Lehigh Valley- is it more diversity-tolerant or diversity-friendly? (Allentown, Reading: low income, 2013)

[Kalisetsi]

I am looking at the Lehigh Valley as a potential match for my family and I. I do have one concern about the area and I'm hoping for some insight. I'm trying to get a feel for how insular it is, how open it is to potentially accepting "outsiders," and specifically how much it matters if people are different/look different?

I wouldn't bother to ask if it was just my husband and I, but with two small children and having to be involved with other families throughout school years, I can't afford to treat this as a secondary issue. I don't really care about anyone's politics or where they worship, what they believe, as far as I'm concerned to each his own and I don't expect people to be or think like I do - nor do I think that friendship or neighborliness is contingent on having like minds.

There is nothing worse that watching your child's face as he tries to understand why all the parents round up their kids and leave when we get to the playground. Our neighbors do this too. My kids are 4 and 2. To clarify, they neither look like nor behave like monsters. Last year I had a birthday party for my son and invited his whole preschool class because I didn't want anyone's feelings to be hurt. I had to rent chairs to be ready to accommodate kids and their parents, plus all the food, party favors, etc. One person RSVP'd, one person (thankfully) showed up, the others just didn't care. My son was just about crushed when no one came. Obviously, as a parent it kills me to see my children be hurt like this, and there's nothing I can do about it.

Needless to say, I don't want to buy a home somewhere where I can expect more of the same. I look white, my husband looks like a big Hawaiian (he's Native American from Long Island, NY). My children are both brown skinned. Does anyone have any idea what I should expect from the Lehigh Valley area? Could they be accepted, would they be welcomed to their classmates' homes, would they be excluded? Would they be merely "tolerated," (perhaps not bullied or called bad names, but otherwise entirely overlooked)?

Please let me know. My family isn't white (assuming that is the default, "non-diverse" norm?) but we don't want to be around shady-types of people either! I would love for my kids to know people from all over (not just black/white but from everywhere around the world). I realize that is not Lehigh Valley based on demographics, but still I'm looking at it based on other factors. We want to hunt, raise animals, play sports, have privacy, enjoy good schools and the great outdoors, and be able to travel on the weekends. We want to live like anyone else and enjoy a few acres in the country, with something better for our kids, without being treated like we don't belong. Thanks.

[toobusytoday]

I think my area, Southern Lehigh School district, is pretty friendly to newcomers no matter what their skin color. I think there is more prejudice towards people from NYC than any ethnicity, and that's only when those people start complaining about our small town. There seem to be more bi-racial people around here than there was 10 years ago.

One of our local churches has this motto, "St. James welcomes all people, including those who have been excluded because of cultural or ethnic background, race, physical or mental ability, socio-economic or family status, age, sexual orientation or gender identity.
We recognize the blessings of diversity and celebrate the uniqueness of all who worship here. We welcome all people as full participants in the life of this congregation."

[atowndude]

The Lehigh Valley has become a big melting pot in the last 10-15 years. Like most Latinos, my family and I moved down here from NYC and have watched the area really evolve and become very diversified. Although the majority of residents are predominantly white in the suburbs (nothing wrong with that), Allentown, Easton, Bethlehem and Reading are comprised of all ethnicity, race and color. You should be just fine settling in. As far as the school districts, East Penn, Parkland, Lower Saucon and Wilson are the best.

Hope this helps!!

[toobusytoday]

Originally Posted by atowndude

The Lehigh Valley has become a big melting pot in the last 10-15 years. Like most Latinos, my family and I moved down here from NYC and have watched the area really evolve and become very diversified. Although the majority of residents are predominantly white in the suburbs (nothing wrong with that), Allentown, Easton, Bethlehem and Reading are comprised of all ethnicity, race and color. You should be just fine settling in. As far as the school districts, East Penn, Parkland, Lower Saucon and Wilson are the best.

Hope this helps!!

Welcome to the forum atowndude!

Just a slight correction - There is no Lower Saucon School district.

[Gettingouttahere]

Originally Posted by Kalisetsi

Last year I had a birthday party for my son and invited his whole preschool class because I didn't want anyone's feelings to be hurt. I had to rent chairs to be ready to accommodate kids and their parents, plus all the food, party favors, etc. One person RSVP'd, one person (thankfully) showed up, the others just didn't care. My son was just about crushed when no one came. Obviously, as a parent it kills me to see my children be hurt like this, and there's nothing I can do about it.

Good grief, what community in L.I. is this? Says eastern LI, which I would've thought would be more diverse and tolerant than this indicates.

Had a similar experience with a birthday party for my kid (though we're just white) -- I know how much that hurt you. Wanna give you a hug.

You'll do fine in the LV.

[ringler24]

We're a mixed race family that just moved to Easton Pa from Brooklyn. We are loving it here. I grew up myself in Bethlehem. Anyway, if you choose to live in one of the cities you will certainly not feel uncomfortable or out of place. I swear 75% of the kids at our local swimming pool are mixed race. We are living on College Hill, which is full of interesting, well educated people. It has been great so far.

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by ringler24

We're a mixed race family that just moved to Easton Pa from Brooklyn. We are loving it here. I grew up myself in Bethlehem. Anyway, if you choose to live in one of the cities you will certainly not feel uncomfortable or out of place. I swear 75% of the kids at our local swimming pool are mixed race. We are living on College Hill, which is full of interesting, well educated people. It has been great so far.

Just curious. What do you think of the schools?

[ringler24]

I can't say yet. We begin on Monday. I think the Easton schools have a lot of potential. Our elementary school seems wonderful. You have to consider that any time you have a city with a low income population there are going to be challenges to raising achievement. I'm part of a coalition working to affect change in the schools here. It's pretty exciting, but it remains to be seen if that is going to happen or not. We simply weren't interested in living in a nearly all white community with a "good" school district because "good" is simply measured by test scores. I have a background in education and I know there's so much more to what makes a school "good" than that. I'm fairly sure I've found what I'm looking for in our elementary school. We'll see about secondary.

[USAGeorge]

You sound spooked by other people...Lots of nice folks lots of rotten ones and everything that resides in between that.
One,,Never let other people determine how you think and feel....Understand that people think and feel about thing mostly from their life upbringing and experiences,no ones perfect,,some less so than others..I think it's fair to say that Pennsylvanians have an unspoken attitude about people in that how they look and what newcomers say comes way down on the list after what they do.
Two,,Your the one with an attitude problem, justified or not,,leave that behind you and move on,,bringing bad baggage is no way to start a new journey...Your going to love Pa.