BRONX DOMINICANS feel they don’t have adequate access to health care and other public services, many don’t trust their local government and others feel conflicted about having their children identify as “American.”
Those are a few findings from the first comprehensive study of Dominicans and Dominican-Americans living in the Bronx and Manhattan, a steadily growing group in both boroughs.
The new study by the City University of New York‘s Dominican Studies Institute is based on interviews with more than 600 Bronx and Washington Heights residents.
“Almost 40% of Dominican people today residing in New York live in the Bronx,” said Ramona Hernandez, lead researcher at CUNY, compared with 28% in Manhattan, and 16% each in Brooklyn and Queens. About 730,000 Dominicans lived in New York in 2008, compared with 125,000 in 1980.
“This is the very first time this has been done, so you now have views of not only Dominicans who are immigrants, but also those who are second-generation,” Hernandez said.
The study found that while about 95% of those surveyed want their children to learn both English and Spanish, only 68% want them to see themselves as “American.”
“You have a Dominican population very rooted here, that continues to call itself Dominican but is not planning to move back home permanently,” she said.
Focusing on politics, 92% said they have not participated in political campaigns.
But with more elected officials of Dominican descent like Assemblyman Nelson Castro (D-Morris Heights), the voices of a growing minority population will be better heard.
“In my district, the Dominicans are maybe the largest minority community,” said Castro. “Dominicans are proposing redistricting to combine Washington Heights and Morris Heights into one senatorial district, which might mean more people come out and vote and participate.”
Castro added that studies like this are helpful in shaping public policy and making political decisions.
“If there was something like that for the West African community, I’d know the issues we should be addressing for them,” he said. “This is definitely helpful when it comes to budgeting and supervising social services.”
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