Thursday, July 24, 2003

Fairfax demographer Anne P. Cahill recently spoke to the Falls Church Community Services Council about the county's diversity, which inspired Nick Snow, the organization's secretary, to write this column.

At first, the numbers seem daunting. Nearly a quarter of Fairfax County's population in 2000 was born outside the United States, compared with 15.6 percent in 1990. Schools say they must deal with more than 100 national and ethnic groups. Even children born in this country come to school not equipped to speak English, although many of their families are well educated. Parents and children may speak English in public, but about a third of the county's households use a different language in their homes.

The information came from Anne P. Cahill, who heads the county's office that studies demographics and land use. She helped conduct a community assessment with the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church and described the findings from the assessment and those of the 2000 Census to the Falls Church Community Services Council, an organization of 16 churches and other faith communities (www.fccsconline.org).

Cahill said that foreign-born residents live throughout the county, although there are areas of heavy concentration.

The local region differs from the United States in general, because half of the region's foreign-born residents were born on the Asian continent, including the Middle East.

In contrast, only a quarter of the nation's foreign-born population was born in Asia but over half were born in Latin America. Among Fairfax-Falls Church residents born in Asia, Koreans have the largest single share at 19 percent.

About a third of Fairfax County's foreign-born residents come from Latin America. Within that group, a third were born in El Salvador and 11 percent each from Bolivia and Peru. No other Latin American country contributes more than 7.5 percent, Cahill said.

She also reported that most immigrant families consider Fairfax County home. They like its schools, parks, neighborhoods and other aspects of living here. In a study of eight immigrant and refugee communities, Cahill said that one of the biggest surprises was that 80 percent of the surveyed households would be willing to become volunteers -- significantly more than what most schools discover when they try to get foreign-born parents to become members of the Parent-Teacher Association.

One theory is that many of these immigrants were raised to treat teachers as highly respected professionals and are uncomfortable with the partnership and/or stewardship role that parents have in American culture. They quickly come forward, however, when invited to help a school recognize or pay tribute publicly to its teachers and administrators.

These people live in an area that has grown more affluent. Fairfax County's median household income rose 36.7 percent to $81,050 in 1999 from $59,284 in 1989.

During the same 10 years, the city of Falls Church's median household income climbed 46.9 percent to $74,924 from $51,011, while that in Fairfax City increased 32.9 percent to $67,642 from $50,913. The county's percentage of home ownership in 2000 (74.4 percent) was higher than both the national rate (67.4 percent) and the rates in the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church (69.8 and 61.2 percent, respectively).

Cahill said that from 1990 through 1998, household income actually grew more quickly than housing prices, which were relatively flat during that time. Since then, however, housing prices have taken off. Today, rents for a two-bedroom apartment in privately owned complexes in Fairfax County average $1,222 a month.

Approximately 2,000 homeless people live in the county. But many more, who are paying half of their monthly income for housing and related expenses, are at risk of becoming homeless, according to Cahill. The 2000 Community Assessment found that 5 percent of the total households in Fairfax County paid more than 50 percent of their income toward housing costs, 7.7 percent in the city of Falls Church and 4.5 percent in Fairfax City.

Not all of these "at-risk" families live in low-income housing. "Some at-risk households live in expensive neighborhoods," Cahill said. "For example, a couple might have moved here during the 1990s with a high-paying job but were caught in the recent downsizing and now are struggling to make ends meet." From the assessment, Fairfax County's demographer found that during 2000, 18.4 percent of the households in Fairfax City ran out of money for housing, utilities, food or medicine, compared with 14.3 percent in Fairfax County and 12.5 percent in Falls Church.

The area has not escaped the nationwide economic downturn. Requests for public assistance have increased. But in every group, households having difficulty meeting basic needs generally have turned to family and friends for help or increased personal debt before approaching a government agency, Cahill said.

She found a receptive audience at the community services council. The council runs meals-on-wheels and transportation programs in and around Falls Church. Its food pantry operates out of the basement of Knox Presbyterian Church. Volunteers from Dulin United Methodist Church are the main force behind a homeless shelter that is operated in the city of Falls Church each winter. The council provides crews to pick up, repair and deliver furniture on most Saturday mornings.

Every one of them already realizes what Cahill's community profile shows: Diversity doesn't necessarily have to lead to differences.

For more information about Fairfax County's community profile, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/aboutfairfax or call the demographic and economic information line at 703-324-4519.

© 2003