Dominican in a service oriented society-US

[Kenia]

The majority of Dominican population has always fall behind in adapting to the United States society and therefore encounter several problems. Poverty, lack of jobs, lack of a good education are some of the issues Dominicans face in a service driven society. Why do you think this happens? How can Dominicans break with the stereotypes and become more involved?

[deelt]

Hi Kenia

I disagree with the connotaion that US Dominicans have "fallen behind."
For the most part compared to the majority of other Latinos groups the Dominicans have accomplished much in little time. (Dominicans have been here in "significant" numbers since 1970.) To that end, I believe we have held our own politically for the most part and we are on a natural trajectory compared to other immigrants now well-established groups like Irish, Italians, etc.

In terms of economics, I think the issue is two-fold: it is about 1) relativity and 2) the desire to assimilate. On the first issue, Dominicans compare their current situation to where they came from and they are still out ahead. Only the second generation deems the first stagnant. In terms of education, despite the language limitations among the first-generation, the second generation is striving and well ahead of many other Latino groups. The second issue to the challenges faced by Dominican is one of assimilation. Most Dominicans choose to live in Dominican-concentrated regions as a vehicle of cultural preservation. However, this too will inevitably change through the generations as they become more Americanized and disperse through out the mainland.

I also think there is also an interesting twist of how gender and economic status affect this debate. Women often deemed as second citizens in DR become empowered in the US. Conversely, men often lose their grounding when they reach the US. This is evidenced by their political activity levels. Women tend to become more involved in local US politics while men tend to be more involved in DR politics. It's actually interesting to see the level of transnational activity taking place (DR-CAFTA, Dominican-American seats in DR Congress, 30+ US elected officials, 100+ US appointed officials, etc.). Imagine! We have an upcoming mayoral race in Mass. were two US Dominicans are battling head to head! I am one for a more Americanized (not Dominican) form of politics. (NB: While most of the elected positions are men, I urge ANYONE to look behind close doors at all caimpaign management levels. It is almost all women running the show.)

So, to get off my soapbox, I think Dominicans are plenty involved in things.
If you want evidence of this then I would suggest you attend the Oct. 8th national conference of Dominican-Americans in Boston, MA. While conferences per se do not mean much there is much to be said for the quality of attendees.

I think if you want to compare us to 'model immigrants' Asian or South Asians then yes we could fall short in your eyes. I think the issue there is that these cultures value unity, education, honor and discipline slightly higher. But there are many ways to reach the same destination. I respect that in this country above all.


Deelt

Originally Posted by Kenia

The majority of Dominican population has always fall behind in adapting to the United States society and therefore encounter several problems. Poverty, lack of jobs, lack of a good education are some of the issues Dominicans face in a service driven society. Why do you think this happens? How can Dominicans break with the stereotypes and become more involved?

[NALs]

Originally Posted by deelt

Hi Kenia
(NB: While most of the elected positions are men, I urge ANYONE to look behind close doors at all caimpaign management levels. It is almost all women running the show.)

Deelt

Not to go off course, but behind the most productive men in a society, there is almost always a woman behind the scene who made it possible.

Women tend to balance the male tendency of letting "power" get in their heads. Look around, most men who have become of something in life has an ecouraging wife in the background.

I've noticed that is not the case with women in power, at least not to the level it is with men in power.

BTW, the new head of the Banco Central is a woman, the first woman to head the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic. She is an impressive woman, graduated Cum Lade from APEC university in Business Administration, has a very strong sense of self, very determined, highly goal oriented, and most importantly, she gets things done!

BTW, her name is Clarissa de la Rocha.

On page 8 of this Banco Central magazine (link below) is a report on her.

http://www.bancentral.gov.do/cronica...05-2005-07.pdf

Now, back to the topic.

[deelt]

That's because too many men are too insecure to handle intelligent and stong-minded women who know what they are about. It's just easier to get an (apparent) ditz.

Originally Posted by Nal0whs

I've noticed that is not the case with women in power, at least not to the level it is with men in power.

She's the new deputy director. 2nd in command. DR still has a ways to go to allow her to be the head of the Central Bank.

Originally Posted by Nal0whs

BTW, the new head of the Banco Central is a woman, the first woman to head the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic.

[NALs]

That's because too many men are too insecure to handle intelligent and stong-minded women who know what they are about. It's just easier to get an (apparent) ditz.

Perhaps, although I prefer this reason:

"The sole purpose for male existence is to please women. Everything a man does is to impress, please, and get the approval of a woman at some point in his life. Thus, when a man reaches hights of power, wealth, and prestige, the one person he most admires and cares about is the one responsible for his initial success. Most often than not, that person is the most important woman in his life."

She's the new deputy director. 2nd in command. DR still has a ways to go to allow her to be the head of the Central Bank.

This country may still have quite a way to go, but look how far we have travel as of late...

Truly impressive for a country often referred to as "heavily machista in all sense of the word".

Dominican woman have much to be proud of...

[Kenia]

Hi deelt,

I should explain the reason for my statement and questions. I am currently investigating my thesis for a bachelor in architecture and my project is about utilizing architecture as a mean of social reform. I am interested in the Dominican population in New York City.

I generalized when I said Dominicans in the United States, but that doesn’t change the fact that Dominicans are having a rough time now days, there is not question about that. You say that there are Dominicans who are involved; but those individuals represent a small minority. According to my research the Dominican population in New York is more than half that of the Dominican population in all other states of United States. I became interested in this subject for my thesis because being a Dominican who reside in the heart of the Dominican Community, Manhattan, puts me in the position of doing something for my people, even if it is just hypothetically.

I believe that education is the key to succeed in this country and the majority of the Dominican population in United States doesn’t value education as much as White-Americans and other Ethnic Groups do.

I see Dominicans in the streets just talking when they are suppose to be working and I said to myself this have to be solved in some way. I don’t blame those people because we, and by we I mean the majority, tend to inclined to “blue collar jobs” which are scarce in New York these days. New York since the 1970s has been evolving into more of a service oriented society in which low skill jobs are scare. Recent emigrants come with the idea of working hard and stabilizing themselves but when they get here they find themselves entrapped in this society were without the necessary tools is very hard to succeed. They don’t know the language, the culture, and that prevents them from become more involved and from adapting.
Yes there are Dominicans that are making it; I don’t argue that but how many? is the question. If you compare those who are making it to the rest of the Dominican population; it is very minimal. It is true that we are a fairly recent emigration but my point is not to criticize but to find ways to advance in this competition driven society. According to my research, Dominicans have one of the lowest education level and the highest poverty rate in New York City. (US census Bureaus). The census says that by far most of the Dominicans living in New York City live bellow poverty level. There is something very interesting going on with housing in New York City. The rent is going higher and higher and a vast number of people have been forced to leave the city. An example is the building were I live, three years ago it was 90% Dominicans and today it’s about 50%. Dominicans and other minority groups are being forced to leave because they can’t afford to pay the rent.

I don’t know I just think there is a lot of work to be done in education the young Dominican population about the value of education and I will be interested in listening to other Dominicans opinions about this subject.

[deelt]

Thanks for clarifying the reason for your request. To start, my suggestion to you is to get the latest socio-economic profile published by Dr. Ramona Hernandez. You can even do a search here for the reference. This report notes the overwhelming percentage of dominicans in higher levels of education when compared to other latinos.

With regard to your thesis my suggestion to you is either to narrow your topic or try to focus on case studies that actually takes you to some conclusions towards were you want to go.

I think that what you are talking about is the affect of gentrification (hi rents and hi displacement) in the dominican community. While this is a good topic to look at, I don't think architecture fits that well into the dominican community since we live in mostly urban environments. If you want to check out a case study in NYC I would suggest you look at the Nehemia houses in Brooklyn and speak to the leaders that made that happen. It's an awesome story. (author of the book that mentions this is Michael Gecan...he's not too far from you). If I were you I would also look into possibilities of acquiring data for "degree of turn overs" from apt to co-ops in dominican neighborhoods in NYC.

More generally, to check the effect of architecture I would suggest that look at sprawling communities or communities where a high % of dominicans actually own homes like NJ, NY (long islands), RI, MA, MD, VA (some of these are some of the most high earning areas). Question like what do dominicans in these communities do with their homes? Do they own? Do they rent out? Do they make additions? If so, how many? Do they flip properties? Do they do quality renovations? Or do they go for a quick buck turn over, adding to tenament type living? Who do they rent to?

Maybe you may want to compare two or three dominican neighborhoods (my suggestion you can do that best by congressional district) that have equal variables in education and income yet vary in terms of housing ownership. I would also incorporate a component of the affect of naturalization (and voter registration activity) on these neighborhoods. The study is available here in DR1 or through www.danr.org.

I would also urge you to compare the level of income improvement of dominicans in other states and see for yourself how it's affected or linked to levels of house ownership. A question for you to think about...is it better to remain poor but concentrated or to acquire financial stability and be spread out? Just something for you to consider.

I am willing to help you on this if you care for my assistance.
Best

PS I was born and raised in NY.

Originally Posted by Kenia

Hi deelt,

I should explain the reason for my statement and questions. I am currently investigating my thesis for a bachelor in architecture and my project is about utilizing architecture as a mean of social reform. I am interested in the Dominican population in New York City. .

On you comments below: yes I agree to some extent. I think most of it is ignorance. We have been discussing this in other threads.

Originally Posted by Kenia

I believe that education is the key to succeed in this country and the majority of the Dominican population in United States doesn’t value education as much as White-Americans and other Ethnic Groups do.

I don’t know I just think there is a lot of work to be done in education the young Dominican population about the value of education and I will be interested in listening to other Dominicans opinions about this subject.

[Kenia]

Hi, Deelt

I want to know if you can recommend me books or any kind of material that talks about Dominicans Involvement in US politics.

[kapitan13]

i can speak for dominicans in new york and the majority are in the service industry. jobs like driver of taxis and delivery vehicles, own and work in supermarkets and bodegas, in hotels, where a large percentage work, as bell man doormen housekeepers front office staff ,management,cooks,security.Also in city jobs,police emt nurses housing.theres also porters and the such.
from this we have the offspring of these workers getting master and bachek=lor degrees in medical and business fields. mind you we are on our 3rd or 4th generation of dominican americans in the u.s. having arrived here in the thousands from the 60's
on

[deelt]

Hi Kenia

I don't think we have books per se. What can be found are mainly reports and chapters in books. I'm assuming you are going to college in NYC. Correct me if I am wrong since all the info I have is NYC focused.

The most recent publication is available on DANR.org
"Dominican-American Voter-Capacity Report"
A mathematical model is presented there that estimates Dominican-American voting capacity to 2020. Robert posted a link to it in this forum section.

I would suggest you go to the Dominican Studies Institute @ CUNY's City College on 138th St., if you are looking for material quickly.

Some of the publications that I was previously referring to are listed here:

http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/dsi/publications.htm

As for political case studies, the best you can do is get copies of PhD dissertations. For that you can go to your university/college library to get access to PhD dissertation. You can also go to http://www.umi.com/umi/dissertations/.

For example a friend of mine just posted her PhD dissertation:
Developing politics in Quisqueya Heights: Local and national trajectories of Dominican-American organizing (New York). 2004
by Ana Aparicio (she did it a CUNY but has since moved to U of Mass. It think she is still there.)

Another one is
"Political Incorporation and Re-Incorporation: Simultaneity in the Dominican Migrant Experience." written by Pamela Graham (you can probably get to talk to her easy enough. She's over at Columbia now).

If you just want to read a condensed version of Pamela's work you can find it in Hector Cordero-Guzman's book compilation, Migration, Transnationalization & Race in Changing New York. dated 2001. Hector is also good people as well.

You can get many of these through the university library or pay to have it sent to you.

If you want to really write something that has substance I would suggest that you also look for references not just focused on dominicans. Look for applicable concepts of interesting things that other ethnic/national groups are doing. Think outside the box of nationalistic pride.

If you want more assistance you can send me a Private Message.

I wish you much success in the writing of your thesis.

Originally Posted by Kenia

Hi, Deelt

I want to know if you can recommend me books or any kind of material that talks about Dominicans Involvement in US politics.