HELP Looking for great family town,great schools,welcoming to outsiders (Denver: transplants, crime rates)

[Dr Joe]

Looking for a family town/neighborhood not so established , good schools and welcoming to outsiders. I am from the east coast but have lived everywhere and my wife is originally from Colombia South America, and still very latin but very outgoing with all people.
HOWEVER we made a huge mistake moving to a small college town outside of Charlotte and despite my wife's best intentions she remains an outcast. Sad experience.
We want a great town to raise a family not too concerned about proximity to Denver. HELP PLEASE!

[Katarina Witt]

Most, if not all, of the metro area is welcoming to outsiders. It's a city of transplants.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by Dr Joe

Looking for a family town/neighborhood not so established , good schools and welcoming to outsiders. I am from the east coast but have lived everywhere and my wife is originally from Colombia South America, and still very latin but very outgoing with all people.
HOWEVER we made a huge mistake moving to a small college town outside of Charlotte and despite my wife's best intentions she remains an outcast. Sad experience.
We want a great town to raise a family not too concerned about proximity to Denver. HELP PLEASE!

Yes, all places in the area are welcoming to outsiders. However, the best place for diversity, and for your wife to be better welcomed, would be IN proximity to Denver.

It is because Denver has a very large expansive Hispanic culture that extends through all the ethnic identities that encompasses being an Hispanic. You will find most Hispanics that are Mexicanos or Spanish indigenous to the Southwest in outlying small towns; but in Denver you will find, in addition, people from Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

I have met more South Americans in Denver and the inner suburbs than I have met in other areas. I frequent the neighborhoods and Groceries that cater to a varied mix of Hispanics.

Interestingly, My Dentist is a young woman from Columbia, who works in Northwest Denver. She regularly tells me that her native country is a nice place to live. I was treated by another young Colombian woman, a physician pulmonologist at the Kaiser Office, Downtown. I was driven on a handicapped bus by a Colombian man, who regaled me with stories of his country. In the Liboria Market, that has food for all Hispanic, an elderly South American woman explained to me how to cook Mutton.

Denver is a nice, clean and safe city to live and meet many people. I live just on the edge of Northwest Denver (It is traditionally referred as North Denver, and is centered by West 38th). Denver is not a city that people are leaving and abandoning to decay. It is growing with the influx of young professionals, empty nesters, new immigrants from all over the world, and it is continuing to keep the long term residents who value a good urban experience. In addition, there are areas of Denver that have the look; feel of a suburbs with less density and have newer housing. You have many choices in Denver.

All over Denver there is growth, new building and redevelopment. All that energy is being exuded to the older inner neighborhoods of suburbs, like Wheat Ridge, Lakewood, Arvada, Aurora, Westminster etc. In other decaying cities, these inner ring suburbs would also decay; that is not the case in the Denver Metro area.

Yes, you can move further out into the nice suburbs but your wife will have more difficulties meeting other people who share her history and traditions. You could move again to a College Town, like Boulder, but it is not as pleasantly diverse as Denver. You could move into a richer suburban area and isolate yourself in your beautiful large house; go everywhere by car, and shop at nice sterile stores or

You can live in a walkable neighborhood of Denver or the cities of the inner suburbs; have access to good public transit, and be close to a varied mix of authentic ethnic stores, and meet many different people.

I am an ex New Yorker who has experienced a varied cultural mix in my life; all these people, their traditions and their food is why I
Livecontent

[the3Ds]

Originally Posted by Dr Joe

I am from the east coast but have lived everywhere and my wife is originally from Colombia South America, and still very latin but very outgoing with all people.
HOWEVER we made a huge mistake moving to a small college town outside of Charlotte and despite my wife's best intentions she remains an outcast. Sad experience.
We want a great town to raise a family not too concerned about proximity to Denver. HELP PLEASE!

I am sorry to hear that your wife is trying to assimilate but your neighbors are making it hard for her. People are rude everywhere I guess.

What you'll find in Denver is that it's a city of transplants. Most aren't actually FROM here and even the ones that are usually are fairly welcoming. Just like every other city, the thing that will get you into trouble is constantly talking about how much better the other place you used to live was and/or trying to make your new neighborhood just like the old one you left.

There are great towns to raise a family in all around Denver. How old are your children? We live in SE Aurora and are in a very diverse neighborhood (and county as Arapahoe County was just featured in the newspaper last week mentioning how it is). What binds most of the neighbors together is the desire to live in a good school district and to take care of our homes. I can count the homes with "scraggly" yards on one hand and since I walk my neighborhood every day, I see at least a hundred homes. There are children everywhere, which is another reason we chose to move here. Rarely will there be a time when you don't see kids on bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc and the local parks in the neighborhood always have at least one family there (but oftentimes it's packed). On Sunday, one of our neighbors came over and asked us if we wanted some plants for our garden because his wife bought too big of a pallet. We'd never met him before then and realized our kids are similar in ages. They are coming over on Saturday to play. I believe his wife is from Africa (Nigeria).

I do have to ask a question and I apologize in advance if it seems rude. When you said your wife is "very Latin", what does that mean? Does she speak English? Keeping a part of her culture is great and there is no reason whatsoever to change that. If she doesn't speak English, that could be why she is having a hard time making friends. I'm sure you both realize that there is a prejudice against those from Mexico/Latin America that seems to be common all over the US. Lack of English is just another thing that your wife would have working against her. My daughter has a few kids in her class who are Latino/a, but that only defines their skin color. Both kids have parents who speak English fluently and have probably been here for generations. I think it would be hard to be in an English as a second language course while trying to go to school as well. I am just curious about the comment of being "very Latin."

[Jerry Bckr]

As Katiana said, this is a town of transplants and has a large Latino population. There are all kinds of neighborhoods to live in with good schools. Like all large cities, Denver is pretty diverse and where you want to live should depend more on where you will be working.

[SheridanL]

BERKELEY area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr Joe]

Thanks for your input.
It is very helpful. What I meant that my wife is very latin is that she has such a pretty accent but is quite heavy. She is very outgoing and quite exotic in her looks and mannerisms. These are the traits that attracted to me 15 years ago. I just dont want her to feel like her outcast despite her kindness and great personality. It really hurts a husband when he sees this

[the3Ds]

Originally Posted by Dr Joe

Thanks for your input.
It is very helpful. What I meant that my wife is very latin is that she has such a pretty accent but is quite heavy. She is very outgoing and quite exotic in her looks and mannerisms. These are the traits that attracted to me 15 years ago. I just dont want her to feel like her outcast despite her kindness and great personality. It really hurts a husband when he sees this

Of course. Well, all I can tell you is that you will find that Denver has a very large hispanic population as well as other minorities. There was a recent thread here where the person showed facts about Denver becoming more and more minority dominant. I think perhaps you've just moved to the wrong neighborhood. I wouldn't necessarily recommend you move to a city like Commerce City (which has a very large Hispanic population) due to it's crime rates and poor school performance, I don't think you'd feel too conspicuous even out here in SE Aurora. It's a very middle class area and our school district is great (Cherry Creek SD) as well as the schools boasting the same ethnic rates as the rest of the US. My daughter is in Kindergarten and while there ARE more caucasian kids, there is also a good number of minorities and since they are starting out in school together early, I am hoping they can at least remain friends while they go through their school years together.