Inside Hispanic, Latino populations

2020 Census reveals rapid growth, misperceptions surrounding these diverse groups in Connecticut

The Hispanic and Latino populations in Conn. comprise a wide mix of origins, including Puerto Ricans, the largest, followed by Mexicans, Dominicans, Ecuadorians, Colombians and Guatemalans.”

The results of the 2020 Census confirmed what had already been underway for many years: In Connecticut, the growth of the Hispanic and Latino population is the most striking of any group in the state.

As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to a close this week, an analysis of answers that people who identified as Hispanic or Latino gave to the U.S. Census Bureau shows that as their numbers have grown at a rapid pace, this commu

nity in Connecticut has become increasingly diverse.

The state’s Hispanic and Latino population comprises people from a wide mix of origins. The largest group by far are residents who hail from Puerto Rico, followed by Mexicans, Dominicans, Ecuadorian, Colombians, and Guatemalans.

There are concentrations of Hispanic and Latino residents in large cities and some smaller towns across the state.

The Hispanic and Latino populations are expected to continue to grow in size and political power in Connecticut and nationwide, according to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies in New York. But a study from the center notes the community’s below average economic status, fewer citizens eligible to vote and a population that trends younger translate into under-representation in Connecticut.

This year, 12 out of 151 legislators in the Connecticut House of Representatives are Hispanic or Latino, and just one of the 36 senators are.

But members of Connecticut’s Hispanic and Latino population — including some in its booming cohort of young adults — have been working to change that landscape.

Take for example, Mariza Davila-Madwid whose family moved from Peru to Connecticut under a work visa when she was 13.

That visa expired as she was graduating from Danbury High School, leaving her undocumented and without the right to instate tuition. She took a gap year to fund her first semester of college, and continued to work through school.

She also became an activist alongside peers in similar situations to hers.

“We were lobbying, we were going to a lot of rallies,” she said. “I got very involved, because I knew that this was the only way that we could make a change.”

The Connecticut legislature passed a law granting Dreamers like her the right to in-state tuition in 2011, and Davila-Madwid earned her undergraduate degree from Western Connecticut State University in 2012.

She met her now-husband, an American citizen, while in college, and now teaches Spanish at Bethel High School, where she is also overseeing a new Latino Awareness Club.

Davila-Madwid, who is pregnant, plans to speak Spanish with her children at home.

Still, Hispanic and Latino residents said they continue to face misconceptions about who they are and where they come from.

One such assumption people seem to have is that most of the Hispanic or Latino population is undocumented, said Valeriano Ramos, director of strategic alliances for Hartford-based Everyday Democracy.

In 2017, about 116,000 residents of Connecticut were likely unauthorized, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Around 62 percent came from Central and South America. But the majority are citizens, and many more are either naturalized or were born in Puerto Rico or another U.S. territory. Ramos, for example, was born in New York City and grew up in Puerto Rico.

Another misconception: Melia Bensussen, artistic director of the Hartford Stage, said a shared language often implies there is one community that fits the description of “Hispanic.”

For instance, Bensussen, who grew up in Mexico City, might use the terms “Latinx” and “Latinidad” to describe much the same populace that the Census categorizes as “Hispanic or Latino.”

In Bensussen’s experience living in several large cities, the reality is much more complex than that.

Hispanic and Latino residents are also urging for more support to be provided to the state’s growing population of youths who belong to a Hispanic or Latino family.

In the last decade, about 32,000 Hispanic or Latino children were born in or moved to Connecticut, the most of any racial or ethnic group.

The state and its schools have an imperative to provide those children with opportunities as well as Spanish-language classes, Ramos said.

While some children live in neighborhoods where they’ll hear Spanish at the bodega or from their neighbors, many others are scattered across communities less dense with Hispanic language and culture, he said.

“It’s up to the schools to try to encourage them to continue learning the language,” Ramos said. “Schools are making some effort, but they could do more. Community based-organizations, I think, are doing a lot these days to try to preserve the culture.”

Some are also working to boost economic and business ownership opportunities for Hispanic and Latino residents.

Per capita, Hispanic and Latino people on average earned roughly $27,000 less in Connecticut than whites in 2019, according to Census surveys. That figure has increased by about 26 percent since 2010.

Opportunity is exactly what Ruth Alustiza is trying to provide through the business she works as an executive director for, Newington-based Latin Financial. The company specializes in business loans and cash advances particularly for people from Puerto Rico.

Alustiza, who is Puerto Rican, said many of the customers she works with lack financial opportunities or the know-how to start their own businesses. Latin Financial funds all kinds of companies, she said, naming pharmacies, gas stations and spas as a few common ones.

Others, like Bensussen, are trying to help people to understand themselves and their communities better through the arts, theater and storytelling.

The theater that Bensussen oversees is putting on its first live performances since the beginning of the pandemic in the coming week.

“This is the great gift of being mostly out of the pandemic,” she said. “It allows us to breathe and commune and hear stories together, that help to enlighten us about all aspects of our humanity.”