More minorities calling Las Vegas Valley home

By Timothy Pratt

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2003 | 9:22 a.m.

Growing numbers of minorities continue to call the Las Vegas Valley home, placing Clark County high in national rankings for a period totaling a little over two years ending in July 2002, according to a Census Bureau report issued today.

The report has far-reaching implications for the valley's economic, political, social and cultural character, Tony Sanchez, president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, said.

Sanchez said the valley's changing population brings with it changes in schools, churches, shopping centers and advertising.

"When you have different communities moving in with such high numbers, you get a cluster of support services to meet their needs," he said.

The county and state ranked particularly high in numbers of Hispanics, the report shows. From April 2000 to July 2002, an estimated 68,720 Hispanics were born in or came to Nevada, ranking the state 10th nationwide in that category, Robert Bernstein, Census Bureau spokesman, said. That increase represented a 17 percent rate of growth, ranking the state second nationwide after Georgia, he said.

Of those Hispanics, 58,887 were born in or moved to Clark County during the period, ranking the county 11th nationwide among counties with more than 100,000 residents.

The county didn't rank among the top 30 for rate of growth when it came to Hispanics, however -- and the same pattern was shown for the county's Asians, blacks, and Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders.

Each group ranked relatively high nationally when it came to numbers, but not in terms of rate of growth.

This was different from years past, showing that Southern Nevada's total population -- estimated at 1.46 million -- had grown so much that increasing the numbers for any one group doesn't represent as high a rate of increase as it once did, State Demographer Jeff Hardcastle said.

"This reflects the maturing of Southern Nevada's population base," Hardcastle said.

This diversity is shown by an estimated increase of nearly 11,000 Asians during the period, 24th nationwide; nearly 12,000 blacks, 21st nationwide; and 1,480 Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, eighth nationwide.

Increasing numbers for each group will also affect politics in Southern Nevada, Sanchez said.

"This will make for a more diverse and sophisticated political system, with more candidates of color as well as nonminority candidates reaching into minority communities and forming coalitions in order to get elected," he said.

Sanchez also said the numbers for minorities in the valley can be attributed to the same thing as increasing numbers for the population in general -- jobs.

"It's all a reflection of economics -- the word has been out for some time ... that we have jobs, relatively low cost of living and so it's a trend that will continue," he said.