For Immediate Release:
August 14, 2006

Contact: Jonathan Adams, ARC, Tel: (646) 502-8843 or Rinku Sen, ARC, Tel: (212) 513-7925

New York, NY—Today, the Applied Research Center (ARC) released data showing dramatic increases in U.S. communities of color.  Pulled from newly released census data, the analysis confirms an increasingly multi-racial, multi-national and multi-lingual nation that will demand new attention from local, state and federal policymakers.

ARC found a 5.6% increase in Blacks, while Asians and Pacific Islanders (API) are up 18.5% compared to five years ago. The biggest increases came in the Latino community, which grew by 7 million between 2000 and 2005; an increase of nearly 20%.  Whites are the only group to show a dip, dropping 2 points to 67% of the population.

“The new census data confirms what has already been predicted.  Very soon there will be a new majority in the U.S. made up of communities of color,” said Rinku Sen, executive director of the Applied Research Center.  "The conservative movement to limit immigration reform and other policies that open doors for people of color seems seriously out of a step with these trends.  America is a multi-racial nation and becoming more so, not less.”

The analysis released today by the national policy institute tracks demographic changes along racial lines between 2000 and 2005.  Available online, the fact sheet provides state-by-state data charting the rapid rise of communities of color in the U.S.

“Our analysis shows that growth in communities of color is broad-based and occurring outside the states and regions you might expect,” said Menachem Krajcer, senior policy analyst at ARC. “Eight southern states show more than 25% growth in their Latino communities, signaling a demographic shift that is truly national in scope.”

Key Trends:
•    Latinos grow by 7 million, a 19.7% increase.
•    36 states experienced a 15 percent or more increase in the number of APIs
•    Blacks grew 1.9 million, a 5.6% increase
•    The number of multiracial Americans grew by 540,000, a 15.8% increase
•    The number of American Indians grew by 6.1%

“This nation is changing and policymakers must respond or find themselves out of step with the needs of these growing communities, and perhaps, out of office,” added Ms. Sen.

The full data analysis is available here.