Amina Nur is still learning English, but the words come quickly when she describes what she likes about living in St. Cloud.
There’s healthful food for her children, good schools, a house, medical care and help from the community, says the widowed mother of five. Nur was born in Somalia and lived in Yemen for 16 years before coming to the United States.
“I’m very happy in America,” she said during a break from classes at Hands Across the World, a St. Cloud nonprofit that offers classes in English and living skills to help recent immigrants adapt to their new home.
Nur and other refugees from the African nations of Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia have helped change the face of the St. Cloud area in the past decade.
Although it remains a largely homogeneous community, St. Cloud became much more racially diverse during the last decade. That’s according to data released last month from Census 2010, which provided the most in-depth and accurate breakdown of the country’s racial and ethnic makeup since 2000.
Like the rest of the United States, St. Cloud saw its population change with growth in the number of African-American and Asian-American residents. Racial minorities now make up almost 9 percent of the population in the St. Cloud metropolitan statistical area, which includes Stearns and Benton counties, up from about 4 percent in 2000.
That is roughly the same as Mankato and Duluth-Superior, but less diverse than the Twin Cities, Fargo-Moorhead and Rochester.
“We’re right on track with all the others,” said Matt Glaesman, St. Cloud’s planning director. “In fact, we’re probably one of the lower ones in terms of amount of diversity.”
The changing demographics reflect the growing diversity of the state as a whole. Minnesota’s African-American population grew by almost 60 percent from 2000 to 2010 and now makes up 5.2 percent of the overall population. The number of white residents grew by less than 3 percent.
The number of African-Americans living in St. Cloud and the adjoining cities of Sauk Rapids, Waite Park and Sartell swelled from 1,535 a decade ago to 5,882 in last year’s census. That’s an increase of 283 percent.
Those cities’ Asian-American population also increased by 35 percent to more than 3,000 people. Those who listed two or more races on their census form more than doubled, to 2,254 people.
Some of the St. Cloud area’s growing diversity can be attributed to refugees from Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia. However, it’s difficult to know exactly how many are African-born because the census form Americans filled out in 2010 asked only about each household member’s race and ethnicity, not about immigration status, country of origin or date of entry into the United States.
Those questions are asked as part of the American Community Survey. Data from the 2010 ACS survey will be released in September.
Attractive town
St. Cloud’s changing makeup has been a long, slow process, said Gary Loch, who teaches diversity and social justice at St. Cloud Technical & Community College.
“There is no place that has stayed as true to its pioneer roots,” he said.
Still, it’s not surprising that as the rest of the country grows more diverse, St. Cloud would, too, Loch said. People are looking for the safety and good schools that a smaller community provides, he said.
“It makes sense that people want to come to St. Cloud,” Loch said. “Not everyone was meant to live in a big city.”
Some are questioning the accuracy of the census numbers. Somali leaders have often used an estimate of about 10,000 Somalis living in the St. Cloud area.
Ismail Ali, a Somali elder who works for the St. Cloud school district, said he still thinks that number is a good estimate. Ali said he sees two or three Somali families every week who are coming from other parts of the country. He believes some Somalis were missed during the census count.
Despite the difficult economy, St. Cloud continues to draw refugees because housing is relatively inexpensive compared with other areas, Ali said. Many people are coming because they already have family here, he said.
Sudan-born Nyakong Tongyik arrived a year ago from Ethiopia to join her husband, who was already living and working in St. Cloud. They have a young daughter.
Tongyik is taking English classes and hopes to go to college. It’s a better life than in her war-torn homeland, she said.
39 languages
More evidence of the community’s growing diversity is the growth of the St. Cloud school district’s English Learners program. The number of students in EL classes — for whom English is not their native language — has increased steadily almost every year and last year was more than 10 percent of the district’s total student body, said Natalie Prasch, the program’s coordinator.
There are a total of 39 languages spoken with the district, she said. The most common languages spoken by EL students are Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Prasch doesn’t have final numbers of EL students yet for this school year, but she expects it will be higher than last year.
“We are just continuing to grow,” she said.
Amy Weston has seen more African-American families participating in her nonprofit, Diversity Thru Colors, which began in 2003 as a swimming program for at-risk youth. It grew to include boxing, fitness programs and basketball as well as an annual picnic.
Weston attributes that to good word-of-mouth about the program within the African-American community. But while the programs used to draw youths from a mix of racial backgrounds, 95 percent were African-American this year. Weston said racial stereotypes have kept some families from participating.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the stereotypes are holding over,” she said.
Weston said she’d like to see the city of St. Cloud provide support to community-building programs and make sure to include communities of color in special events such as the Summertime by George! concert and festival series.
Loch sees St. Cloud’s growing diversity as positive. He points to the Somali-owned stores and restaurants that have opened in recent years. His own students now reflect myriad backgrounds.
“Those are the benefit that will really enrich our community,” Loch said. “Every classroom now has a person who can talk about the world in a different way.”
Source: The Saint Cloud Times
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