By Chris Echegaray, The Tennessean
With Tennessee experiencing a 134 percent growth in its Hispanic population over the past decade, state leaders are calling for more bilingual professionals, including teachers, to help integrate the burgeoning group into society.
"Public schools need Latino teachers," panelist Gera Summerford, president of the Tennessee Education Association, said at Thursday's Tennessee Hispanic Census Summit.
"It's a great challenge with the number of children coming into the school system," she added.
Universities are hiring bilingual counselors and are marketing toward Latino families to help the underrepresented group, panelists said at the summit at Trevecca Nazarene University.
The Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce held the summit to address the impact of the population boom on the state's health-care services, education and businesses. More than 100 people attended the conference.
New census figures show Tennessee had the third-fastest Hispanic population growth from 2000 to 2010, with the number reaching 290,000. Davidson, Williamson and Rutherford counties reflect the trend.
It's unknown how many undocumented immigrants are in Tennessee, with estimates ranging from 90,000 to 150,000, said keynote speaker Mark Lopez, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington.
Lopez went over the demographic changes noted in recently released census data.
Almost one in 10 Davidson County residents is Hispanic, up from fewer than one in 20 a decade ago. Davidson gained more Hispanic residents than any other county in the state, accounting for almost two-thirds of its overall population growth.
The Hispanic population more than doubled in every county bordering Davidson as well. School districts are reflecting this growth, with 108,000 Hispanics under 18.
With economic and immigration issues, education leaders are facing a dilemma on how Hispanic students will finish school or continue their education.
Claude Pressnell Jr., president of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, said there is a continuing movement by private universities to help undocumented students gain admission.
But many educators were relying on the passage of the DREAM Act, which would have allowed undocumented students to get financial aid and access to other services to help them go to college. That federal legislation is unlikely to pass the current Congress.
"It's a tremendous loss because as a society we've supported their education from K to 12 and then we're going to ask them to leave," Pressnell said. "It's a tragedy. We have to find a solution."
Health-care issues
Health-care advocates saw the rise in the population and worked to get more representation for the Hispanic community.
Paul Juarez, vice chair of Meharry Medical College's department of family and community medicine, said Nashville General Hospital has hired bilingual nurses and doctors because they increasingly see Hispanic patients.
At Siloam Family Health Center, Jina Hawk, a nurse practitioner, said 42 percent to 48 percent of foreign-born patients are Hispanic.
With the rise in the Hispanic population, more also are living in poverty, said Katharine Donato, chairwoman of the department of sociology at Vanderbilt University.
Thirty-eight percent of Nashville's foreign-born Hispanic population lives in poverty, she said during her presentation at Thursday's summit.
Over time, Donato said, the poverty numbers should decline as Hispanics gain stable jobs.
But for now, many Hispanic men and women are working multiple jobs to support their families, she said.
Donato compared the situation for Hispanics in Tennessee to what Italian immigrants went through here in the early 1900s. Many worked hard while living in less than pristine conditions before they were able to climb the socio-economic ladder.
As Hispanic families settle in, they need more access to financial institutions, said Renata Soto, executive director of Conexion Americas, which helps Latino families in Middle Tennessee. Many families she deals with don't have bank accounts.
In 2006, there were 100 Hispanics who gained home ownership through her program. Last year, there were just 13 because of the bad economy.
Hispanics are grappling with economic and social development issues as their population grows.
"They are making roots in communities," Soto told the audience.
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