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Gwinnett County\u2019s dramatic demographic shift illustrates question: \u201cWho are We?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n September 5, 2012,<\/p>\n By David Pendered<\/p>\n The notion that Gwinnett County is home to a population that\u2019s predominately white and affluent is as out-of-date as the idea that two painted water towers along I-85 in Norcross still proclaim: \u201cSuccess Lives Here.\u201d<\/p>\n Gwinnett County\u2019s iconic towers were demolished in 2010, the same year in which the Census recorded stunning shifts in the county\u2019s demographics. Credit: www.11alive.com<\/p>\n The 40-year-old towers were torn down two years ago. In the decade before their demolition, 40,000 whites had moved out of Gwinnett. Now, the county\u2019s population is predominately non-white, and less wealthy and less educated than it was in 2000.<\/p>\n The demographic shift in Gwinnett speaks to the broader question of \u201cWho are We?\u201d That was the topic Wednesday, at the quarterly meeting of the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum. Slowinski provided a snapshot of Gwinnett\u2019s population that gave some real heft to the demographic report on the metro Atlanta region that was delivered by Michael Rich, an associate professor of political science at Emory University who heads Emory\u2019s Office of University-Community Partnerships.<\/p>\n Slowinski prefaced her remarks by saying she would talk later about ways in which Gwinnett\u2019s civic and government leaders are leveraging the county\u2019s diversity. But first, she said, she wanted to provide a bit of context about Gwinnett. *Per capita income has fallen by $7,000; Sources other than the Census provide additional insights: One relevant point is that Gwinnett\u2019s government and school board are trying to serve the human needs of this population with an ever-decreasing amount of tax revenues.At the Piece by Piece annual meeting last week, Gwinnett County Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash said the county\u2019s digest has dropped 25 percent during the past five years. That decrease has reduced the amount of property taxes collected by the county and school system, which is the main source of funding for both governments.<\/p>\n \u201cThe population has continued to diversify,\u201d Nash said. \u201cAccording to the 2010 Census, Gwinnett was the most diverse county in the southeast. That very different from what it was 20 years. It\u2019s created language considerations, and the demand for additional types of flexibility in terms of how we deal with the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Slowinski said the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce works diligently to reach out to, and serve, the minority business community. The number of firms owned by Hispanics and African Americans is still a small proportion of the overall mix, but it\u2019s growing, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cGwinnett wants to be a middle of the road county, but also can see itself being an international gateway, and some of that is evident in the efforts to bring a [commercial] airport to the county,\u201d Slowinski said. \u201cThey really are pushing the concept of, \u2018Success Lives Here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n At the start of the meeting, Rich set the framework for the forum\u2019s conversation. The purpose of the quarterly housing forum was to discuss ways in which changing demographics are reshaping the region.<\/p>\n Rich used a comparison of Census data from 2000 to 2010 to note that:<\/p>\n * The city of Atlanta\u2019s population has shifted from almost \u00be African American to slightly more than half African American, as whites and other ethnic groups have moved into the central city;
\nOut of the entire two-hour program, the most stunning report was provided by Lejla Slowinski, executive director of the Lawrenceville Housing Authority.<\/p>\n
\nSpeaking without any visual aids, such as a PowerPoint slide show, Slowinski riveted the audience\u2019s attention with a cascade of nuggets derived from the 2000 and 2010 Census reports. The data shows that Gwinnett isn\u2019t just changing \u2013 it is a changed community:<\/p>\n
\n*The proportion of whites in the overall population has fallen to 49.3 percent from 67 percent;
\n*No single Census tract has a white population of greater than 90 percent;
\n*32 percent of households speak a language other than English;
\n*61 percent of students in the county school system are non-whites;
\n*High school graduation rates for non-whites rose to 70 percent from 50 percent;
\n*25 percent of Gwinnett commuters spend at least 45 minutes a day in the car.<\/p>\n
\n*18 percent of Gwinnett\u2019s children live in poverty;
\n*The county\u2019s poverty rate rose from 5.6 percent in 2000 to 13 percent in 2009;
\n*The number of foreclosures in Gwinnett has topped Fulton since 2009 (Fulton formerly had the region\u2019s highest number of foreclosures).<\/p>\n
\n* Non-whites represent almost half the population outside the city of Atlanta, a region in which whites formerly comprised over \u00be of the population;
\n* Poverty has risen dramatically in the suburbs, as opposed to being concentrated in the city of Atlanta;
\n* Whites tend to reside in Census tracts where most residents are white;
\n* African Americans and Hispanics tend to reside in communities where less than half the other residents are of their heritage.<\/p>\n