Racial Wealth Divide in South Bend_ProsperityNow_Final_Rev

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For more information, visit www.prosperitynow.org The Racial Wealth Divide in South Bend For more information, visit www.prosperitynow.orgSEPTEMBER 20176 BACHELOR’s DEGREE OR HIGHER UNEMPLOYMENT RATE POPULATION CHANGE OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS Only 6% of Latino adults in South Bend finish a Bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 18% of White adults Like many Rust Belt cities, South Bend has seen significant population losses over the past 50 years. Understanding a city’s population trends and historical migratory patterns can help us better understand the economic development needed to addresses today’s residents. Before the 1960s, South Bend was a city both European immigrants and African Americans came to in large numbers looking for work. It was around the 1950s that the city began to hit its peak population. By the 1960s, South Bend had 132,445 residents, up from just 36,000 in 1900. The population began to decline in the 1970s and this decline continued until just recently. Despite South Bend’s shrinking population overall, the Hispanic population has grown significantly over the last 30 years. Hispanics represented only three percent of the population, about 3,000 individuals in 1990, but this number grew to eight percent by the year 2000. Today, Hispanics represent about 14% of the population or almost 14,000 individuals. The unemployment rate for Latino households in South Bend is more than 2X the rate for White households. 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 150,000 POPULATION 120,000 90,000 60,000 30,000 35,999 53,684 70,983 104,193 101,268 115,911 132,445 125,850 109,727 105,511 107,789 101,166 + + + + + + +- - ----- +-Increase in Population Decrease in Population Source: “Latino Immigrants in South Bend: student research series.” Tavarez, Kimberly; Jenna Adsit; Emilie Prot. ILS Volume 1 Issue 1 Feb. 2008.