The Hispanics live in the suburbs of Miami. The Hispanics are successful farmers and business people in the City of Homestead. There are also elected and nominated leaders to offer city services to the people.
Overview
The United States government describes the Hispanic people as people who owe their origins to Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, South and Central America. There are other Spanish cultures like Spain. The Hispanic or Latino, therefore, refers to people who have their origins from the above places. They are Americans in the City of Homestead, whose first language is Spanish. The community is an urban settlement that is a few kilometers to the Miami city.
The Community as a Place
When the engineers were working on the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway, it had to pass through this region. During the same time, there were plans and activities for homesteading in the area. The idea was to settle the immigrants and at the same time provide them with transport network for trade and movement of people. At that time, the construction camp at the site did not have a name because of the complexities of the settlement. As a result of the homesteading, they consigned the construction materials and supplies to Homestead Country (Tienda & Mitchell, 2006).
The Homestead settlement is at 25°28′16″N 80°28′5″W. It is not a big city (Nakaya, 2006). It also has the community of leisure at the North end called the Unincorporated Miami-Dade County for leisure moments. The area is green, and the soils are fertile for the Hispanic community to practice their agricultural activities (Nakaya, 2006).
The people experience the climatic conditions that include the tropical monsoon climate. There are also some aspects of the tropical savanna climate. They also get summer periods. The temperatures can go as high as approximately 32° Celsius. The winters are mild but on average, they are cooler than the Coastal regions that are close to it. Such weather conditions enable this agricultural society to practice their farming while balancing the crops according to the seasonal changes. The city dwellers also experience the hurricanes that are very devastating. For instance, Hurricane Andrew damaged the property of the residents very badly. It took them about ten years or more to recover from the destructions of the hurricane.
The Hispanics occupy an area that has a total area of 14.4 square miles. They are neighbors to Florida City. Homestead Public Service Sanitation is the government agency in charge of the solid waste collection and recycling services. It is also the responsibility of everyone to keep the city clean. People apply for the city services by filling out a form. Their recyclable materials include metal cans, glass, newspapers, and plastic beverage bottles. One can also report illegal dumping to the responsible authorities.
They are also responsible for the supply and delivery of the municipal water, energy and sanitation. The employees are the Hispanics and are at the forefront of providing better services for their fellow citizens (Klitgaard, 2005). There are other providers of the same services, but Homestead Public Service Sanitation has for decades been in the forefront for providing the best services to the people.
They are also responsible for the generation and distribution of energy. The power supply has been efficient and has boosted the economy. Many Hispanics apply for these services since they are affordable. There have been very rare cases of anyone leaving for other services (Klitgaard, 2005). They are friendly and offer quick responses to the citizen’s queries. Once they need to offer their services, they are reliable and responsible. They are also very creative and flexible (Tienda & Mitchell, 2006).
The city is an agricultural homestead. Most of the people are farmers, and there is the constant supply of food from the farms to the markets (Masolo, 2010). However, in cases of an emergency such as the hurricane, many people are unable to save their food crops. But they should unplug any power connections and call the gas companies for any smell of gas. The government provides the disaster supply kit and their emergency contact lists. They have trained families to prepare for such occurrences. It has offered the hurricane preparedness guide. There is the food storage that the government gives to people during and after the emergencies.
The City of Homestead established the Community Development Block Grant to solve the problems of housing. The grants to this kitty come from the United States Department of Housing and the Urban Development. There is a consistent increase in the population of the city. The grant, therefore, is important for supporting a wide range of housing projects to address the shortfall each year. Sometimes the funds go into community development projects, and they are helpful to empower the citizens. The purpose of the CDBG is to develop urban communities by providing decent and affordable housing especially for the low income and moderate income households.
The Finance Department in the City of Homestead handles the supervision and management of the CDBG program. The program has to meet both the national objectives and the local ones for the benefit of low-income Hispanics in the city (Masolo, 2010).
Many of the houses in the City of Homestead are in good shape due to the policy that provides for constant review of the housing projects and plans. The majority of the city dwellers have rented the houses. Only a few Hispanics own houses. But in the suburbs, the majority of the Hispanics own the lands and houses. It is where most of the farming happens (Masolo, 2010).
Employment varies with qualifications. But many of the people work for the Municipal because of the various services they offer to the citizens. Another big population works in the agricultural farms. The leading industries are farm processing factories.
The People of the Community
The records available for the year 2010 census shows that the city of Homestead had a population of 60, 512 people. The city’s population density was about four thousand people per square mile. In the year 2000, the population was thirty-one thousand, nine hundred and nine. Therefore, the population increased by 89.6 percent. In Miami-Dade, the change was an increase of 10.8 percent. Florida had an increase of 17.6 percent. The population density in Miami-Dade rose to 1,315. It is five people per square mile.
There are categories of Hispanics based on race and ethnicity. The United States government and the Census Bureau define and give five race categories. They include the White or Caucasian, Black or African Americans, Native Americans or Alaska Natives, Asians, and Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders. From the latest Census, the City of Homestead had 66.9 percent of the population that involved the White Hispanics. There was 20.4 percent of black Hispanics. Approximately 63 percent were the Hispanics that involved other races. The Asians comprised of 1.2 percent of the population. There was 0.4 percent Native Americans, 0.1 percent Pacific Islanders, 3.8 percent Multi-racial and 7.2 percent from some other races.
The Florida Hispanic population density rose to 350.6 people per square mile. The Hispanics showed great representation in the City, the County, and the state. The citizens can move freely within and outside the Homestead City. The same happens in the Counties and even in the state of Florida. Most families comprise of parents and children. The last census also had about twenty-three thousand households. 18.9 percent of these households were vacant.
In the year 2000, about forty percent of the households were living with their children who had not attained the age of eighteen years. There were 40 percent couples living in the same household. 22.4 percent were unmarried female households. There was also 29.1 percent who had no families. About 21percent were individual households while about 7 percent had someone living alone above the age of sixty-five years. The report also indicated that the average household size was 3.1 while the average family size was 3.5.
There is an increasing trend of teenage pregnancies. Most of the girls under the age of eighteen years old give birth to children from their homes. In 2000, the city had 33.2 percent of people under the age of eighteen, 12.8 percent were from the age of 18 to 24, and 31.2 percent from 25 to 44 years. 15 percent were from the age of 45 to 64 years while 7.8 percent had 65 years or older. The gender is almost even such that for every 100 females, there were about107 males. For those that had the universal age for voting, there was almost the same number of females as there were males. Males only exceeded their counterparts by eight.
In the same year, the median income for a household was approximately twenty-seven thousand dollars, while a family’s median income did not exceed $27,000. The males and females had almost the same median incomes with the males getting more income by $2,857. 29.1 percent of the families and 31.8 percent of the population lived below the poverty line. The other group that was living below the average basic income was the 44 percent of those under age eighteen and 20 percent of those above sixty-five years. Those who spoke Spanish as the first language were about fifty-one percent. Others who spoke English as their first language were at about 43 percent while Haitian-Creole speakers were about 4.7 percent of the population.
The settlement comprises of more people who are not youths (Haugen & Musser, 2012). Many of the people on the outskirts of the town are old and retired. They have settled here to continue with farming (Nakaya, 2006). Many youths opt for the city so that they can try out their luck in education, business, and employment (Haugen & Musser, 2009). The sex distribution is almost even.
Homestead City had about 70 percent Caucasian Hispanics. The county had approximately 70 percent, and Florida State had 75 percent. There are blacks or African Americans, Latinos, people of Asian origin, and Native Americans (Haugen & Musser, 2012). Other races include the Pacific Islanders, the Multiracial, and some other races. By the year 2000, those who spoke English were about 43 percent and the Hispanics were slightly above 50 percent (Haugen & Musser, 2012).
The annual births have decreased due to the desire of the people to plan their families (Haugen & Musser, 2012). The Municipal has also improved on the health services that have decreased the death rates. The majority of the people die at their old age. Most of the teenagers have given birth to children in their homes. It shows that the maternal mortality rate has gone down.
The future economic prospects show positive growth (Klitgaard, 2005). Due to the City’s plans, there would be employment creation and wealth generation. There are plans for service improvements for the people. Social services are also available to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Both formal and informal communication networks are working well for the benefit of the population.
There are no specific and serious Homicides cases in the city. Security is appropriate. The police are available to keep law and order. There is the Air Force base in the area for defense. The hurricane destroyed the previous Air Force base. The common cause of stress to the population could be the hurricane emergencies.
Most families have the considerable income to support their basic needs and meet other needs. The estimated level of unemployment is below 50 percent. Those below the poverty level are below 40 percent. The majority of the Hispanics are Catholics with very few other denominations.
The type of government is Council-Manager. The Mayor is Jeffery Porter, and the Vice Mayor is Stephen Shelley. It comprises of the council members, a City Manager, and a City Clerk. The City offices are in the City Hall at the City of the Homestead (Klitgaard, 2005).
The government has Public facilities and infrastructure for public education and community libraries (Haugen & Musser, 2009). The physically challenged, the adults with special needs, and the pregnant teenagers have their grant package to solve any arising problems. It has enabled the Hispanic citizens to gain knowledge through the public and private institutions. There are also scholarships for the low-income families.
There are three main roads that link the city to the rest of Miami-Dade. They include the US 1, the Florida Turnpike and the State Road 997. Miami-Dade Transit operates several Metro bus routes that connect the city dwellers to other places within and outside the city. There are several other connecting roads, and transport services vehicles (Klitgaard, 2005). The transport network is expanding, and it enables the people to transact businesses across the town and outside the city.
The population gets several supplies of food. There are several leisure places where the city dwellers spend their leisure times such as the Leisure City. There are several public and private health facilities. They have modern equipment for all patients. The health centers can treat rape cases, cancer, and many other hospitalized types of sicknesses. The federal government and the city management normally finance these hospitals. The private sector also helps to bridge the gap by providing complementary services with competitive prices.
References
Haugen, D., & Musser, S. (2009). Education. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
Haugen, D., & Musser, S. (2012). Population. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
Klitgaard, R. (2005). High-performance government. Santa Monica, CA: RAND.
Masolo, D. (2010). Self and community in a changing world. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Nakaya, A. (2006). The environment. Detroit: Greenhaven Press/Thomson/Gale.
Tienda, M., & Mitchell, F. (2006). Hispanics and the future of America. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.