Survey: Lack of Skills Shuts Out O.C. Latinos : Minorities: A study finds that most of the county’s Latinos are isolated by language and a lack of education.

While boasting some of the wealthiest Latinos in California, Orange County also has a growing number of Latinos who are frozen in poverty, a troubling dichotomy that can only be reduced by improving education for both children and adults, according to a first-of-its-kind study released Tuesday.

The two-year survey, conducted by the nonprofit Tomas Rivera Center in Claremont, included interviews with 400 residents and 120 Latino leaders. It provides the most detailed picture ever of Orange County’s 440,000 Latinos and is expected to be used as a resource by 200 public and private policy-setting county agencies.

The benchmark report shows that despite living in the land of plenty, poorly educated Latinos--plagued by a high dropout rate--are getting shut out of an economy that is demanding more technical know-how. Latinos are concentrated in northern and central regions of the county, isolated by language and lack of job skills, according to survey findings.

While they are helping to construct new homes in fast-growing South County, for the most part they can neither afford to live there nor qualify for the high-tech, high-paying jobs that are creating the area’s housing boom, the study says.

Those who participated in the study also said that while Latino ranks continue to grow in this county, public service agencies such as schools are not prepared to respond to the needs of this sector of the county.

“Orange County . . . has one of California’s highest per capita levels of income, yet Orange County Latinos, who are emerging as a rapidly growing, diverse and youthful sector of the population, are not sharing fully in the affluence within the community,” said Arturo Madrid, president of the Tomas Rivera Center.

Billed as the first study by, for and about Latinos, it is expected to serve as a blueprint for elected officials throughout the county as they make decisions about what Latinos want and need.

“The study shows us where we’ve been, how far we’ve gone and where we need to go next,” Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said. “The decade of the ‘90s will be a turning point for Latinos here.”

One part of the study consisted of telephone interviews with 320 Latinos in central and northern Orange County, and 80 living elsewhere in the county. Then, mail-in surveys were sent to 120 Latino community leaders identified by Latino organizations throughout the county. The surveys asked respondents to identify problems, determine funding priorities and recommend funding sources for solutions. Organizers said 87 surveys were returned.

For the final phase of the study, community leaders who participated in the mail-in survey were organized into three focus groups to assess the overall needs and priorities of Orange County’s Latino community.

The study brought mixed reaction from Latino community leaders and representatives during an afternoon briefing Tuesday. Many said they believe the report concentrated too much on a description of Latinos as “poor and uneducated dropouts,” while giving no explanations or recommendations on how to solve the social problem.

The community survey provided a glimpse of the county’s Latino population. For example, it found that about 18% have an annual household income of $40,000 or more, while about 19% are in households earning $10,000 or less annually.

Also, almost half of the respondents said they were born in Mexico, and only a third said they were U.S.-born.

When the survey’s questioners asked respondents whether they preferred to be interviewed in Spanish or English, 59% chose Spanish.

An overwhelming number of respondents indicated that they want to preserve cultural values and traditions. About 90% said they think Latino youths should learn and use the Spanish language, and 80% said it is either fairly important or very important to celebrate Latino holidays and uphold other traditional celebrations.

The responses also showed that the Latino population is a working one. Nearly three-quarters said they work full-time, while only 1.7% listed themselves as unemployed. The rest said they were employed part-time, worked in the home, were disabled or had another reason for not working.

Only 1% of the respondents said they received public assistance.

However, in education, Latinos in Orange County are not faring well. Less than half, or 48.9%, said they have completed the 12th grade, while 7% indicated that they have never attended school at all.

Focus groups pointed to these characteristics when they listed education as the top priority for improving the life of Latinos in Orange County.

Ernesto Ballesteros, the study’s principal investigator, said the focus groups saw education as the bridge to improvement in the other top-priority areas: economic development, health care and political participation.

“The concern is mostly one of the high dropout rates at the same time that this county’s economy is demanding a more skilled work force,” Ballesteros said. “Those who participated in the focus groups recognized that education is necessary to have a far-reaching effect in this county.”

The groups recommended that Latinos work for more representation on local school boards, and that they demand teachers who are better prepared to deal with a multi-ethnic school population.

The study’s organizers say they hope the new data will help county leaders distinguish the needs of Latinos here from Latinos elsewhere, especially in Los Angeles.

“Needless to say, the Orange County Latino is not like the Los Angeles Latino in many important ways,” said Leobardo Estrada, a nationally renowned UCLA demographer who provided technical assistance to the project.

For one thing, he said, the Latino population in Orange County tends to be concentrated in the north and central areas, whereas in Los Angeles County it is more dispersed. That concentration might help to explain why it has been more difficult to elect Latinos to public office in the southern part of Orange County, he said.

While Latinos in Orange County include some of the wealthiest in the state, Estrada said, at the same time “we also have some of the poorest, so we have this contrast.”

One explanation for the wide gap is that the county’s healthy economy, with industries that provide a variety of high-skill, high-paying jobs, has attracted well-educated Latinos as much as it has attracted others. Also, some of the Latinos who came to this county in the 1950s to work in the construction industry stayed on and managed to buy homes in Santa Ana or nearby areas. They and their children have become part of the Latino middle class.

In contrast, recent Latino arrivals, lured by construction work or service jobs, find that the area’s skyrocketing housing prices have put home-buying out of their reach. Estrada said this group has stagnated in terms of economic development. Indeed, the survey of the 400 Latinos found that nearly 52% of the respondents are renters.

“All they see is affluence all around them, but they are not part of it,” Estrada said.

OFFICIALS RESPOND--Community leaders praise, criticize study. A19

PROFILE OF THE LATINO COMMUNITY Capsule results of the survey of Orange County’s Latino community: Almost half the respondents said they were born in Mexico. One-third said they were born in the United States. Two-thirds are married. Less than 11% said they are divorced, separated or widowed. Seventy-five percent said they work full time. Only 1.7% said they are unemployed. The remainder said they are employed part time, work in the home, are disabled or have another reason for not working. One percent said they receive public assistance payments. Less than half of those 18 years or older said they have completed the 12th grade, while 7% have never attended school, and one in five had gone only as far as the sixth grade. One in four indicated he or she buys most of the time or all of the time from Latino-owned businesses. Fifty-nine percent said they preferred to be interviewed in Spanish. Source: The Orange County Latino Assessment Study by the Tomas Rivera Center LATINO PRIORITIES

The Orange County Latino Assessment Study identified four priorities and strategies to meet them: Education

Promote leadership designed to enhance the accountability of the school system.

Improve the quality of teachers who work with Latino students.

Increase parent involvement.

Increase programs to combat adult illiteracy.

Start dropout prevention programs at the lower grade levels.

Develop and strengthen counseling skills of personnel who advise Latino students and parents about curricular choices.

Increase bilingual education.

Increase early intervention programs designed to improve student achievement. Economic Development

Increase job-training programs.

Support development of Latino-owned businesses and of businesses in Latino communities.

Provide technical assistance programs for existing Latino businesses.

Increase information for Latino families regarding personal and business finance.

Promote affordable housing by Latino enterprises. Health care

Promote health care of indigent or uninsured Latinos.

Improve ways of dealing with drug and other forms of substance abuse.

Increase early intervention and education programs and prenatal care. Political Participation

Increase voter registration and civic education efforts.

Promote participation of Latinos in the political process.

Promote community organizations that improve neighborhood conditions.

Source: Tomas Rivera Center

LATINO SURVEY RESULTS The Tomas Rivera Center began a study in 1988 to determine what the county Latino community believes are its biggest challenges and the best ways to meet them. The study included a demographic review, a phone survey of 400 Latinos, a mail survey answered by 87 Latino leaders and focus group discussions. Highlights of the study include: Major Problems Latinos Face Financial Problems: 44% Physical Health: 8.7 Housing: 8.3% Lack of Employment: 6.4% Mental Health: 2.8% The Neighborhood: 2.3% Lack of Transportation: 2.3% Problems with Children: 2.3% Other: 22.9% Major Problems Facing O.C. By comparison, the O.C. Annual Survey found a different set of concerns countywide. POLICY: Traffic Growth Housing Crime SOCIAL: Drug Abuse Health Care Homeless Child Care Country of Origin Almost half of the respondents were born in Mexico and one-third are native-born U.S. citizens. Mexico: 49% United States: 33% Puerto Rico: 3% Colombia: 2% Other: 14% Household Income The primary source of income is the respondent’s own earnings. 43% state that a spouse also contributes. $0 to $10K: 18.9% $10 to $15K: 20.3% $15 to $20K: 10.0% $20 to $30K: 23.0% $30 to $40K: 10.0% $40K and above: 17.8% Employment Status Almost all of the respondents have worked for pay in the United States at some time. Latinos are found in the full range of low wage to professional occupations. Full-Time: 74.5% Keeping House: 7.5% Part-Time: 8.4% Disabled: 2.3% Retired: 3.9% Full-Time Student: 1.7% Unemployed: 1.7% Political Affiliation A little less than half of all persons interviewed do not have a political party preference. Republican: 12.6% Independent: 10.8% No Preference: 46.2% Other: 4.4% Amount of Bus Usage The fact that 93% of the interviewees own cars helps to explain why only a small percentage use public transit. Never or almost never: 69.2% Less Than Once a Month: 11.5% A Few Times a Month: 7.0% Daily: 7.0% A Few Times a Week: 5.3% Type of Housing 51.6% rent rather than own. Single Family House: 59.5% Apartment: 27.2% Duplex: 5.5% Other: 7.8% Source: The Tomas Rivera Center and Mark Baldassare