Community groups use Census data to help serve Hispanic community

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Recently released Census data shows an explosion of growth in Mecklenburg County’s Hispanic community.

The Census was released on Thursday and it shows the Hispanic community grew by more than 50 percent over the last 10 years.

And now community groups are going through the data to see the ways this could affect everything from housing, to infrastructure and politics.

One of those community groups is the Camino Community Center. They say this explosion in growth didn’t surprise them, they’ve known that the Latino community has grown in the last 10 years.

They say now that they have the data, they can use it to continue to supports the needs of the community.

The Hispanic population increased by 52 percent from 2010 to 2020. That’s compared to the 17 percent rise in Black residents, 7 percent growth in white and 70 percent increase in Asian residents.

“This thriving economy that Charlotte has attracts a lot of hard-working Hispanics and Latinos to come and get their shot at the American dream here,’ said Lennin Caro, a research assistant for the Camino Center.

He says having a larger population means they have more say when it comes to politics, education, policy, housing and more.

“We’re becoming a more representative population of North Carolina. And naturally that should transfer over, it gives us a bigger voice on politics and things like that,” he said. “Here at Camino we think it’s’ important to bring the Latino community together as a population and talk about what should we be advocating for.”

But that’s not where the Camino Center stops. Caro says the next steps are looking even closer into data focused on the Latino and Hispanic populations.

“More data is still needed. For example, do they feel like they’re getting the medical care they need, is it in a language they can get,” he asked.

That’s why the Camino research center plans to do its own type of Census in September. They are going to survey the thousands of people they help every year to find out what the real needs are in the community.

“We’re going to be doing our own Latino needs assessment survey this coming September and hopefully the results of the survey will help us get a better idea of what do they need in terms of of education, in terms of work programs, in terms of medical care, things like that,” he said.

Copyright 2021 WBTV. All rights reserved.