Maine's Growing Hispanic Community Takes Root

[Harold Schiffman]

Maine's Growing Hispanic Community Takes Root
April 23, 2009     Reported By:  Josie Huang

The estimated ten to twelve thousand Latino migrant workers in Maine
every year contribute greatly to the agricultural industry, be it
raking blueberries, picking apples and making Christmas wreathes.  But
a  report issued today in Augusta by the Maine Center for Economic
Policy points out that Hispanic workers contribute much more to the
state's economy.



" We are not all migrant workers," says Juan Perez-Febles, Director of
the state Labor Department's migrant division and a board member of
the Maine Center on Economic Policy. He emigrated from Cuba more than
30 years ago. "We are people that have an education, we are people
that are intelligent. We are capable of owning a business, doing brain
surgery and many other things."

Latinos account for just 1.2 percent of the state's population, just
shy of 16,000 people. But the report's authors point out that
Hispanics as a group have grown by 67 percent between 2000 and 2007,
compared to just over 3 percent for the general population.

Nicole Witherbee, one of the authors of the report, says that
Hispanics will become an increasingly vital part of the economy for
Maine. The average Hispanic worker in Maine, for example, is under age
27, compared to the general population, for which the average age is
just over 42.

And that will be crucial, she says, as Maine ages and loses its young
people to other states. "There will come a time--- it doesn't seem
like it now, when we have such high rates of unemployment -- but there
will come a time when we will have work shortages in this state, and
this is one place -- one of many places -- where the Latino population
will benefit Maine."

It's not clear what percentage of Maine's Hispanic population lives
here year-round, and how many are seasonal workers. The Census numbers
represent just a snapshot in time, and may be even higher because
undocumented workers tend to shy away from being counted.

But those behind the report say they believe a majority of Latinos are
permanent residents of Maine. And that among them is an expanding
professional class with people like Bianca Soto, who has a master's
degree in agricultural education. "I moved to Maine in September 2007
-- almost two years."

Soto and her husband emigrated from Puerto Rico to Skowhegan, where
she works as a soil conservationist with the federal Natural Resource
Conservation Service.  "I'm going to stay because I like my work, and,
yes, I would like to continue because this is a quiet place to live
and very healthy and I like the people."

Soto has been able to pursue the profession she studied in college.
But other Hispanic immigrants, who may have been skilled
professionals, such as nurses and teachers, in their home country, end
up as line cooks and cab drivers.  "Because the certificate is
different, because the license is different, they're unable to
practice, and often these are in industires where we have shortages
and need people. So it make sense that we work with universities and
business to help fast-track people through those programs."

That would go a long way toward helping families like Roberto Rios'.
He and his siblings immigrated from Peru to the states earlier this
decade, and moved to Maine. "My brother is an engineer, a computer
engineer and now he's working baking doughnuts in South Portland. And
my sister is a lawyer working in a restaurant, cooking."

Rios says that most of the Latino workers he knows in greater Portland
are employed in restaurants or factories. "We choose to come to
America and we have to follow the things that are here.  If we don't
speak the langauge we have to do these kind of things. But if we speak
the language, we can follow our career, professional or whatever. "

Rios, who is 28, says he is holding three jobs. He works as an agent
for All State Insurance, and in the distribution center of the
Portland Press Herald. He is also founder and editor of a monthly
Spanish-language paper called Maine Latino.

It receives funding  from a group called Centro Latino. The Maine
Center on Economic Policy recommends more investing in programs that
promote entrepreneurship within the Hispanic community, which has
already seen gains.  In 2002, there were 730 Hispanic-owned
businesses, generating $113 million in revenue -- a 117 percent
increase from five years earlier.

  http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNews/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/1858/ItemId/10231/Default.aspx

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