 percent. The percentage of Latino students enrolled in college and university went from 8.0 percent to 19.1 percent (U.S. Census Bureau). There are 492 Hispanic-serving colleges and 91 universities, which are defined as having a Latino student enrollment of at least 25 percent. Colleges such as Salem State in Massachusetts, whose Latino student enrollment grew 10 percent in the past decade, have begun to address achievement gaps by adding Latino leadership programs, hiring diverse faculty and expanding cultural programming (Field, 2018). Trends across the United States, however, show a significant difference in college enrollment based on ethnicity. Undergraduate students in four-year private nonprofit universities and colleges are overwhelmingly white (66 percent), while greater numbers of Latino students attend public and private for-profit universities (16 percent and 15 percent respectively) than private nonprofit universities. The percentage of Latino students enrolled in public and private for-profit two-year institutions jumps to 24 percent, while white enrollment drops to less than 50 percent (McFarland, et al, 2017). For DREAMers, those youth who were brought to the United States as children, the goal of obtaining education has become even more difficult. Requests for Deferred Action from Childhood Arrivals (DACA) have become nearly impossible in the current political administration. DACA was rescinded in 2017, and while a court order has allowed continued action by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on renewal requests under DACA (see Appendix F), the agency is not accepting requests from people who have never before been granted deferred action (US Citizenship and Immigration Services). Local area universities have varying levels of Latino enrollment and report on the status of Latinos differently. Some only report enrollment, while others report graduation rates, as well as degrees conferred by ethnicity. Delaware State University has a separate category for DREAMers, while Salisbury University, located in Maryland about 30 miles from Georgetown, categorizes enrollment as white, African-American and “all other ethnicities,” which includes Latino/Hispanic enrollment. Forty-seven percent of students enrolled at Delaware State University are Delaware residents, nearly 10 percent more than University of Delaware at 38.7 percent. Although enrollment at Salisbury University is primarily comprised 92 of Maryland residents, the university has seen a steady increase in Delaware resident enrollment, and the state of Delaware represents 32 percent of all out-of-state students. In 2018, Salisbury awarded 66 baccalaureate degrees and eight master’s degrees to Latino candidates. Enrollment figures for Latino students in local colleges and universities appear below (see Figure 33). Pew Research Center (2016) estimates that 32 percent of immigrants from South America age 25 and older have earned a bachelor’s degree, compared with 9 percent from Central America and 6 percent from Mexico. University 2017-18 Total 2017-18 Latino % Latino Enrollment Enrollment Enrollment 4648 279 6% 14195 1641 11.5% University of Delaware 24120 1742 7.2% Salisbury University (MD) 8567 344 4% Delaware State University Delaware Technical Community College Figure 33: Latino Enrollment at Local Area Colleges and Universities (2017-2018). Sources: statewide enrollment statistics publicly available at desu.edu, dtcc.edu, udel.edu, salisbury.edu The American Community Survey (see Appendix G) also reports differences in educational achievement based on gender. In 2017, ACS estimated that in similar populations of Latino men and women age 25 and older in Sussex County, men were twice as likely to have less than a ninth-grade education. Women were also more likely to have some college but no degree. When achieving an associate, bachelor’s or graduate degree, however, men and women had closer levels of achievement. Evidence shows that more women seem to start degree programs but experience difficulties in finishing, while men who start degree programs finish at higher educational attainment levels. High percentages of Latino population with less than a ninth-grade education are clustered in a few areas in Sussex County. These include the census tracts centrally located around 93 Georgetown, in the western part of the county near Seaford and Bridgeville, in the southern part of the county near Selbyville, and to the north in the Lincoln area (see Figure 34). Figure 34: High Density Areas with Latinos ages 18-34, less than a ninth-grade education Source: US Census Sussex County public schools have provided the place where children and youth have the opportunity to be educated and learn English. Other local institutions, including higher education and nonprofit organizations, have taken on the role of providing English as a Second Language (ESL) education to their parents. English language acquisition is key to a number of goals for families, whether to start a new business or continue a profession from their home country. A big deal is that they are able to have their own businesses, their own house and go back to school. A lot of them, they want to get their high school diploma or GED and we have some that they have been able to enroll in college because they just want to, they are professionals; if they are professionals in their country they want to continue 94 and to be able to do something here. We have nurses, we have teachers, we have engineers. While supporting and educating immigrant children and youth present challenges, equal, if not more formidable, challenges exist in helping new immigrant adults to navigate and integrate successfully. Study participants noted, however, a number of challenges to making these services available. Many pointed out that some Latino immigrants lack basic literacy in Spanish or speak a local indigenous dialect. “We have people who, maybe the ones that are coming from the rural backgrounds, they may be of an indigenous culture, so their first language is one that most people can’t even communicate with, and they may not even know Spanish all that well.” In addition to basic literacy skills, participants noted that other barriers prevent newcomers from accessing ESL. These include the times and locations of these services and the number of slots available in programs. One participant discussed prevailing attitudes among some Sussex County residents, “They say, ‘Well, they don’t want to learn English.’ I thought, that’s not true. I think you go to the night school and it’s very hard to get in there … I think the enrollment closes very fast …” Leading the way: Latinos in Sussex County Just as significant diversity is represented among Latinos living in Sussex County, significant diversity exists in the perception of study participants about the nature of leading and leadership. The variations of leadership in the Latino communities of Sussex are not so very different from any other ethnic group. Latino leaders are found in the public domain – nonprofits, businesses, churches and soccer leagues. Latino leaders also are found in the private domain – informal networks and the home/family. Many agreed, however, that Latinos were underrepresented in traditional leadership roles in government and schools. Among those interviewed for the Perspectives Study, we found a range in their perceptions of the attitudes of Latino immigrants toward leadership. 95 The Public Domain Latinos are visible as leaders in Sussex County in ways that are publicly recognized by Latinos and non-Latinos. As discussed previously, many organizations whose mission is to help primarily low-income and immigrant Latinos, employ Latino and bilingual staff. This is a broad group of organizations and public agencies that fill community, health and educational needs. A professional class of educated bilingual Latinos has stepped into a leadership role within these organizations. As one study participant said, “I think [bilingual] professionals are coming here because their services are needed, their skills are needed … we had more social service providers, more doctors coming in …” One key characteristic they share is their citizenship or legal authorization to work. This professional class is the majority of the Perspectives Study participant sample and includes highly educated first- and second-generation Latinos. As one study participant notes, “The families that came here in the '90s now have children who are young adults and they are integrated into the fabric of the community, they are professionals.” While some hail from Delaware, this group also includes transplants from diverse urban areas in the Northeast and Latin American countries. For many, they have found opportunity in Sussex County because of their combination of skills and ability to provide culturally sensitive services in Spanish and English. As demand for bi- and multilingualism by service providers grows, many have discussed a need for a pipeline that expands and develops this professional class to respond to the demand. For many study participants, local Latino business owners and entrepreneurs stand out as leaders. As one study participant said: “When it comes to leadership, I think of certain people that have really stepped up in our community … entrepreneurs that are using their businesses or their success to really promote the Latino community, and really try to show the broader larger community what an asset they are.” For some, this role seemed a functional leadership position, driven by business goals. “I find that my observation of [Latino] leadership is usually it’s positional. So, the people who are leading … there’s a business reason for them to do it.” 96 Overwhelmingly, study participants pointed out the leadership role that local churches have played in the Latino communities of Sussex County. As one participant said: “… Who are the leaders in the Hispanic population? I kept on thinking of the church. I think these are my leaders.” These include Roman Catholic churches, such as St. Michael the Archangel, and other Christian and Evangelical congregations. The pastor role is seen as a primary leadership role, people who “are pouring into their congregation, really pushing them to give back to their communities, and to serve their communities.” One organization serving Latino immigrants in Sussex County is La Esperanza in Georgetown, founded by three Carmelite sisters in 1996. As early as 1998, the Rev. Michael Bye of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was organizing meetings in the historic railroad station to tackle the challenges of the increasing diversity in Georgetown (Parks, 1998). For many, community engagement occurs not through involvement in the political processes or with the host society, but through involvement in church. “St. Michael, the people, a lot of people they work hard, but in a church.” Sussex County has 228 Christian churches with about 51,000 members – nearly a quarter of the total population of the county. These include about 20,000 Methodists, 12,000 Catholics and 11,500 Evangelicals (see Appendix H). Fifteen of these churches are in Georgetown, including St. Michael’s. Rae Tyson reports (DelmarvaNow, 2015) “two decades ago, the church [St. Michael’s] was coping with declining attendance and an aging congregation.” With the explosive growth of Latino immigrants in Georgetown, the church expanded to include a Spanish-speaking priest, the Rev. Augusto Gomez, three Spanish-language services a week, ESL classes and programming for children and families. Evidence suggests that Latino youth (and their parents) may be building social capital (Bourdieu, 1985) through the interpersonal, associational and cultural social ties that result from a close network of congregation members. Religious participation may or may not influence moral development and outcomes. It has been shown, however, that trusting interaction with adults, friends and parents who share similar views of the world can increase 97 a young person’s orientation toward altruism and empathy (King and Furrow, 2004). As one study participant shared, “I’m involved, for example, with the youth of my church, and I think that in my experience what I’ve learned is that there can be a real positive change in kids’ life when they feel like, one, that they’re heard, and when they feel like they can, their opinions or their voice matters.” Another example of public domain leadership in the Latino communities of Sussex is the extensive and well-established soccer leagues. As a primary pastime and passion for many in the community, the leagues seem to be a place where leadership and organizational development meet the recreational self-interests of the Latino, albeit primarily male, community. As one study participant pointed out: … in terms of how many teams there are and somebody’s the manager of the team and the coach of the team, and regardless of the leagues and where they play, that has existed for 20 years. … Different leagues have come and gone and merged and moved, but I think … all of the leagues have a tremendous amount of leadership and organization. Soccer has also affected partners in schools. K-12 teachers in Sussex County have gotten involved in volunteering and coaching to support their Latino students. Rae Tyson reports (DelmarvaNow, 2015) that teachers “feel athletics help Hispanics assimilate — and makes them feel comfortable in their new homeland.” One teacher has launched an annual soccer match called World Culture Night that highlights Latino culture. Festival Hispano, a celebration of Hispanic arts and culture, celebrates its 24th year in 2019. The festival has been continually supported by local Latino nonprofit leaders, business leaders and the Delaware Hispanic Commission. While the festival has moved around the state, its home has primarily been Georgetown. Thousands of people attend for the music, cuisine and culture, and the venue is an opportunity for local vendors, Hispanic and nonHispanic, to build their businesses (Cook, 2015). 98 The Private Domain It is also clear from our research that study participants believe Latino leaders are found in trusted informal or private networks that are not traditional American locations of leadership. These include individuals within insular communities who serve as guides. Those who have gone through the immigration process know how important different kinds of help can be to a newcomer. Many study participants spoke about the generosity of immigrants who shared their time and resources. “They [have a] really big heart … can help each other.” These community members become known, “you see people that [say], ‘Yeah, everybody comes to me asking things.’ That’s what you can see. Those who become advocates.” This work isn’t necessarily in public view, but rather a “closed door” advocacy, “A lot of the help … happens behind closed doors … a conversation [that] you and I are having, a small group of people are gathering and that’s about it.” Many study participants challenged traditional concepts of leadership, favoring a broader definition. … I think our impression of leadership is very limited … you can involve someone in leadership council and kind of direct them, it doesn’t mean they’re a leader. You have someone over here that’s not involved in anything and they’re a leader. I think our definition, our understanding of leadership has to be so much broader than someone who’s the president of the student council, you know? Differences in leadership role(s) exist between gender, age and education. Study participants noted the roles that mothers and fathers play to ensure the success of the family. Many agreed that while fathers often head the family and work to bring income into the home, mothers lead day to day to ensure that critical interactions with schools and service providers are met. The demands of work and home also play a role in how much parents are willing to volunteer in the community. As one participant said: “Sometimes they’re just OK with like, ‘I’ve done what I can for my family. That’s what matters.’" Taking leadership initiative is seen as another job, that “for most … I think doing this kind of advocacy, or just holding sessions or meetings to engage the [Latino] population and non99 Latinos about awareness, I think for them that’s considered an extra job that they don’t necessarily want.” Children and youth were likely to take on roles to support their parents, i.e., translation, but were also more likely to assume leadership roles outside the home. Exposure to the host society, through school or other programs, and language skills, seem to build confidence to take initiative. As one study participant shared: “I’m a little scared … I think afraid if I don’t do it right … but if someone else can help me, yes … I don’t have education … I think that’s my fear.” The same participant, however, shared how her daughter didn’t experience the same barriers or fears. “I see my daughter, she don’t scare, or I don’t know how you say it, because she can work with everything.” Fear is a real deterrent, however, to public domain leadership for many Latino immigrants. The continuing threat of exposure for insecure immigration status leads many immigrants to rely on people they trust and careful prioritizing of public interaction. Pew Research Center (Taylor, 2012) conducted national research that found marked distrust when dealing with people in 93 percent of Spanish-dominant Latino respondents, compared with 78 percent of English-dominant Latinos and just 61 percent of the general public in the United States. Many study participants said that trust was a major part of encouraging initiative outside the “insider” networks for Latinos in Sussex County. “They should see either a face that they trust or an organization … that they trust that company; they trust the organization; they trust a place.” As one study participant noted: I think that the Latino community, like many other communities, has to build that trust. You have to have people in those communities that have built trust to serve almost like liaisons. I think that in Latino communities there’s an infrastructure already of churches, and radio stations, and community centers that serve a population. 100 Underrepresentation in Latino leadership Lack of civic participation is directly related to attitudes and feelings about citizenship. It is difficult to assert one’s right to lead if one does not believe he or she owns that right or is recognized as having that right. As one study participant explained, “When it comes to things like being involved in the community organizing, or even things like going out to vote, I think it’s been limited.” Another participant shared that, “[when] we have a … council meeting, that very few Hispanics or any Latinos are present.” While Latinos might not participate in local council meetings, that doesn’t mean they haven’t taken part in other forms of activism in the area over the past several decades. As early as 1993, the Latino Empowerment Association of Delmarva met weekly at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Dover to promote increasing services for monolingual Spanish-speaking immigrants in Southern Delaware (Rivera, 1993). More recent activism was sparked across the state after President Trump’s forced immigrant family separation policy in 2018. Several groups in the state, including the ACLU of Delaware, the Delaware Civil Rights Coalition, Equality Delaware, and Pacem in Terris, co-sponsored actions that corresponded with protests across the nation. Marches were organized in each county, and the Rally To Keep Families Together converged on Legislative Hall in Dover on June 20, 2018 (Courmier, 2018). Barriers to civic participation (certainly not restricted to the Latino community), such as unauthorized status in parents and grandparents, can lead to the attitude in young people that voting is a choice rather than a right. Some argue that schools can promote civic engagement where students can develop skills in political discussion and decision-making (Torney-Purta et al., 2006). This, however, requires adequate instruction in subjects that develop assets in the political, civic and community arenas. Evidence shows “trickle-up” effects of in-school programs, such as Kids Voting, on the political knowledge and participation of parents (McDevitt, 2006). 101 At least one study participant, however, pointed out that most Sussex County schools lacked Latino role models: I think that there’s very few teachers, very few people in decision-making positions that are Latino from our communities. I think that’s something that needs to be addressed. I think that we need to focus on building up the next group of leaders that are Latino, that are from these communities, that come back and kind of help our communities … we have about 25 percent to 30 percent Latino student body, but I’m the only person that speaks Spanish in the whole school. Several study participants pointed out that it is time for change. With a critical mass of Latino population centered in hubs such as Georgetown and Seaford, and a mix of established families and newcomers, the opportunities for Latino leadership will only increase. As one participant said: “There’s no reason 25 years later, we can’t have a Latino councilperson in Georgetown, we can’t have a Latino mayor in the next five years. No one I see is rising to that and I think we need to encourage and prepare people … because that’s when we’re going to start to see a difference.” Studies of immigrant integration have shown that the process can be a dynamic two-way process that improves economic mobility and civic participation for newcomers and the receiving society (Pastor, Ortiz and Lopez, 2018). Serving Latino immigrants in Sussex County Sussex County is poised to build on its success of integrating Latino immigrants into the economic and social life of the county, and to make significant improvements in the lives of its most vulnerable Latino residents. According to the Arsht-Cannon Fund, whose mission is to “increase educational opportunities and access to healthcare for Hispanic families” in Delaware, about 30 nonprofit organizations and public agencies serve the Latino communities of Sussex County (see Appendix I). Many of these organizations have representation in La Colectiva Network, which has met on a regular basis since 2018 to brainstorm, share ideas, and promote collective impact to meet the needs of this diverse and growing population. Social Contract, the Arsht-Cannon Fund and the Delaware 102 Community Foundation have been providing support for this dynamic collaboration. This work resulted in three distinct areas of focus supported by working groups: family literacy, navigation and social mobility. A Navigation Pilot designed to help newly arrived Latino immigrants to understand and access services in Sussex County is being implemented under the auspices of La Esperanza Community Center in Georgetown. The pilot is supported by a full-time coordinator and several guias, or community-based guides. Typical service provider constraints While the work of La Colectiva Network is promising, service providers face challenges. The Sussex County Health Coalition, a member organization of the network, collected survey data from more than 30 service providers to the Latino community in 2018 that identified a number of pressing challenges. Survey respondents included agencies providing educational, childcare, social service and health care services. Of these service providers, a majority identified bilingual or translation services as their biggest challenge and the most critical social and health issue for Latinos in Sussex County (see Appendix J). Other challenges identified by a majority of respondents include staffing shortages, transportation, client follow-through, and access to clients. Roughly 80 percent of survey respondents said they employed Spanish-speaking personnel. Of these, nearly half (44 percent) reported employing only one to two Spanish-speaking personnel. Of those who indicated that they did not, lack of funds and lack of Spanishspeaking candidates were given as major reasons. More than 84 percent of respondents reported they provided “culturally sensitive” materials to their clients, primarily printed materials. Participants in the Perspectives study echoed some of the issues identified in the Sussex County Health Coalition Survey, while also identifying other organizational challenges. Most participants indicated that their organization had responded to the need for bilingual staff and making sure that material was available in Spanish. “All of our documentation is both in English and Spanish. All our education is done and available in both English and Spanish. 103 Two of us on staff are bilingual.” One participant noted that clients “prefer a person who speaks Spanish to help them access those services.” Organizations also identified the need for place-based services because of lack of client follow-up and transportation issues for their clients. “With these waves of newcomers, we also have an outreach department that tries to go into different communities and to different events and follows up with case management …” Many expressed frustration over the lack of resources to meet the their clients’ needs. Service providers interviewed for this study were passionate about serving the neediest community of Latino immigrants, and worried about their limitations. “You’re harming the client when you are not capable of doing what they need. You’re not serving them properly.” Having all written documents published in English and Spanish is one step toward providing assistance to Latinos in Sussex County. The most vulnerable indigenous families, however, may not have Spanish as their first language and/or sufficient education in their home country to be fully literate to use those materials. While culturally responsive, small organizations can suffer from lack of capacity, personnel and resources to follow through on their clients’ needs. Operational dollars that support an organization’s administrative function usually are not from private foundations, but through large multiyear federal and state grants. “I’ve gone to a training, and I’ve talked to other organizations on … what are they doing, what challenges they face, … what has worked for them. I think that I’ve taken as much as I can and tried to incorporate it into the work that I do, but you’re very limited when it’s just one or two people.” Study participants also expressed a disconnect between the funder/researcher, or “outsider” perception of their clients’ needs and what they saw as community needs and wants. For example, “if I think a need is education, and I’m trying to get people to come to my group to come up with new education opportunities, I might not be able to get anybody 104 there because that’s not what their need is.” At least one participant went so far as to express an outright distrust of “outsider” help. I think that people are skeptical, especially if you’re not from within the community and you’re coming into the community, because I think they’ve probably been burned in the past with research dollars or organization[s] wanting to come in and saying they want to help, and then they leave. Framing need among Latino immigrants in Sussex County Perspectives study participants identified several critical pain points, or areas of need, for Latino immigrants in Sussex County. These include navigating health and social service systems; family literacy and language skills; support for educational programming that promotes college and career achievement; support for victims of trauma; and low-cost or pro bono legal services. One study participant observed how needs change, depending on how long families have been in Sussex County. Successive generations move from a pressing need for health, legal and social services to more access to education or “How am I going to help my son or daughter get into college?” Youth in the “Yes, We Are Going to College” initiative expressed needs that ranged from academic support and keeping their parents informed about applying to college, to “determination, courage, [and] mental health.” Our study suggests, however, that many Latino immigrants’ needs in Sussex County stem from individuals’ locations along a continuum from insecure to secure immigration status (see Figure 36 and Appendix K), and to some degree, stratification among class, race and gender categories. 105 Figure 36: Continuum of Immigration Status in the U.S. (Pastor, Ortiz and Lopez, 2018; USCIS) Unauthorized status Unauthorized status refers to immigrants who either entered without lawful status or who have fallen out of lawful status by, for example, overstaying a temporary student or employment visa. While tools are available to help them, individuals must be aware of these opportunities, and have the skills to access them. Immigrants with unauthorized status experience many barriers to building assets that protect them from crises. Authorized but temporary status Authorized but Temporary Status includes a number of categories, including student and employment visas, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Student visas permit individuals to study in the United States for a fixed amount of time and employment visas are granted for a fixed amount of time through an employer-based petition (e.g. H1-B, H2-A). DACA provides some individuals who arrived in the United States as children with temporary permission to remain in the country and access a work permit. TPS is given to people who are unable to return to their country of origin because of armed conflict, environmental disaster or other extraordinary circumstances. In the past two years, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ended TPS for a number of countries, while the Department of State issued travel advisories for many of the same countries, including El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. 106 Authorized and on a pathway to permanent protection status Several forms of status permit an individual to seek lawful permanent resident (LPR) status (Figure 37), known as the “green card.” Wait times for applying can range from one to 10 years depending on status. The current administration under President Trump proposes making significant changes to family-based petitions in favor of applicants with desirable labor-market attributes, to be selected using a points system (Chishti and Bolter, 2019). Refugee/asylee status Individuals who arrive in the United States through a formal resettlement system can gain refugee or asylee status if they are able to show that returning to their home country would result in persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or particular social group. Lawful permanent resident status (LPR) Green cards allow immigrants to live and work in the United States permanently. The physical green card must be renewed every 10 years, but the individual’s status is permanent. A noncitizen, however, may be deported under certain circumstances. A green card may be revoked because of fraud, criminal activity and/or abandonment. For example, the discovery of any fraud committed during the application process is grounds for deportation. The commission of certain crimes specified by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) are also grounds for deportation. Finally, an individual may lose LPR by moving to another country permanently, remaining outside the United States for an extended period (without plans to return), failing to file income tax returns while living in the United States, or declaring “nonimmigrant” status on U.S. tax returns. Naturalized citizenship Naturalized citizens are lawful permanent residents who become citizens of the United States. This is obviously the most secure status for immigrants. 107 Visa Type Description T Visa Holders Victims of labor or sex trafficking U Visa Holders Victims of certain crimes that occurred in the U.S. and resulted in mental or physical abuse who are cooperating with a law enforcement investigation Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Victims of domestic violence by a U.S. Visa Self-Petition Holders citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) Visa Children under 21 who have been Holders abused, abandoned, or neglected by one or both parents Family-based petition Visa Holders The spouse, child or sibling of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents Figure 37: Authorization Types Permitted to Seek LPR (Pastor, Ortiz , and Lopez, 2018) Asset building for new immigrants to the U.S. Pastor, Ortiz and Lopez (2018) at the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) use a framework that establishes three core areas of asset development that can be applied to anyone but are essential to building stability for new immigrants. These include (1) personal or human assets, such as education, skills, health and citizenship (and second language proficiency); (2) financial assets, such as stable income, bank accounts, credit and insurance; and (3) social and cultural assets, such as locally owned businesses, social networks and civic engagement, which afford immigrants the knowledge, skill and resources to navigate across borders and obstacles. According to comments made by participants in this study, Latino immigrants in Sussex County are entrepreneurial, courageous and persistent. You have to look at how creative, how just tenacious, and resilient and adaptable the people are. Because, like I said, people have come--some have come with 108 backgrounds of not having an education of having no experiences . . . [and] have opened restaurants, have opened stores, have opened businesses, have found ways to make life possible for them here. These qualities have been essential to establishing a footing in this country when facing challenges to building personal and financial assets. An individual’s access to certain assetbuilding tools may be dependent upon one’s immigration status. For example, individuals with insecure or unauthorized status may access Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) that are accepted at some institutions but are prey to predatory lending because they lack a credit history. Some post-secondary assistance is available through mainstream financial institutions (MFIs), but in-state tuition and state financial aid is not available to unauthorized students in every state. These same individuals have limited access to “ITIN” mortgages but poor credit often results in high interest rates. While small-business owners may access Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) and Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) designations, they have little to no access to financing. Employment and student visas allow access to MFI products and services, but similar barriers to building assets persist for people with temporary status. Individuals with employment visas are able to access traditional Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans but are limited in small business development by visa restrictions connected to their initial employer. The current political context in the United States has added to the uncertainty and barriers for asset development for those with temporary status. Refugees and individuals with authorization that allows them to seek lawful permanent resident status face similar barriers to building assets as people with temporary status. In general, individuals with LPR status have easier access to secure banking, post-secondary education assistance, homeownership assistance, and small business support. Naturalized citizens have access to all of the asset-building tools available to any U.S. citizen. Secure status enables immigrants to access tools and services that promote social mobility, economic productivity and healthy individual and family development. 109 Challenges to building personal assets for Latino immigrants Many study participants identified a need for personal asset development among Sussex County Latino immigrants in health, family literacy, education and citizenship. As described above, access to personal asset development tools can depend on citizenship status. As one study participant stated, “I think if people can achieve legal status, whether that’s residency or citizenship or temporary status, then all the other things are more achievable.” Healthcare was a major concern among study participants, who described barriers hindering Latino immigrants from accessing conventional U.S. health services. These included affordability, lack of access through employment, immigration status, transient living conditions and fear of exposure. As previously described, many immigrants with insecure status choose employment that is paid in cash with no health benefits and no evidence of employment. As one study participant put it, there is “no type of form for them to get that medical insurance that they need.” This may lead to deferred health maintenance or use of curanderas, traditional faith healers popular in Latin American communities. As reported by Rivera and Billington (2003), curanderas may provide a trusted connection and support, especially for people with unauthorized status and distrust of mainstream medicine in the United States. Another common dilemma for parents is accessing health insurance and other forms of assistance for an older child brought to the United States without citizenship status. I came here with my little one and I have another one in U.S., so I have one citizen and one is not… my citizen can receive full benefits, Medicaid and different services because he’s[a] citizen but the other one, even though [he] is a child cannot receive any of that. The effect of insecure immigration status also has implications for mental health and victims of trauma. One study participant discussed the weight of the fear of exposure for unauthorized immigrants. “…if you don’t have legal status, you don’t feel stable. You don’t 110 know what your future is like, you don’t have hope, especially not these four years that we’re in right now.” Fear of exposure can also cause people to avoid reporting trauma or accessing health and support services. As another study participant said, “They don’t think they can go into a police station and say, ‘Look, I was assaulted,’ physically, sexually, in this kind of manner, without the fear of … this officer is going to detain me today and I might not come back to my family.” Predators know that new immigrants fear exposure, and this makes them vulnerable. Public transportation in Sussex County is limited and may not be timely or provide direct transportation to work sites. One study participant shared the story of a woman who had to risk being abused to get to work: “Someone she knew from work was going to drive her and she could either pay him, I think it was $50, or she could have sex with him at a hotel [on] the way.” A personal asset such as basic identification, i.e., driver’s license, is crucial to accessing services and employment. Delaware has made strides by introducing a driving privilege card, but as one study participant pointed out, “for someone who’s a recent arrival, who can’t show that they’ve been a resident of Delaware for two years, or hasn’t paid taxes and all this other stuff, it’s hard.” While public bus service has been available in Sussex County, with Georgetown as the transit hub, since 1996 (Parra, 1996), frequency of service and routes that are accessible to home and work for many immigrants continue to lag (see Appendix L). In response to this need for transportation to work, individuals pool resources within their communities. Another study participant related, “I have a couple of students at [college] that they drive people, they wake up at 3 a.m. and go pick up groups of people and [take] them home and go back and they do shifts.” Study participants described an almost universal need for family literacy and education. For immigrant parents in particular, language acquisition is not only key to accessing and building assets, but also to communicating effectively with schools about their children. As one study participant said: “I think for the most part, a lot of parents, especially Latino 111 parents, want their kids to be well educated. But I think it becomes hard when they can’t communicate with the schools or communicate with the teachers.” Illiteracy hinders communications for a segment of the Latino population. A newly arrived immigrant family experiences a steep learning curve when their first child enrolls in a U.S. school, where they are expected to read intake forms, communicate verbally and correspond with teachers, go to conferences, and help with homework. Access to higher education is also seen as a key factor to social mobility. Participants in the study stressed the need to establish a college-going culture, not only to promote individual success, but the success of the entire community. As one study participant declared, “In order to fully progress I think we need members of our own community to be able to stand up for us, and advocate for us, but be also knowledgeable and have that expertise to do so.” Given the variety of challenges to building personal assets that immigrants face, access to affordable legal counsel is seen as a fundamental need by our study participants. Navigating the path to permanent residency, and facing hurdles along the way, requires legal assistance that is in high demand. In Delaware, we don’t have enough programs that really incentivize … attorneys to really take on pro bono cases, and I also don’t think that we have anything that’s really connecting people with those resources, like attorneys that can give them good counsel, that can give them good advice, that can help them process their paperwork, or represent them in court. Challenges to building financial assets for Latino immigrants As discussed previously, new Latino immigrants move to Sussex County from a variety of countries and backgrounds and have varied access to capital and financial assets. For the most vulnerable, building financial assets is an extremely challenging endeavor. Pooling resources, living over occupancy, and working multiple jobs are common practices. New immigrants with insecure status are prey to predatory lending and high interest because 112 they lack a credit history. Lack of personal assets such as language skills and education can be real barriers to building financial assets. As one study participant said, “I think [in] the beginning is the language, and to get a car. It’s hard in the beginning … unless they have money, it’s impossible to get cars, insurance and all that …” Another study participant shared that it is not uncommon for individuals to own a car, but not be able to legally drive – which leads to further financial and legal difficulties. … they’re driving and they get pulled over, and every single time it’s at least $157 for driving without a valid license. Then it keeps on going up and up and up every time. They can’t catch a break; they can’t pay it off when they are struggling so much. Newcomers also need financial literacy to access the financial tools available to them. A business owner and study participant related what it was like to access financing for the first time. “They don’t have [an] idea like when to prepare a plan, a business plan to go to the bank and lend the money. Like me in the beginning when I went to ask a line of credit at the bank, they ask me for business plan. I mean a business plan! And at that time I asked, “What is that for? Challenges to building social assets for Latino immigrants Putnam (1995) defines social capital as the “features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit.’’ This includes social relations that have productive and mutual benefits. Our study suggests that a great deal of social capital exists within certain communities, but they need more bridging between these communities and the receiving society. The Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (2018) identifies the prevalence of locally owned businesses, social networks and civic engagement as part of the social asset development needed for successful immigrant integration into the United States. As previously mentioned, civic engagement is directly related to attitudes and feelings about citizenship and status, which can vary even within individual families. 113 Many study participants stressed the need for an orientation to the systems and culture of the United States for Latino immigrants. As one participant states, “I think one of the things … that would be beneficial to especially recent arrivals is being able to help them understand the broader culture, to better understand how certain things function here in the United States.” Conversely, study participants identified a need to build opportunities for experienced and knowledgeable Latinos from immigrant families to stay and share their expertise within the community in Sussex County. A lack of opportunities for social mobility has created a “brain drain” of successive generations of educated Latinos leaving the county to find better options. As one study participant said, “What you have here is this vacuum, where we could’ve had people that know and have that experience … they’re going away, and their skills and their education, and all the good things that they can bring back here are going elsewhere.” As reported in The News Journal, Sussex County has become highly sought after as a place to retire, rather than start a career. Young people are moving out in search of opportunity, because “slower lower” doesn’t really afford enough options (Murray, 2016). Opportunities for impact Our study suggests that several areas of focus can affect conditions for the most vulnerable Latino immigrant families, and the broad spectrum of Latino communities living and working in Sussex County and the county’s receiving society. These areas include (1) asset development, (2) service provider capacity building, and (3) advocacy. Successful integration for Latino immigrants in Sussex County includes personal assets, such as improved education levels, optimum health and paths to citizenship; financial assets, such as stable income, bank accounts, credit and insurance; and social assets, such as locally owned businesses, social networks and civic engagement. Strategies may include specific services provided by nonprofits, public agencies or private financial companies; support for and collaboration around asset initiatives; and policy advocacy for resources and legislation that promote asset development. As one study participant put it, “I would like to see some 114 kind of pipeline established for Latinos, where they can be put on paths to become professionals.” As discussed previously, Latino immigrants work extensively in the restaurant industry in Sussex County, and first- and second-generation Latino immigrants are a growing segment of the health and social service professions. Information available through the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2017) indicates that while retail sales will account for the highest percentage (12 percent) of projected occupations for 2026 in Delaware, food services (food preparation, cooks and wait staff, 17 percent) and health-related services (registered nurses and nursing assistants, 12 percent) will also be significant sources of occupation (see Appendix M). State projections for retail, food service and health services mirror growth trends in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry classification data on Sussex County between 2009 and 2012 (American Community Survey). Growth in these occupation areas may be real sources of opportunity for Latino employment and career growth. Asset development As with most families, there are important moments when the immigrant family’s motivation to access services increases, despite a lack of English literacy or fear of the unknown. These moments center around the health and wellbeing of the family and the development of personal, financial and social assets (see Figure 38). 115 Need for legal counsel (nonprofit and pro-bono services) Applying for and Enrolling in Higher Education Institution (school system s, nonprofit services) Need for fam ily literacy/ language acquisition (ESL, Adult Ed) Qualifying for hom eownership (nonprofit and private housing and lending services) Need for health and social services (nonprofit and public agencies) Enrolling the first child in a U.S. school (public and private school system s) Acquiring financial services, i.e., bank accounts, business loans (nonprofit and private financial services) Practicing religious faith (local churches and congregations) Figure 38: Important Opportunities for Engagement with Latino Families in Sussex County a) Need for legal counsel and services Immigration status plays a role in key aspects of integration and productive contributions to life in the United States for Latino immigrants in Sussex County. This growing need for legal counsel and services is an opportunity for nonprofit agencies, La Colectiva Network, nonprofit legal aid/services, and low cost or pro bono legal services at private law firms to make a difference. As one study participant put it, “Those who have already gone through the immigration process know how important different kinds of help can be to a newcomer.” Opportunities for Change: Accessible and affordable legal services; funding for low-cost or pro bono legal clinics (DCJF); support for reducing fear of exposure/risk of deportation. 116 b) Need for family literacy As discussed previously, family literacy is key to accessing health and social services and interacting with schools and employers. Basic literacy skills in adults may be one of the most pressing needs among the most vulnerable families. Research on the development of complex skills suggests that about 3,000 hours are required for mastery (Chi, Glaser, and Farr, 1988). In addition to basic literacy skills, other barriers preventing Latino immigrants from accessing ESL include the times and locations of these services, and the number of seats available in programs. Places for engagement include numerous English as a Second Language (ESL or ESOL) Programs offered at local educational institutions (K-12, DTCC, DOE Adult Ed), and nonprofit agencies and local churches. Opportunities for Change: Basic functional literacy (Spanish and English) programs that take adult needs into account, i.e., relevance, support, trust in facilitator, explicit feedback and validation of effort and progress; language exchanges and conversation circles; accessible scheduling and locations for ESL (home and work); total number of seats in ESL. c) Need for health and social services Study participants identified a number of factors affecting social and health status for Latino immigrants in Sussex County. These include limited bilingual or translation services, staff shortages, lack of transportation for clients, and access and follow through with clients. As previously described, some organizations have responded with coordinated outreach and place-based case management. Places for engagement include nonprofit and public agencies, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, La Colectiva Network, Sussex County Health Coalition, private health services and employers. Opportunities for Change: Place-based outreach and services; culturally and linguistically appropriate services and information; health insurance options (cash wages); monitoring for most vulnerable (deferred care); mental health support; support for reducing fear of exposure/risk of deportation. 117 d) Acquiring financial services Local financial institutions are recognizing the opportunity to serve Latino immigrants and have added Spanish-speaking staff to serve them. As reported in 2003 (Epstein), large banks were buying into Mexican banks to expand their reach, while employees at a local Georgetown bank were taking conversational Spanish courses at Delaware Technical Community College to serve these customers better. As one study participant noted, “they [Latino immigrants] understand business. They’ve been in business someplace else and they have a good product. They know how to produce and they know how to provide good service.” Places for engagement include nonprofit agencies, nonprofit and private financial services, La Colectiva Network, and $tand By Me. Opportunities for Change: Financial coaching; opportunities to build financial literacy and credit history; business incubators; entrepreneurship courses; improving service at traditional banks; assistance navigating loan processes; supporting small-dollar and creditbuilding loans e) Participation in faith-based communities Faith-based communities are places of high engagement for Latino immigrants in Sussex County, where families experience connection, social networks and civic participation. Churches and congregations are found in all communities of the county, with more than 50 in the Georgetown, Seaford and Selbyville – areas of high need for family literacy and educational achievement. Places for engagement include local churches and congregations, religious and cultural events, and La Colectiva Network. Opportunities for Change: Partnerships with faith-based communities and leaders; social network building and civic engagement; joint promotion of services to vulnerable families. f) Enrolling the first child in a U.S. school The first contact that an immigrant family has with a school is a key moment to engage with them. Education is a value for Latino immigrant families and public schools must 118 accommodate them. Funding for ELs in Delaware is only provided through local districts, and Delaware is one of four states that provides no state education funding per EL student (Rodel EL Factsheet #3). The Rodel Foundation of Delaware, with the Delaware Hispanic Commission, the Arsht-Cannon Fund, and Delaware English Language Learners Teachers and Advocates (DELLTA), are advocating for English Learners in K-12 schools in Delaware by making accurate data available to the public. Places for engagement include public and private K-12 school systems, La Colectiva Network and Head Start programs. Opportunities for Change: First interactions/Home Language Survey; state funding for ELs; support for innovative EL programs, i.e., two-way Spanish Immersion; support for pipeline of highly qualified Latino and non-Latino EL educators in K-12 schools; multilingual parent coordinators and community-based services in schools. g) Qualifying for homeownership As discussed in Part One, while a variety of push and pull factors may have led to settling in Sussex County, once a family is established, finding a home is an important goal. Many newly arrived immigrants to Georgetown begin as renters. Shortages of affordable housing have resulted in crowded conditions in the rental market (Pringle and Guerrero, 1994). Rent in areas such as Georgetown, Selbyville and the western part of the state can be much more affordable than areas along the coast, averaging $800 per month or less compared to $1,100 and up. (see Figure39). 119 Figure 39 (U.S. Census): Median Gross Rent (2013-17) Median Home Sale Price (2017) While rental conditions may not be ideal, one study participant indicated, “they were homes that afforded them running water, sanitary facilities and then a roof over the head. I mean, some of the conditions I've seen aren't probably the best, but it was better from what they left.” Building financial assets such as credit history and savings are essential for families to get into a housing market that is pushing affordability west. The median home sale price ranges from $150,000 to $225,000 in most of the county, while homes along the coast range from $300,000 to several million dollars (Map 4). Places for engagement include nonprofit and private housing development and lending services, La Colectiva Network and Habitat for Humanity. Opportunities for Change: Assistance navigating the homebuying process; culturally and linguistically appropriate direct-lending programs; down payment assistance; Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) (matched savings for down payments). h) Navigating successfully in higher education institutions A running theme throughout this study is the emphasis on creating a pipeline that grows and develops social mobility for Latino immigrants in Sussex County. As discussed previously, Latino student enrollment in Sussex K-12 schools has grown exponentially over the past 10 years. Local higher education institutions such as Delaware Technical 120 Community College have been actively engaging with high schools to promote Latino enrollment. A need remains, however, to promote retention and degree completion for Latino students, particularly Latinas in Sussex County. Colleges considered Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or HSIs, are implementing Latino leadership programs, hiring diverse faculty and expanding cultural programming. Places for engagement include K-12 school systems, higher education institutions, nonprofit college access programs, La Colectiva Network and TeenSHARP. Opportunities for Change: Latino leadership programs in higher education; hiring diverse faculty; expanding cultural programming on campuses; Latino student recruitment campaigns. Service provider capacity building The growth of a diverse Latino population in Sussex County will only increase the importance of expanding services to meet their needs. Nonprofit, private and public institutions have recognized the need for linguistically and culturally appropriate services and materials. Our study indicates, however, that there may be a lack of qualified multilingual Latino and non-Latino candidates and funding specifically for these services, as well as resistance from existing service providers to integrating multilingual Latino staff. Small, culturally responsive organizations also do not usually have the capacity to contract for large multi-year federal and state grants that provide the operational support to sustain programming. While it is important to establish navigation networks for Latino immigrants, it is equally important for service providers to be connected to each other to share best practice, professional development and service referrals. It is key to support service providers with comprehensive information about the variety and types of support available to the people they serve. As one study participant relates, “I’m always surprised when I come across these new resources that I haven’t heard of before … that I hear about and that they seem really good … I just don’t think that we’re all very aware of it or made aware of it.”Cultural 121 responsiveness should include recognition of the importance of trusting relationships and opportunities for inclusion and participation. As shown in this study, “there’s an infrastructure already of churches, and radio stations, and community centers that serve [Latino immigrants in Sussex County].” Service providers and funders should work to ensure that their priorities and resources match what is most needed and wanted by the people and families who use their services. Measurement tools such as the Vulnerability Index, first implemented in Boston in the late 1990s, could be an important strategy to identify those immigrants most at risk and in need of services (Cels, De Jong, and Nauta, 2012) After a number of street deaths in Boston because of homelessness, a task force was formed that collected data on characteristics of vulnerability for this population. They discovered numerous common risk factors among those who had died. They used these to create an assessment tool that could be implemented by nonprofit outreach workers who used incentives such as gift cards for food. Unity of Greater New Orleans, a group of organizations working to end homelessness, replicated this strategy after Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans was overwhelmed with homelessness and displacement after the hurricane, and resources were in short supply. By using this tool, the group was able to identify those most immediately at risk, and provide them with shelter and care with their limited resources. Specific service recommendations: • Programs that orient new immigrant families to systems and culture in the United States, i.e., Family Navigation at La Colectiva, that also address cultural contexts and mixed status for the families. • Assessment tools that are culturally and socially appropriate to help service providers better serve their populations, i.e., measuring impact on families vs. individuals, providing services orally for illiterate adults. • Programs that help low-income and first-generation students navigate applying for college and financial aid; College Promise (universal, free, and accessible two-year community college); early scholarship distribution programs; and alternatives for 122 access to required texts, such as Open Educational Resources (OER), lending libraries and small loans for textbooks. (We discovered that even SEED grant students in Delaware could not cover all of their costs, requiring them to work and increasing the likelihood that they would leave school.) • Student support services (e.g. labs, tutoring, and workshops) and summer bridge and first-year transition programs for incoming students • Improved public transportation; accessible routes and schedules; bilingual drivers and information • Assistance navigating the home-buying process; culturally and linguistically appropriate direct-lending programs; down-payment assistance; Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) that provide matched savings to increase down payments to reduce the likelihood of foreclosure • Financial coaching; opportunities to build financial literacy and financial capability • Business incubators; assistance with marketing, IT, legal and other tools and skills to increase revenue; entrepreneurship courses for students and new business owners • Improving cost, transparency and service at traditional banks • Assistance navigating loan processes; supporting small-dollar and credit-building loans Advocacy Some advocacy is needed at the local, state and federal level to implement and maintain asset building strategies for immigrants, as well as providing the security of authorized status that reinforces access to asset building tools. The uncertainty of the current political environment creates confusion, fear and distrust – leading to greater vulnerability for Latino immigrant families. As one study participant explains: With the politics changing every four years or even every single month, that change[s] their emotions… that can change their stability… that can change their psychological peace of mind because they were coming here with something in mind but as soon as they are here things change. 123 Recently introduced legislation such as the Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and Emergency (SECURE) Act of 2019 and the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 will affect nearly 1.3 million people in the United States who are eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or live in a TPS-eligible household if passed. Many individuals with TPS or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) have been in the United States for decades, and have long records of employment, starting businesses and families, and homeownership. The Center for Immigrant Integration (2019) estimates that Promise Act households contribute more than $35 billion to the U.S. GDP. It is clear that immigrants are embedded in the fabric of U.S. society and are making tremendous contributions to economies at the local, state and federal level. Service providers working with Latino immigrants can provide the context and support for advocacy and leadership not only carried out by providers, but also by immigrants and nonimmigrants who live, work and raise families in Sussex County. Snow and Benford (1988) have identified factors that are useful to examine change within the Latino population of Sussex County, i.e.; individual actors (individual Latino identities and existing organizations); contexts or situations that need to be changed (building bridges out of poverty and insecurity); ideas that influence actions (growth, contribution and exchange); strategic planning that motivates action (organizations engaged in collective impact); and reflection and decision-making processes that develop continuing strategies. Pastor and Ortiz (2009) define social movements as “sustained groupings that develop a frame or narrative based on shared values, that maintain a link with a real and broad base in the community, and that build for a long-term transformation in power (pg.7).” The work of La Colectiva, local Latino-serving organizations and statewide advocates and funders has facilitated the change narrative, and this study adds to the narrative by describing the incredible diversity among a population often referred to as one homogeneous group. Building trust and civic engagement with people with the most vulnerable status will surely facilitate the transformation in power referred to by Pastor and Ortiz. As discussed previously, exposure to the host society, through school or other programs, and language 124 skills, seem to build confidence to take initiative for Latino immigrants. Schools and community are places where Latino youth (and their families) can develop skills in political discussion and decision-making and develop in the political, civic and community arenas. We see several important areas to pay attention to when advocating for Latino immigrants in Sussex County. (1) The Latino immigrant communities of Sussex County are diverse in multiple dimensions: immigration status, country of origin, socio-economic status, educational achievement and relative privilege; (2) family structure(s) and goals are unique to each family, prioritized over individual goals, and a reflection of where they began and how far they have progressed; (3) immigration status factors heavily into identity and influences a sense of hope, agency and action; and (4) a lack of trusting relationships coupled with illiteracy and insecure immigration status inhibits families from accessing and using services. No one model or method will work with all segments of the Latino community, and social networks and dynamics, as well as power dynamics, need to be taken into account. Specific policy recommendations: • Policies that expand pre-college programs; revise student loan structures; support children’s savings accounts, IDAs, or other tax incentives/savings plans; and make financing options accessible • Appropriate resources, i.e., funds, curriculum, staffing, for school districts with increased population in ELL students • Health benefits and food assistance for children/siblings brought to the United States by their parents • Policies that increase access to mortgage credit and protect against housing discrimination and predatory lending • Policies and programs to increase access to creative forms of capital and loans • Policies to limit or ban predatory loans and financial services • Defending and strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act • “Bank On” city-level initiatives 125 • Protecting and strengthening the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Bandura (2001) has argued that we do not simply react to our environment, our fates are determined by the conditions in which we find ourselves. Human agency is fundamental to initiating action and leadership. As in any community, Latino individuals have different priorities and motivations. “People want to be heroes, right? They want to go through a transformation that will make them better people in some way or shape or form. So I think that, really understanding what that universal theme is and what that transformation would look like and why they would want it … it’s not going to be the same transformation for everybody, right? I think it’s really helping to figure out how are they going to be heroes in their own story …” 126 References Agyeman, Julian, and Spooner, Rachel, 1997. “Ethnicity and the Rural Environment.” In Contested Countryside Cultures: Otherness, Marginalisation, and Rurality, edited by P. Cloke and J. Little, 197–217. New York: Routledge. Ahmed, Azam, 2019. “Inside Gang Territory: Either They Kill Us or We Kill Them.” The New York Times, May 13. 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Spence, Kevin, 2007a. “Hispanic business organization launches drive in Sussex County.” Cape Gazette, May 4-7, pg. 48-49. Retrieved January 29, 2019. http://cpg.stparchive.com/Archive/CPG/CPG05042007p048.php?tags=hispanic%7Cpopula tion Spence, Kevin, 2007b. “Forum tackles illegal immigration.” Cape Gazette, November 20-22, pgs. 1 and 12. Retrieved May 1, 2019. http://cpg.stparchive.com/page_image.php?paper=CPG&year=2007&month=11&day=20 &page=1&mode=F&base=CPG11202007p01&title=Cape%20Gazette Spence, Kevin, 2007c. “Summit draws Hispanic advocates.” Cape Gazette, December 28-31, pg. 17. Retrieved May 1, 2019. http://cpg.stparchive.com/Archive/CPG/CPG12282007p017.php 138 Spence, Kevin, 2008. “Milford’s Justiniano enforces diversity.” Cape Gazette, April 8-10, pg. 15. 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Torney-Purta, Judith, Barber, Carolyn, H., and Wilkenfeld, Britt, 2007. “Latino Adolescents’ Civic Development in the United States: Research Results from the IEA Civic Education Study.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Springer Science+Business Media: 36:111–125. Tyson, Rae. 2015. “Hispanic Immigrants making a big impact on Sussex.” DelamarvaNow. April, 23. Retrieved April 1, 2019. https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/delaware/2015/04/23/hispanicimmigrants-making-big-impact-sussex/26235533/ 139 U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder, 2010-2017 tables. Retrieved January-June, 2019. https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t US Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS.gov. Veness, April, 1993. “Neither homed nor homeless: contested definitions and the personal worlds of the poor.” Political Geography, 12(4): 319-340. 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Retrieved March 1, 2019. https://www.sapiens.org/culture/guatemala-migrants-united-states/pART 140 Appendix A Perspectives Study Research Methods The research design for this study employs inductive qualitative methods, seeking to identify patterns and assumptions that emerge from the data regarding current conditions for the Latino population of Sussex County. In depth and focused interviews were conducted with various key actors involved in Sussex County, including representatives of various public, private, and non-profit organizations. These representatives were chosen based on their deep knowledge and experience, and their ability to describe both current and historical contexts for the Latino population in Sussex County. The research protocol for this study was presented to the University of Delaware Institutional Review Board (IRB) for review and approved as an exempted study. An exempt designation simply means that the study does not present potential harm to human subjects that requires ongoing review. This group of documents was submitted online; and included the standard protocol form, as well as copies of the interview guidelines and a copy of the consent form. Interviews ranged from one hour to two and a half hours in length, and were mainly conducted in Sussex County, often in private meeting rooms in public libraries. Each interview was recorded with the use of a digital recorder, and with the interviewee’s written and verbal consent. Interviews were conducted using the IRB approved interview protocol, and each interviewee was asked the same questions with some variation in question prompts based on their answers. To a large degree, study participants were known to the researchers, which can be a limitation as well as an asset. In order to ensure validity, the study uses multiple sources of data and establishes a chain of evidence (Patton, 2002). Use of triangulation, member checks, and thick description also contributes to validity procedures within the study. Triangulation is a process through which themes or categories are formed across multiple and different types of information (Creswell and Miller, 2000). Member checking assists in establishing credibility by having study participants confirm the accuracy of the data or report. Thick description gives 141 detailed contextual support to the data. Data collected from the 15 interviews was transcribed into approximately 430 pages of data and then coded using NVivo software. Interview questions for this study appear in Appendix 1a. Participants’ identities are protected or presented in aggregate. Each node classification was assigned a series of attributes to serve as a basis for comparison. NVivo allows for easy transitions between data nodes, making ‘constant comparisons,’ or breaking down data into manageable pieces for comparison of similarities and differences, possible (Corbin and Strauss, 2014). This process resulted the emergence of several broad themes. To a degree, these themes were driven by the research questions. These categories have multiple dimensions that sometimes interact with other categories. These core categories could be found in nearly every interview. For example, to start the analysis codes (nodes) related to (1) Access/Accessibility of resources, (2) Assets, (3), Demographics/Geography, (4) Ties to home countries, (5) Leadership, and (6) Interaction with the host community of Sussex County. These codes expanded to include sub-codes and other codes that are emerging, such as “Places” which indicate meaningful places for people, and “Transportation Accessibility.” These descriptive pieces of data support other ‘big data’ from large data sets such as the census, but also provide much more nuanced context for such data. We have interesting description about who has come, from where, and how they have fared in Sussex County, based on their individual circumstances. An illustration of the node function below: 142 Dessler (2003) has argued that there are two approaches to the explanation of events: a generalizing strategy (to show the event as an instance of a certain type of event) and a particularization (detailing the sequence of happenings leading up to an event, without necessarily placing it in a larger class). Miles and Huberman (1994) describe a set of analytic exercises for qualitative data that include: putting information into different arrays, making a matrix of categories and placing evidence within categories, creating data displays, tabulating frequency of events, and putting information in chronological order or another temporal scheme. To address internal validity this study employs similar techniques to establish meaning through methods such as pattern matching, explanation building, addressing rival explanations, and use of logic models. Pattern-centered approaches can be used to address behavioral complexity involving multi-level data and variables that combine differently within different groups of people, within and across time. Such methods allow the creation of profiles to patterns of activities relevant to describing conditions for Latinos in Sussex County (Peck, 2007; Smith, Peck, Denault, Blazevski and Akiva, 2010). 143 Appendix A-1 Perspectives Study Interview Questions Part 1 1. General knowledge you have of the Latino population (describe/discuss): a) where they came from, and why they left their home countries b) where they settled, worked, worshipped, shopped and socialized c) whether they maintain strong ties to their home countries 2. General sense you have of expectations and experiences of the Latino population (describe/discuss) a) expectations the first wave of Latino immigrants had upon arrival (mid 1980s 2000) b) expectations the second wave of Latino immigrants had upon arrival (~2000-2015) c) expectations of third wave of Latino immigrants upon arrival (after 2015) d) accomplishments of each of the three waves of Latino immigrants c) most significant challenges faced by each of the three waves of Latino immigrants 3. Assets/contributions of the Latino community to life (describe/discuss): a) unique skill sets, abilities and resources of different segments of the Latino population (e.g. of different demographics: age groups, culture groups, socioeconomic groups, etc.) b) degree to which Latinos are content with their lives, feel the future holds promise 4. Nature of non-Latino “host society” interactions with Latino community (describe/discuss): a) opportunities for Latinos as a whole to share their skills, interests, ideas and resources b) degree to which the host society has been receptive, provided the type of support that enables newcomers to establish a strong foothold and progress Part 2 1. Needs in the Latino community (describe/discuss): a) what are the most pressing needs of Latino individuals and families today? b) how have the needs in the Latino population you serve changed over time? c) what future needs do you foresee? 2. Services and programs to serve the needs of the Latino community (describe/discuss) a) to what degree are there services and programs available to meet current needs? b) what additional or new services and programs would help meet current and future needs? 144 3. Capacity of your organization/entity to accomplish its goals (describe/discuss): a) what barriers/challenges has your organization/entity faces in its effort to work with the Latino population? b) to what degree has the capacity of your organization/entity been impacted by its involvements with the growing Latino population (in the past vs. now)? c) what information and resources would help you become more effective in your dealings with the Latino population you serve? 4. Nature of civic participation and leadership within the Latino community (describe/discuss): a) to what degree, and in what ways, have individuals within the Latino community stepped forward to offer insights, information, assistance and leadership? b) how might the leadership capacity in the Latino community be developed? c) what could be done to bring youth into the development of programs, services, and extracurricular community engagement opportunities that could serve them (youth), and other members of the Latino community? d) how would you advertise, recruit, train, compensate and recognize members of the Latino community so that they might begin to assist organizations/entities designed to improve life for Latinos in Sussex County? 145 Appendix B Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Guatemala 146 Appendix C Source: Lopez, Bialik and Radford, 2018. Pew Research Center 147 Appendix C Source: https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_17 _1YR_B15002I&prodType=table 148 Appendix D Reported Income and Estimated Income Tax Contribution (US Census), pg. 1 149 Appendix D Reported Income and Estimated Income Tax Contribution, pg. 2 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2018 Estimated Federal, State, Fuel Tax Contribution by Income Level in Sussex County 200% Levels of Income 185% Relative to Federal Poverty Level: 165% Family of 4 38745 8859 8032 34961 7627 6800 Per Capita Average 130% Ssx Latino Income= 88% 100% Median Ssx Latino Income= 69% 41564 9808 8981 Take home pay 28215 5589 4762 88% 3344 2517 69% 2799 1972 0 10000 Total Contribution w Property Tax 22399 3868 3041 19598 Total Contribution 15768 20000 30000 40000 50000 Total dollars Estimated tax contribution is based on 2018 effective tax rates at each level of income. Sources: US Census Bureau, US Internal Revenue Service 150 Appendix D Reported Income and Estimated Income Tax Contribution, pg. 3 Income Level (% US FPL) 20% (lowest reported)-40% 40%-69% (Median) 69%-88% (Per Capita Ave.) 88%-100% 100%-130% 130%-165% 165%-185% 185%-200% 200%-260% Totals Estimated Sussex County Latino Population 3635 Estimated Income and Fuel Tax Contribution $4 mil. FICA/State 9175 $16.7 mil. $21.28 mil. 3155 $7.5 mil. $1.27m/ $300k $573k/$183k 461 1964 330 145 971 24 19860 $1.4 mil. $7.6 mil. $1.9 mil. $1 mil. $8.7 mil. $308,040 $49.1 mil. $100k/ $38k $580k/ $250k $145k/ $71k $76k/ $39k $665k/ $353k $23k/ $14k $3.7m/$1.26m $1.78 mil. $9.28 mil. $2.18 mil. $1.19 mil. $9.5 mil. $327,888 $60.2 mil. Contribution $300k/ $13k Estimated Tax Contribution incl. Property Tax $5.1 mil. $9.6 mil. 151 Appendix E Latino Enrollment in Sussex County Public School Districts 2010-2017, pg. 1 Cape Henlopen School District Latino Enrollment 2010-2017 Cape Henlopen/16-17 Cape Henlopen/15-16 Cape Henlopen/14-15 Cape Henlopen/13-14 Cape Henlopen/12-13 Cape Henlopen/11-12 Cape Henlopen/10-11 788 739 705 670 601 Latino Enrollment 441 422 0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0% 16.0% Delmar School District Latino Enrollment 2010-2017 Delmar/16-17 84 Delmar/15-16 79 Delmar/14-15 63 Delmar/13-14 57 Delmar/12-13 Latino Enrollment 59 Delmar/11-12 50 Delmar/10-11 40 0.0% 1.0% 2.0% 3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0% 7.0% Indian River School District Latino Enrollment 2010-2017 Indian River/16-17 3338 Indian River/15-16 3092 Indian River/14-15 2834 Indian River/13-14 2547 Indian River/12-13 Indian River/11-12 Indian River/10-11 0.0% Latino Enrollment 2305 2102 1766 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 30.0% 35.0% 152 Appendix E Latino Enrollment in Sussex County Public School Districts 2010-2017, pg. 2 Laurel School District Latino Enrollment 2010-2017 Laurel/16-17 Laurel/15-16 Laurel/14-15 Laurel/13-14 Laurel/12-13 Laurel/11-12 Laurel/10-11 300 255 231 196 185 176 Latino Enrollment 138 0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0% Milford School District Latino Enrollment 2010-2017 Milford/16-17 785 Milford/15-16 783 Milford/14-15 776 Milford/13-14 744 Milford/12-13 Latino Enrollment 726 Milford/11-12 602 Milford/10-11 576 0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% Seaford School District Latino Enrollment 2010-2017 Seaford/16-17 679 Seaford/15-16 594 565 Seaford/14-15 Seaford/13-14 512 Seaford/12-13 Seaford/11-12 467 Seaford/10-11 0.0% Latino Enrollment 487 382 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 153 Appendix E Latino Enrollment in Sussex County Public School Districts 2010-2017, pg. 3 Woodbridge School District Latino Enrollment 2010-2017 Woodbridge/16-17 562 Woodbridge/15-16 513 Woodbridge/14-15 474 Woodbridge/13-14 462 Woodbridge/12-13 Woodbridge/11-12 357 Woodbridge/10-11 0.0% Latino Enrollment 400 312 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0% 154 Appendix F DACA Eligibility (prior to 2017) 155 Appendix G Latino Educational Attainment by Gender in Sussex County, 2017 156 Appendix H Christian Population in Sussex County, Delaware Christian Population Total United Methodist Church 20,444 Catholic Church 12,164 Evangelical Denominations 11,441 Episcopal Church 2,119 Presbyterian Church 1,575 Christian Churches and Churches of Christ 858 Evangelical Lutheran Church 702 Church of the Nazarene 462 Assemblies of God 425 Independent, Charismatic Churches Denomination Seventh-Day Adventist Church *Non- 400 380 Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) 30 United Church of Christ 4 51,004 157 (Source: As Association of Religion Data Archives, collected by Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, collected by Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies) Appendix H-1 Directory of Churches located in Sussex County, Delaware (retrieved at https://delaware.hometownlocator.com) Church Name Location Church Tabernacle Ellendale Saint Matthews by the Sea United Methodist Church Sound Church Assawoman Bay Lincoln United Methodist Church Ellendale Little Union Baptist Church Ellendale Church of Christ Bethany Beach Ellendale Mariners Bethel United Methodist Church Saint Anns Catholic Church Bethany Beach Bethany Beach Metropolitan United Methodist Church Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church New Shiloh F B H Church of God Saint Martha's Episcopal Church Bethany Beach Oakley Church Ellendale Little Creek Church Delmar Philadelphia Pentecostal Holiness Church Solid Rock Church Ellendale The United Methodist Church Ellendale Union Church Ellendale Assawoman Bay Little Creek Primitive Baptist Church Delmar Ellendale Ellendale Ellendale Saint George Church Delmar Saint Stephen's United Methodist Church Union United Methodist Church Delmar Delmar Cool Spring Presbyterian Church Fairmount All Saints Church Delmar Fairmount Christian Tabernacle Ellendale Friendship United Methodist Church Indian Mission Church Fairmount 158 Israel Church Fairmount Harmony Church Frankford Long Neck Church Fairmount Millsboro Church Frankford Midway Asembly of God Church Fairmount Morning Star Church Frankford Midway Baptist Church Fairmount Mornings Star Church Frankford Midway Church Fairmount Mother Mary of Peace Church Frankford Midway Presbyterian Church Fairmount Prince Georges Chapel Frankford Saint Georges Church Fairmount Frankford Seventh Day Adventist Church Fairmount Saint Georges United Methodist Church Trinity Church Bible Church Frankford Frankford Bible Church Frankford Blackwater Church Frankford Blackwater Fellowship Church Frankford Union Wesley United Methodist Church Antioch African Methodist Episcopal Church Bethel United Methodist Church Christ Church Frankford Christian Healing Center Georgetown Church of Christ Frankford Georgetown Church of Open Door Frankford Cokesbury United Methodist Church First Baptist Church Church of the Open Door Frankford Hebron Church Georgetown Community Church Frankford McColley Church Georgetown Community Church Frankford Missionary Baptist Church Georgetown Frankford United Methodist Church Frankford Frankford Frankford Frankford Georgetown 159 Old Paths Church of Christ Georgetown Kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses New Saint Johns Church Harbeson Prospect African Methodist Episcopal Church Providence Church Georgetown Georgetown Saint Johns Church Harbeson Saint Marys Holy Church Georgetown Harbeson Saint Pauls Church Georgetown Saint Johns United Methodist Church Saint Peters Friends Church Wesleyan Church Georgetown Sand Hill Church Harbeson St. Michael the Archangel & Mary Mother of Peace Abundant Life Church Georgetown The Apostolic Church Harbeson Harbeson Asbury United Methodist Church Georgetown Triumph of the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ Zoar Church Graham African Methodist Episcopal Church Greenwood Mennonite Church Greenwood All Faith Chapel Harbeson Greenwood Apostolic Faith Church Harbeson Greenwood United Methodist Church Hickory Ridge Greenwood Apostolics of Georgetown Harbeson Bethesda Church Harbeson Saint Johnstown Church Greenwood Mount Hermon Hebron The House of God Church Greenwood Hebron Tressler Mennonite Church Greenwood United Assembly of Christ Church Greenwood Mount Hermon United Methodist Church Mount Nebo Methodist Episcopal Church Saint Marks Episcopal Church Georgetown Greenwood Harbeson Harbeson Harbeson Hebron Hebron 160 Epworth Church Hickman Saint Phillips Church Laurel Trinity United Methodist Church Hickman Seventh Day Adventist Church Laurel Centenary United Methodist Church Christ Evangelical Church Laurel Shiloh Church Laurel United Deliverance Bible Center Laurel Christ Evangelistic Church Laurel Laurel Church of God of Prophecy Laurel Woodland United Methodist Church Bethel United Methodist Church First Baptist Church of Laurel Laurel Burtons Chapel Lewes Harvest Christian Church Laurel First Baptist Church of Lewes Lewes Kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses Kings Church Laurel Friendship Church Lewes Groome United Methodist Church Lewes Laurel Baptist Church Laurel Lewes Presbyterian Church Lewes Living Water Church Laurel Saint Jude the Apostle Church Lewes Mount Zion United Methodist Church New Zion United Methodist Church Laurel Saint Peters Church Lewes Whites Chapel Lewes Bethel United Methodist Church Lewes Saint Matthews First Baptist Church Laurel Calvary Methodist Church Milford Saint Matthews First Baptist Church Laurel Faith Baptist Church Milford Saint Pauls United Methodist Church Laurel First Baptist Church Milford Laurel Laurel Laurel Laurel 161 First Church of Christ Scientist Milford Wesleyan Church Millsboro Milford Church of Christ Milford West Woods Church Millsboro Pilgrim Wesleyan Church Milford Full Gospel Holiness Church Milton Reformation Lutheran Church Milford Goshen United Methodist Church Milton Saint Johns Catholic Church Milford Grace Church Milton Carey Church Millsboro Landmark Baptist Tabernacle Milton Dagsboro Church Millsboro Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church Milton Dagsboro Church of Christ Millsboro Siloam Church Milton Dagsboro Church of God Millsboro Slaughter Neck Church Milton Dickerson Chapel American Methodist Episcopal Church Grace United Methodist Church Millsboro Solid Rock Holiness Church Milton Wesley Chapel Milton Hickory Hill Church Millsboro Zion Church Milton New Holy Trinity Church of God in Christ Old Field Church Millsboro Cedar Neck United Methodist Church Line Church Mispillion River Pentecostal Church of God Millsboro Epworth United Methodist Church Rehoboth Beach Pentecostal Holiness Church Millsboro First Church of Christ Rehoboth Beach Saint Luke Baptist Church Millsboro Lutheran Church of Our Savior Rehoboth Beach Saint Marks Church Millsboro Religious Society of Friends Rehoboth Beach Millsboro Millsboro Pittsville 162 Shrine of Saint Jude Catholic Church Westminster Presbyterian Church Rehoboth Beach All Saints Church Rehoboth Beach Bridgeville Church of God Seaford East C H Foggie American Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Cannon Mennonite Church Seaford East Cannon United Methodist Church Seaford East Cathedral of the Faith Seaford East Chaplins Chapel Seaford East Christ Lutheran Church Seaford East Christian Church Seaford East Church of God of Prophesy Seaford East Church of the Nazarine Seaford East Concord Methodist Church Seaford East First Baptist Church Seaford East Whole Truth Temple Church of God Seaford East in Christ Williams Chapel Seaford East Greater Faith Temple Church of God in Christ Holy Temple Church Seaford East Church of the Nazarene Seaford West Gethsemane United Methodist Church Grace Baptist Church Seaford West Rehoboth Beach Seaford East Seaford East Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal Church Mount Calvary American Methodist Episcopal Church Mount Calvary United Methodist Church Saint Edmonds Catholic Church Seaford East Saint Johns United Methodist Church Saint Lukes Church Seaford East Saint Marys Church Seaford East Seaford Christian Church Seaford East Seaford Church of Christ Seaford East Seaford Presbyterian Church Seaford East Solid Rock Apostolic Church Seaford East Union United Methodist Church Seaford East Seaford East Seaford East Seaford East Seaford East Seaford West 163 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Wesley Church Seaford West Mount Olivet Church Trap Pond Seaford West Trap Pond Atlanta Road Alliance Church Seaford West Saint John American Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Saint Thomas Church Bethel Church Seaford West Trinity Church Trap Pond Roxana Methodist Church Selbyville Roxana Wesleyan Church Selbyville Bethany Church Trap Pond Thessalonia Baptist Church Selbyville Bethesda Church Trap Pond Zoar Methodist Church Selbyville Calvary Wesleyan Church Whaleyville Assembly of God Church Selbyville Gumboro Fellowship Church Whaleyville Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church Portsville Church Sharptown Gumboro United Methodist Church Whaleyville Bethel United Methodist Church Whaleyville Portsville United Methodist Church Sharptown Woodland United Methodist Church Epworth Church Sharptown Epworth Fellowship Church Trap Pond Little Hill Church Trap Pond Sharptown Trap Pond Trap Pond 164 Appendix I Latino-Serving Nonprofits and Public Agencies (Source: Arsht-Cannon Fund) Organization National Alliance for Mental Illness NAMI-DE Family Counseling Center of St. Paul’s People’s Place 2 Abriendo Puertas Sussex County Health Coalition Delaware Guidance Services Survivors of Abuse and Recovery SOAR La Red Healthcare Westside Healthcare University of Delaware, Geography/CCRS Delaware Campaign for Achievement Now CAN Summer Learning Collaborative/Social Contract La Esperanza Community Center Delaware Breast Cancer Coalition Sussex County STEM Alliance Delaware Family Voices Autism Delaware Parent Information Center of Delaware Delaware Readiness Team Primeros Pasos State Department of Education (teachers, staff, administrators) TeenSHARP Sussex Tech Adult Education ESL Lutheran Church of Our Savior ESL Delaware Community Foundation Arsht-Cannon Fund Delaware Health and Social Services 4-H Cooperative Extension University of DE Telemon Delaware Community Legal Aid Society, Inc Boys and Girls Club La Casita Afterschool Program First State Community Action Agency Delaware Coalition against Domestic Violence Christiana Cares Cancer Center Community Outreach and Education Center Location/Association Statewide, La Colectiva network member Wilmington Milford, La Colectiva network member Sussex County, La Colectiva network member Statewide Statewide Kent and Sussex Counties, La Colectiva network member Statewide Statewide, La Colectiva network member Statewide, La Colectiva network member Statewide, La Colectiva network member Georgetown, La Colectiva network member Statewide Sussex County Statewide Statewide Statewide Statewide Sussex County Statewide Sussex County Sussex County Sussex County Statewide, La Colectiva network member Statewide, La Colectiva network member Statewide Statewide Sussex County Statewide Sussex County Georgetown Sussex County Statewide Statewide 165 Appendix J Findings from 2018 Sussex County Health Coalition Survey, pg 1 166 Appendix J Findings from 2018 Sussex County Health Coalition Survey, pg 2 167 Findings from 2018 Sussex County Health Coalition Survey, pg 3 168 Appendix K Continuum of Immigration Status (Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, USC) 169 Appendix L DART Transit Maps 170 171 Appendix M Projected Occupations in Delaware and Sussex County Establishments by NAICS Type, pg. 1 172 Appendix M Occupations in Delaware (projected) and Sussex County Establishments by NAICS Type, pg. 2 173 Appendix M Occupations in Delaware (projected) and Sussex County Establishments by NAICS Type, pg. 3 174 The full study and executive summary are available at delcf.org/sussex-latinos. For more information about the Delaware Community Foundation, contact us at info@delcf.org or 302.571.8004.