Introduction

In the United States today, there exists a lively conversation about the participation of Latinos/as in the civic life of US cities. Yet relatively little is known empirically about the nature of this participation, changes underway in urban areas, or the differences and similarities in Latinos/as' participation in diverse regions of the country. Greater knowledge about the civic and place engagement of Latinos/as in US cities is critical to questions facing us as a nation. Do immigrants constitute a net benefit or a net drain on our society? Do the foreign-born participate civically at lesser rates than native-born, or is the nature of their civic presence simply different? Do pan-ethnic labels, such as ‘Latino' or ‘Hispanic', truly find resonance in how people identify themselves, and if so, does this identification translate into civic action? How do people come to belong, or conversely to feel shut out, at the different scales of neighborhood, city, and country?

An interdisciplinary team of researchers set out to address the need for more, and comparative, information about Latinos/as and their civic participation.

Project

The project investigates Latino neighborhoods in transition in three cities -- Miami, Chicago, and Phoenix. Our goal is to examine urban areas that have significant Latino populations yet places that have not received comparable scrutiny by other researchers. Chicago and Miami are considered established Latino metros with 1.4 and 1.3 million Latinos respectively while Phoenix is referred to as a fast-growing Latino hub where Latino growth soared 261 percent between 1980 and 2000.

The selection of three cities in three varied regions of the country enables our research to evaluate cities where the Latino population is predominantly Mexican ancestry -- Chicago and Phoenix -- and also Miami where the Latino population is composed of mixed Caribbean (Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican), Central American (Nicaraguan, Honduran) and South American (Colombian) national ancestry groups.

We selected neighborhoods that are proximate to central city downtowns because previous research has suggested that these locations are experiencing rapid social change resulting from the processes of immigration and gentrification. Each study site -- Little Havana in Miami, Pilsen in Chicago, and Garfield in Phoenix -- is a neighborhood in transition where largely Latino populations are being impacted by changes in their respective urban cores. In these neighborhoods, there are Latino residents who have deep roots in the community as well as Latino immigrants who are more recent arrivals. Three sets of data have been collected at each site: household surveys, interviews, and focus groups.

The mix of regional Latino concentrations at varied study sites across the country combined with diverse Latino ancestry and generational population groups at those sites allows us to measure issues of civic and place engagement for a broad range of urban Latinos who face significant social and economic changes in their places of residence.

Researchers

The research team is composed of six academic researchers whose expertise spans the fields of Political Science, Geography, and Anthropology. The researchers are affiliated with Arizona State University, the University of Illinois Chicago, Notre Dame, and Florida International University.

Arizona State University Project staff include Co-Directors Daniel D. Arreola and Christopher Lukinbeal, School of Geographical Sciences; and Graduate Research Assistants Jennifer Peters, Natalie Lopez, School of Geographical Sciences; Diane Meneses, Department of History, and Yolanda Chavez-Capellini, Department of Foreign Languages.

Funding

The project is funded by the National Science Foundation's Human and Social Dynamics crosscutting program under Award No. 433947. A supplemental Research Experience for Undergraduates component was also funded by the National Science Foundation, under Award No. 0506894. Arizona State University funding is $198, 947 and extended from 2005-2007.