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26215: Hermantin(News)Miramar is home to wealthiest Haitian community in S. Florida (fwd)




From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

By Alva James-Johnson
Staff Writer

September 9, 2005

Miramar is home to wealthiest Haitian community in S. Florida


Pradel Vilme wanted to raise his children in a quiet suburban neighborhood with all the trimmings of middle-class American life.

So in 2001, the real estate agent moved his family from Miami to western Miramar and from a three-bedroom to a five-bedroom house.

"You have to upgrade yourself," said the 54-year-old Haitian-American, who has lived in South Florida since 1985. "In America, people transplant from place to place until they're retired. They're always looking for something better."

Now, thanks to Vilme and others like him, Miramar is home to the wealthiest Haitian community in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, according to a study released last week by the Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank in Washington, D.C.

The study, based on the 2000 Census, was initiated by Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center in Miami as a supplement to another Brookings report called "Growing the Middle Class: Connecting All of Miami-Dade Residents to Economic Opportunity."

Among cities with large Haitian populations in the two-county area, the study found that Haitians in Miramar had the highest median household income, with $43,138. North Miami Beach had the second-highest, with $30,068. Lauderdale Lakes was third, with $30,059, and Haitians in Miami had the lowest median household income, with $20,000.

Gepsie Metellus, executive director of Sant La, said many are attracted to Miramar's newer homes, schools and suburban environment.

"People want to have an excellent quality of life, and wherever they can afford it, they will go," she said.

The report highlighted the Haitian community's struggle to rise. It found that Haitians in Miami-Dade had the lowest median household incomes, the lowest-paying jobs and the highest rate of adults without a high school education among all ethnic groups.

Yet it documented the progress many Haitians have made since the 1970s, as many of them acquired wealth and moved from Little Haiti and other Miami neighborhoods to Broward. The study found that Haitians in Broward, numbering 62,342, had a median household income of $31,041. In Miami-Dade, with a Haitian population of 95,669, the figure was $27,284.

In the report, researchers said getting an accurate count of the Haitian population was impossible because the census undercounted minority and immigrant groups. Still, they said, the statistics reveal important trends.

"Miami-Dade struggles with the fact that it's a huge entry point for immigrants, but when these new immigrants and their families move up and become middle class, they leave," said Rebecca Sohmer, a research analyst with the metropolitan policy program at Brookings. "Miami-Dade's loss is Broward County's gain."

Alex Stepick, director of the Immigration and Ethnicity Institute at Florida International University, said the migration of Haitians and people from the English-speaking Caribbean to western Broward began 15 years ago. In addition to those moving from Miami, many Caribbean-Americans are migrating from New York and elsewhere in the Northeast.

"In the year 2000, the state of Florida had more Haitians and English-speaking West Indians than the state of New York," he said, "and much of that was because of the rapid growth in western Broward, which tends to be middle class."

It's what sociologists call chain migration, he said. "Somebody gets there, then people they know follow them, and the chain exponentially grows."

Miramar Mayor Lori C. Moseley said she has noticed the growth of the Haitian middle class in her city.

"Miramar is an incredible, culturally diverse community where everyone is welcome and everyone feels welcomed here," she said. "We have a population that's a little bit of this and little bit of that, and we try to celebrate it."

Now Vilme, his wife, and three children, ages 10, 16, and 17, call it home.

Vilme said he fled Haiti in 1985 to escape the Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier regime. Vilme settled in Miami and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Florida International University. After starting his own real estate and mortgage company, he decided it was time to move.

Now he has a program on Haitian radio station WJCC, AM-1700, in which he educates other Haitians about how to adjust to their new environment.

He encourages them to participate in their neighborhood associations so they can help make the rules.

"We're at the early stages of Haitians moving into these communities," he said. "It's an adjustment because every culture is different."

Alva James-Johnson can be reached at ajjohson@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4523.




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South Florida Statistics

Haitian Median Household Incomes and Populations in Cities With Large Haitian Populations:

CityIncomePop.Miramar$43,138 4,359North Miami Beach $30,068 7,864Lauderdale Lakes $30,059 4,732Golden Glades $27,500 10,284Pompano Beach $26,458 4,718Lauderhill$26,449 5,034North Miami $26,045 18,656Pinewood$23,901 4,315Fort Lauderdale $23,691 10,869Miami $20,000 18,309SOURCE: The Haitian Community in Miami-Dade: A Growing the Middle Class Supplement, based on the 2000 Census. Study available at www.brookings.edu/metro
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