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A friend of mine is a Jamaican from Hyde Park, just a 10 minute walk from my house-he attended my rival private school. At some point in HS he moved to Norwood, when he branched out on his own he loved further south to Providence, now he's back in Norwood. Definitely black people in Norwood.
I have seen black people there, a few times. The schools are 10-11% black. I read about a black Norwoodian in the South Shore regional paper. I don't know how you wouldn't see black people in Norwood... if you're there fairly often
Mmh well that's good to hear. Those school numbers do surprise me a bit. The public high school in Norwood looks pretty impressive too, think it was recently built.
Mmh well that's good to hear. Those school numbers do surprise me a bit. The public high school in Norwood looks pretty impressive too, think it was recently built.
School numbers...because of the rate of demographic change in Southern New England the public school districts are often 20% more minority than the overall town (especially true in Rhode Island). For instance, Norwood public schools were 78% white ten years ago, they are 61% white and 16% latino today.https://norwoodrecord.weebly.com/upl..._31dec2020.pdf
MA has the lowest white birthrate of all 50 states and has for a while, as a result, the younger demographic (such as myself) is much more diverse than the 50+ group-which, in turn, skews my perceptions of things, admittedly.
Black people, in general, are significantly younger in MA than PA and the black birthrate is higher (yes I've done the research). But I think that might also have the effect of muting the culture a bit and for a visiting white adult in a town that's 6-7% black-the numbers feel lower.
The black middle class(and even some of the working class) are fleeing the Pittsburgh metro. Lack of well paying jobs or ability to get ahead. Gentrification has pushed the underclass further east and northwest Allegheny. There are middle class blacks here but it's scattered and not to the extent of others on the list.
There's a reason why Pittsburgh is noted for being a lousy place for blacks to reside. Can't wait to bounce by the spring.
What are some specific areas of the city and suburbs where you would see a substantial black middle class presence?
Monroeville. The closest inner burb I can think of is Edgewood, and even there it's majorly white. The city itself? Maybe East Liberty; but gentrification is taking hold with Whole Foods/Trader Joe's.
Heck at least Newark has an established, not-too-small black middle class presence in a few neighborhoods like Weequahic, Upper Clinton Hill, Upper Vailsburg and Ivy Hill; old money in the 1st two. I'm struggling to find any of that here.
Among others...Something to keep in mind is that Syracuse's black percentage from 1980-2010 doubled from 15.5% to 31.1%(black alone and in combination non-Hispanic). So, this is a city that has seen its black population grow: https://s4.ad.brown.edu/projects/div...cityid=3673000 and in turn, political/leadership representation has grown.
As for the Say Yes to Education Program, which is the bolded information and could apply to anyone, Buffalo also has this scholarship program citywide. https://sayyestoeducation.org/where-we-work/
So, if you go with the city of Buffalo, you have plenty of non private options and all would allow you to qualify for the scholarship program. Some that go private may go with city schools such as Canisius(all male, good Football program), Bishop Timon-St. Jude in South Buffalo, The Nichols School, Nardin(girls), Mount Mercy(girls), Academy of the Sacred Heart(girls) or if they go outside of the city schools such as The Park School(very good Boys Basketball program), Cardinal O'Hara in Tonawanda(very good Girls Basketball program), St. Joe's in Kenmore(boys, good Football program), St. Francis(boys, also known for Football program) and St. Mary's in Lancaster.
As for the city in relation to the thread, I'd say that North Buffalo, Elmwood Village, Parkside, Central Park(neighborhood), the NE corner of the city(parts of University/University Heights, Kensington Heights), Linwood and parts of the Allentown and Hamlin Park neighborhoods would have a presence of such families. Hamlin Park is actually a historically designated neighborhood with a long history of having a black middle class, with some streets retaining that character better than others: https://buffaloah.com/h/hamln/hamlin.html
Nearby Parkside across Main Street is another historic style neighborhood with a long time and visible black middle class due to the neighbors standing firm in staying the neighborhood versus leaving: https://parksidebuffalo.org/index.php
The eastern half of these middle class census tracts cover much of the neighborhood(in between Delaware and Main) and it is also very close to Elmwood Village: https://censusreporter.org/profiles/...t-169-erie-ny/
Keep in mind that this is a city with around 100,000 black residents, give or take/who you include(about 36-40% of the city) and quite a bit of black people in leadership positions(mayor, police chief, school superintendent, city council president(also a prominent pastor in the city), a deputy fire commissioner, President of Buffalo State College(about 33% of students are black), etc.
Once things open up, you are less than 100 miles from Downtown Toronto and for the family, there's Niagara Falls, Darien Lake amusement park, historical sites, etc.
If you want suburbs, Eggertsville in Amherst(Amherst Central SD, very good schools), Cleveland Hill in Cheektowaga(Cleveland Hill SD, solid schools), the Sweet Home SD in Amherst(solid/good schools), Cheektowaga Central SD(solid schools) and Maryvale SD in Cheektowaga(solid schools) are suburbs with higher black populations that others. Williamsville SD is arguably the area's top SD and has historically been another suburban SD where some athletes/coaches/professionals have lived, with the zones for South and North Highs having more of a presence. Some go with the Kenmore-Tonawanda SD, with Kenmore West having more of a presence historically; Cheektowaga-Sloan and West Seneca Schools as well. Lackawanna is a steel town that has had a long time and quite visible black population that is largely concentrated on its west side(known for having some very good Football teams at times). Ironically, a lot of the Bills players live near the stadium/facility in the Southtowns(Orchard Park and Hamburg) south of the city, while most of these listed suburbs are North/NE/East of the city.
May drop Rochester information later, but much of it is similar and the 2 cities are only an hour away. Syracuse is a little over 2 hours away from Buffalo to the east.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 01-06-2021 at 12:14 PM..
Monroeville. The closest inner burb I can think of is Edgewood, and even there it's majorly white. The city itself? Maybe East Liberty; but gentrification is taking hold with Whole Foods/Trader Joe's.
Heck at least Newark has an established, not-too-small black middle class presence in a few neighborhoods like Weequahic, Upper Clinton Hill, Upper Vailsburg and Ivy Hill; old money in the 1st two. I'm struggling to find any of that here.
Forgot about that one. But how much of that income is attributed to whites and Asians? Or black retirees(most of the residents, 21% of the population, is in their 60s)?
Forgot about that one. But how much of that income is attributed to whites and Asians? Or black retirees(most of the residents, 21% of the population, is in their 60s)?
Good questions and I'm curious about the Penn Hills information I just posted as well.
Most of the black middle class there is in Central Nyack just west of Nyack and South Nyack.
They actually went to high school at St. Joe's of Montvale, which is what some nearby NYers do for high schools. Meaning, they go to NNJ Catholic high schools with good football programs like Paramus Catholic, Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco Prep, St. Peter's in Jersey City, etc.
Rockland County in general has a pretty high black median household income of $80,998 (9.7% poverty rate, 2019 5 year census info). Places like Hillcrest, West Haverstraw, Pomona, Mount Ivy, Chestnut Ridge and Nanuet are some other places in the county with a substantial black middle class.
Rockland County is very nice. large Black population, large Haitian population, huge Jewish population. NJ transit access to Manhattan and right on the NJ border.
EDIT: do you have any posts on South Jersey? I'm not familiar at all with South Jersey but I believe it may be an underrated place for black families.
Rockland County is very nice. large Black population, large Haitian population, huge Jewish population. NJ transit access to Manhattan and right on the NJ border.
EDIT: do you have any posts on South Jersey? I'm not familiar at all with South Jersey but I believe it may be an underrated place for black families.
Yes, I think besides parts of Spring Valley, most of the areas mentioned and where black people live in are at least solid to very nice. The Haverstraws have a lot of Dominicans as well, but also have a long time AA community due to many migrating for brickyard jobs about a century ago: https://aahsmuseum.org/dt_portfolios...ickyard-ruins/
I'll stop there, but there are quite a few places there with middle class incomes and a substantial black population. All of these places are still in the Philadelphia metro area too.
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