Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 05-19-2008, 10:47 PM
 
10 posts, read 46,179 times
Reputation: 14

Advertisements

Hi,

My family and I are considering moving to the Carbondale area. We were wondering what are the best areas and school systems for supporting diversity. Most of my family currently lives where there has been a lot of hatred for anyone who is different. I was wondering what the communities around Carbondale were like. Are they supportive and accepting of different ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, and cultures? Our daughter is getting ready to start school soon and I would like her to go to school in a more tolerant atmosphere. Any advice or insights would be appreciated. Thanks
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-25-2008, 04:22 PM
 
2 posts, read 9,480 times
Reputation: 10
Default C'dale

I went to college in Carbondale, and it is probably THE most tolerant of any southern Illinois community, because of Southern Illinois University. There is a very strong racial mix - many Koreans, Japanese, and Indians as well as a large black and Hispanic community. There are many, many gays and the town has organizations that celebrate such alternative lifestyles. Seriously - anything goes in C'dale. Now for the downside: it's a party town. Like, BIG-TIME party town. Lots of drugs, and not just marijuana. Designer drugs like ecstasy and LSD are easily accessible. Meth is not a problem there like it is in other rural IL communities though. As long as you stay away from the student neighborhoods, you should be fine. Carbondale is a great town rich with culture, and their school system is unsurprassed, especially if you are in the Unity Point or Giant City districts. Good luck!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-29-2009, 11:16 PM
 
23 posts, read 58,227 times
Reputation: 23
I have lived in Carbondale my whole life and love it! The communities around Carbondale are not nearly as large, tolerant, and diverse, so I recommend on moving to the actual city. While their is crime and some drug dealing, that is strictly limited to the "student neighborhoods." I live in the West End neighborhood which is a middle class neighborhood with low crime, nice houses, and very reasonable home prices. However, if want to step it up, look to the Parrish Acres/Sunset area. This subdivision is home to more upper middle class homes. And even better than that, their is the Deer Lake Subdivision, west of the Sunset area. This area features brand new executive homes with an executive price tag! I went to Unity Point when I was in school, which is wonderful, but 5-10 minutes south of Carbondale campus. Giant City is completely out of the city. There is much diversity in the city, which is reflected by many festivals, family-owned shops and restaurants, and events. The city has WONDERFUL food with any cuisine you like! Carbondale has the only Co-op neighborhood grocery store in Illinois (I shop there all the time), as well as an international grocery store. Carbondale is a very "green" city as well as having a very tolerant atmosphere. A vast majority of Carbondale is Democratic. The SIU campus is beautiful, but a storm last May blew quite a few trees over. Clean-up is going well. The campus is also very bike friendly. I highly recommend moving to the area. Best Wishes!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-15-2009, 01:58 PM
 
Location: West of the Rockies
1,111 posts, read 2,318,586 times
Reputation: 1138
Quote:
Originally Posted by emmylynn1980 View Post
Meth is not a problem there like it is in other rural IL communities though.
Wait, I thought Jackson County was once said to have the most underground meth lab busts in the nation, or something to that affect. Didn't they stop allowing customers to buy more than two bottles of cough syrup at a time because of the meth lab crackdown?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-20-2009, 10:40 PM
 
Location: St Louis County, MO
711 posts, read 2,098,574 times
Reputation: 349
[LEFT]Easily the most diverse town in southern Illinois, south of Jefferson county (maybe even more racially divided than some communities in the suburbs of STL).



Races in Carbondale:[/LEFT]
[LEFT]
  • White Non-Hispanic (64.7%)
  • Black (23.1%)
  • Hispanic (3.0%)
  • Two or more races (2.4%)
  • Chinese (1.9%)
  • Asian Indian (1.5%)
  • Other race (1.4%)
  • Korean (1.1%)
  • Japanese (1.0%)
  • Other Asian (0.8%)
  • American Indian (0.8%)

It's also the "major city" of southern Illinois. The people from Franklin county (my county before I moved to St Louis) think Carbondale is the definition of urban living.
[/LEFT]
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2009, 11:00 PM
 
Location: Illinois
51 posts, read 88,881 times
Reputation: 33
Yes, it is pretty diverse because SIU is there. However, as was said before, most of the smaller towns around it are not as diverse and are pretty prejudice. I live in Eldorado, and I was shocked at the intolerence and ignorance in this town!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-16-2009, 01:51 AM
 
27 posts, read 93,588 times
Reputation: 23
Please don't let appearances of supposed diversity fool you. It may appear to look diverse, but people feelings are not about diversity...........

Nothing about Southern Illinois is tolerant or diverse. The people (including the ones that live and work around the college) are ignorant, closed minded and very intolerant to anything that is different and not white.

Good Luck to you!!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-22-2009, 05:38 AM
 
Location: Not where you ever lived
11,535 posts, read 30,101,930 times
Reputation: 6422
Quote:
Originally Posted by WishToLiveInSeattle View Post
Please don't let appearances of supposed diversity fool you. It may appear to look diverse, but people feelings are not about diversity...........

Nothing about Southern Illinois is tolerant or diverse. The people (including the ones that live and work around the college) are ignorant, closed minded and very intolerant to anything that is different and not white.

Good Luck to you!!!
While some of this is true in all small rural towns, part of the problem in this area is the active hate groups and the deep south attitudes. Southern Illinois is a lousy place in time for any family of color to be trapped by circumstance.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Illinois
Similar Threads
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top