Comfortable/friendly cities for an African-American family? (New York, Buffalo: rentals, condos)

[SuperKitten]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

Kitten...stay away from Schenectady & Troy. They have huge A.A. communities...but are not the nicest areas. The A.A. communities there are not the hard-working, well-educated, family type. LOTS of drug problems there.

This is good info. We were looking at these cities too No one seemed to have a lot of positive comments for either city though. Thanks jfkIII

[ringtail]

Originally Posted by Mystery Buff

Thanks for a very honest and candid answer.

You're welcome. Upstate New York has a very old and proud history of not only anti-slavery but also racial integration -- BEFORE the Civil War (and in rural communities as well). This was while blacks were still being owned as slaves and rioted against (1863) in New York City. You know, Frederick Douglass lived and ran his newspaper here (in Rochester). Auburn was Harriet Tubman's home. People here are incredibly proud of them. And yet also, the KKK had a stronghold in Buffalo and a few other places as late as the 1920's. That said I don't know if I would claim Buffalo is a bad place today. Racism may exist but it does not seem an organized force in upstate NY society.

Anyhow, the battle on racism has been joined here for a very long time compared to most other parts of America. Can't promise you a paradise, but can promise it will continue to be confronted. Hope you decide to move here.

[zeekim]

Have you researched Ithaca? Cornell U and Ithaca College are there and black, latino and asians as well as foreign students make up at least 35% of the population.

[I'minformed2]

Racial make-up of Ithaca from City-Data.com

Races in Ithaca:

White Non-Hispanic (71.3%)
Black (6.7%)
Chinese (5.7%)
Hispanic (5.3%)
Two or more races (3.4%)
Other Asian (3.0%)
Asian Indian (1.9%)
Other race (1.9%)
Korean (1.6%)
American Indian (1.0%)
Japanese (0.7%)


That may seem like its still overwhemlingly white, but for Upstate NY standards (outside of Buffalo and Rochester) that is VERY diverse.

[SuperKitten]

The problem with Ithaca is that none of the schools there have the degree program that my husband will be studying...

It is about 60 miles from Syracuse though, which does have his program, so I don't know if it would be worth us moving to Ithaca, then him commuting to Syracuse, or if it would be better to just live in the Subburbs of Syracuse, as it was recommended here not to live in the city

[xxosaryoxx]

if your open to suggestions, i would say maybe look into the hudson valley area. its about 65 miles north of nyc, and i would suggest the dutchess county area. beacon is a small "city" right off the hudson river with ALOT of diverse culture. beacon's cleaning up nicely, and has changed alot in the last decade. its beginning to have a really nice artsy community, great restuarants right on main street, alot of antique stores, the train station right near the river, with an expess line right into grand central.
beacon schools have really improved, with a new highschool built just 5 years ago. *state of the art* newly renovated middle school, and 4 elementary schools. also, a bit north of beacon is wappingers falls, which is also a pretty diverse area, bigger than beacon, good schools, nice people, and a train station close to the village.. theres also poughkeepsie to concider.. the town of poughkeepsie, not as diverse, but still nice. arlington schools, the biggest in the area. the city of poughkeepsie is very african-american, and is a bit run-down in some areas, alot of crimes/drugs, and not the greatest of places to start a family.
of all places i would really suggest beacon. its a small community, with alot of diverse and interesting people, and things are only getting better her in b-town.

[SuperKitten]

Originally Posted by xxosaryoxx

if your open to suggestions, i would say maybe look into the hudson valley area. its about 65 miles north of nyc, and i would suggest the dutchess county area. beacon is a small "city" right off the hudson river with ALOT of diverse culture. beacon's cleaning up nicely, and has changed alot in the last decade. its beginning to have a really nice artsy community, great restuarants right on main street, alot of antique stores, the train station right near the river, with an expess line right into grand central.
beacon schools have really improved, with a new highschool built just 5 years ago. *state of the art* newly renovated middle school, and 4 elementary schools. also, a bit north of beacon is wappingers falls, which is also a pretty diverse area, bigger than beacon, good schools, nice people, and a train station close to the village.. theres also poughkeepsie to concider.. the town of poughkeepsie, not as diverse, but still nice. arlington schools, the biggest in the area. the city of poughkeepsie is very african-american, and is a bit run-down in some areas, alot of crimes/drugs, and not the greatest of places to start a family.
of all places i would really suggest beacon. its a small community, with alot of diverse and interesting people, and things are only getting better her in b-town.

Thank you so much, this is very helpful! We will definitely visit these cities on our trip this September. I will do more research on Beacon, I had never heard of it before

[Sgoldie]

Syracuse could use you. As was said before NYS cities have established on the pattern of poor blacks (uneducated, single parents) within the inner cities. This is one reason for the growth of the suburbs. There are few middle class blacks as you'd find on the west coast.

Inner city Syracuse has gotten much worse the last 5 years with gang activity and shootings that hadn't happened before, all eminating from these inner city areas. There is beginning to be a religious inner city movement to try to combat this violence and to show young people there is another way of life. A recent article in the paper about the public library in that section told how the kids who go there are disruptive all day drop-offs.

There is a great need for middle class blacks, especially those whose career entails working with these kids, to be a good example to them. Clay is a nice white suburb, or you could look around the university or the extreme south side between the indian reservation [and the ghetto] or up the hill near Onondaga CC for perfectly nice and acceptable mixed areas.

[Dr Funky]

Originally Posted by garmin239

All of the places are black friendly. I don't know what the other person is talking about with racism. You won't run into any problems being black, its just that you won't be around too many other black folk if you decide to live in the suburban areas of these cities.

hahahahahahahahahaha

[sheistbugz]

newburgh is like half black. Maybe you'll like it there if you looked around. You won't be able to go to far upstate and fit in too well.