Sandy Duck, Jennifer Rocha, Veronique LeBlanc, Molly Kooshan and Austin Lepper represent some of the ethnic groups at Attleboro High School. (Staff photo by Martin Gavin) BY RICK FOSTER
SUN CHRONICLE STAFF (Attleboro, Massachusetts, USA)
On Park Street, shoppers can now pick up groceries at a Latino market or buy the newspaper at an Asian-owned convenience store.
Above the principal's office door at Attleboro High School, a sign reads `` Welcome'' in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Khmer, the language spoken in Cambodia.
And in neighborhoods and workplaces throughout Attleboro, Hispanic and Asian workers, renters and landlords are more visible than ever before.
Time was when Attleboro more closely resembled a suburb than a city, with a predominantly white, blue-collar to middle-class population whose culture evoked white, Anglo-Saxon influences.
But increasing diversity, spurred by a spike in immigration from Asian and Central American countries, is rapidly giving the Jewelry City a new look.
`` You look around and the changes are obvious,'' said Don Smyth, a member of the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority and Friends of Attleboro Interested in Revitalization, a local booster group. `` You see the different people and cultures. I think it's making Attleboro a more interesting place to live.''
From 1990 to 2000, the city's Hispanic population increased 60 percent, to 1,805 people, according to adjusted federal census figures. The number of Asians increased 72 percent, to 1,569 people during the same period.
Attleboro's much smaller African-American population also increased dramatically during the 1990s, from 365 to 814 people, according to a report compiled for the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston -- a jump of 123 percent. The figure includes both blacks who identified themselves in census statistics as African-American only -- 691 people -- and those who listed themselves as multiracial.
All-in-all, nonwhites made up 11 percent of Attleboro's population in 2000, up from 7 percent only 10 years earlier.
That change appears to be accelerating.
Between 2000 and 2005, the percentage of white students in the city's school system has dropped from 86.74 percent to 83.66 percent, according to figures provided by the superintendent's office.
At the same time, Hispanics grew from 4.6 percent to 8.4 percent of total enrollment and the percentage of African-Americans increased from 2.66 to 4.1 percent.
Asians as a portion of enrollment actually dropped to 4.8 percent in 2005, compared with 5.8 percent in 2000.
Much of the demographic change, officials say, stems from a large influx of immigrants from Central America, along with smaller numbers from East and South Asia, Africa and Europe.
Blacks and other minorities also are arriving from the Boston metropolitan area, whose traditionally more diverse population is now moving outward to the suburbs.
The ongoing changes have elicited surprisingly little notice from Attleboro residents, who have traditionally welcomed minority groups and others seeking opportunity.
`` Attleboro has always been a melting pot,'' said Bill Donlevy, who runs Comprehensive Social Services of Attleboro, which provides language and citizenship training for immigrants.
Early in the last century, French Canadians arrived in numbers to fill plentiful factory jobs. They were eventually followed by newcomers from Portugal, Puerto Rico and Southeast Asia.
For immigrants and minorities, the city's East Side provided relatively cheap housing and city factories made available low-skill jobs that served as the bottom rung on a climb to economic well being and social status.
As one wave of immigrants followed another, previous waves took advantage of their economic gains to become homeowners, professionals and business owners.
That's a process that has traditionally been accepted by Attleboro residents, many of whom are first- and second-generation immigrants.
`` I don't think people here waste a lot of energy on foolish things like racial differences or hate,'' said Max Volterra, a prominent attorney and former Attleboro state representative who immigrated to the United States in 1938 with his parents, fleeing Mussolini's Italy.
In the 1960s, Volterra was part of a human relations group that tried to promote more diversity in the city by trying to attract families of color. They failed.
`` But that seems to be coming true on its own, now,'' he said.
Despite rapid change, city and school officials say racial and ethnic friction has been mercifully infrequent.
`` We occasionally have problems between people of different backgrounds, but usually you find out it started over something else -- not race,'' Attleboro Police Chief Richard Pierce said.
That hasn't always been the case.
In 1995, two self-proclaimed racists killed a black man during an booze and cocaine-laced party at a South Attleboro motel. The killers were later convicted of first degree murder.
In 1999, city police became the targets of suspicion following the mistaken arrest of a 55-year-old black man on a warrant intended for a white suspect. That prompted charges of racial profiling and harassment.
Police and the mayor at the time, Judith Robbins, said the incident was an honest mistake.
Attleboro's escalating numbers of immigrants and minorities parallel a profound change in population trends throughout Massachusetts.
`` From colonial days, Massachusetts has probably never experienced such an incredible influx of races and ethnicities as it is witnessing now,'' said Ali Noorani, a spokesman for the Massachcusetts Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.
Spurred by newcomers from Central and South American countries, Asia and the Middle East, the Massachusetts immigrant population hit a 50-year high in 1999 and continues to expand, according to a report by the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth.
And a significant number of the new arrivals are illegal immigrants.
Of just over 900,000 foreign-born residents in the Bay State, an estimated 175,000 are believed to be here illegally, according to the MassINC report.
But while Massachusetts is rapidly becoming more diverse because of immigration, that change is far from uniform.
According to `` Boston at the Crossroads,'' a study compiled by Harvard University's Guy Stewart, most of the growth occurred in `` satellite cities'' surrounding Boston, including Attleboro, Brockton, Fall River, and New Bedford. Smaller suburban communities, meanwhile, have been much less affected.
Despite its recent upswing in diversity, Attleboro remains largely white.
Whites, whose numbers increased 4 percent to 37,467 people during the 1990s, still constitute an overwhelming majority of the city's population.
As a percentage of overall population, however, their numbers have shrunk from almost 94 percent of the population in 1990 to 89 percent in 2000.
Although immigrants from abroad make up a large part of Attleboro's changing socio-economic landscape, migration from central cities also plays a role in the city's changing makeup.
Victor DeSantis, former director of the Institute for Regional Development at Bridgewater State College, attributed much of the racial and economic change taking place in Attleboro to class shifts as more people from traditionally diverse cities like Boston and Providence seek new homes, opportunities and schools in the more prosperous suburbs.
`` Just as white flight characterized the major cities in the '60s, beginning in the '70s and '80s anyone with the economic means was moving to the suburbs,'' DeSantis said. `` When you come down to it, the migration of minorities to the suburbs is really more a function of class than an issue of ethnicity and race.''
But while more people were arriving in the area from major cities, an even larger number arrived from overseas.
According to census figures, Attleboro's immigrant population jumped 12.9 percent between 1990 and 2000 to 3,745 people -- equating to 8.9 percent of the overall population.
That's a much higher percentage of immigrants than is found other area communities such as North Attleboro, with a 4.4 percent immigrant population, and Norton, with 3.6 percent.
The largest chunk of Attleboro's foreign-born, 23 percent, are Portuguese who began a major wave of immigration here in the 1960s and have remained the city's largest immigrant group.
But the number of Hispanic and Asian immigrants has risen rapidly in recent years, partly as a result of successive waves of immigration from Vietnam, Cambodia and Central America.
According to the latest census figures, newcomers from Guatemala now make up more than 12 percent of Attleboro's immigrant population, while Cambodians now account for 9.9 percent.
By contrast, Indians represent the largest immigrant group in North Attleboro, whose immigrant population grew from 813 people to 1,183 during the 1990s.
By far, the largest numbers of recent immigrants to Attleboro have been those seeking new starts because of wars or poverty in their own countries.
During the 1970s and '80s, large numbers of Vietnamese and Cambodians arrived in Attleboro following the Communist takeover of their homelands. Then, beginning with the 1980s, the Attleboro area began to see a growing number of arrivals from Central America -- particularly Guatemala and El Salvador -- where armed conflict was a continuing threat.
But even as the shooting in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala died down, Central American refugees kept coming.
Now poverty rather than bullets is driving many to seek new opportunities here.
`` Guatemala is a very poor country,'' said Wilma Galvez, a social worker and advocate for Guatemalan refugees in the Boston area.
Guatamala has long been an agrarian nation rich in fertile fields and volcanoes but poor in jobs and industry. The lack of economic vitality forced many to consider leaving for Attleboro and other small New England cities for the prospect of low-cost housing and entry-level service and manufacturing employment.
`` Many of these people are not refugees in the traditional sense, they are economic refugees,'' said Ronald Takaki, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
But the promise of a better future alone has not been enough to improve the lot of those who have come to the Attleboro area seeking opportunity.
According to 2000 census statistics, almost 22 percent of the city's black residents and 12 percent of Hispanics live in poverty -- far more than the 5.7 percent figure for whites and even 9.4 percent for Asians.
Diversity has also had consequences -- particularly in placing additional demands on schools, struggling to adapt to increasing numbers of children who come to class speaking little or no English.
Of the city's 6,186 school children enrolled in pre-kindergarten through grade 12, students now speak a total of 36 languages besides English, ranging from Spanish to Ukrainian and Tagalog.
Although bilingual classes were abolished under the 1993 state education reform law, the city still provides English as a second language and English language learner assistance to students making the transition to English from their native tongues.
In addition, the city provides ESL classes to non-English-speaking adults, mostly through state and federally funded programs and private agencies like the Literacy Center.
Many officials see Attleboro's immigration surge as a source of strength.
Comprehensive Social Services' Donlevy said successive waves of Portuguese, Asian and Hispanic immigrants have put their stamp on the city by becoming landlords and business owners.
`` In the 1990s, a lot of the multifamily homes along Pine Street were owned by absentee landlords,'' said Donlevy. Now, he says, those homes have been fixed up by owner-occupants who take increased pride in their properties.
Immigrant-owned businesses exert an increased presence in the downtown area, including the Guatelinda Bakery on Union Street and a small Guatemalan restaurant and a Hispanic market on Pine Street.
Lower-priced real estate, better schools and a chance for economic mobility have exerted a strong pull for Central Americans and other immigrants, Donlevy said.
`` Some three-families on the East side can still be bought for in the neighborhood of $329,000,'' he said. `` That's a lot more than they were a few years ago, but compared with someplace like the Boston area, it looks like a bargain.''
In the Attleboros, the influence of newcomers is also readily visible on city streets, in schools and in churches.
In the last few years, many of the storefronts vacated by retailers in downtown Attleboro have been taken over by foreign-born business owners. Small ethnic churches headed by Hispanic and Cambodian pastors have become familiar fixtures in the local faith community.
And while public schools welcome an increasing number if immigrants, new schools like Mansfield's Al Noor Academy have been established to nurture the children of immigrants of the Muslim faith.
Not all immigrants to the Attleboro area come with the intention of making a permanent home here. Commonly, say members of the local Hispanic community, some come with the expectation of working for a few years, saving money, and return home to buy land or support older relatives.
Often, however, those plans are changed by marriage, job opportunities or a perceived lack of opportunity back home.
`` A lot of people came here initially on work permits and then decided to stay,'' said Donlevy.
Above the principal's office door at Attleboro High School, a sign reads `` Welcome'' in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Khmer, the language spoken in Cambodia.
And in neighborhoods and workplaces throughout Attleboro, Hispanic and Asian workers, renters and landlords are more visible than ever before.
Time was when Attleboro more closely resembled a suburb than a city, with a predominantly white, blue-collar to middle-class population whose culture evoked white, Anglo-Saxon influences.
But increasing diversity, spurred by a spike in immigration from Asian and Central American countries, is rapidly giving the Jewelry City a new look.
`` You look around and the changes are obvious,'' said Don Smyth, a member of the Attleboro Redevelopment Authority and Friends of Attleboro Interested in Revitalization, a local booster group. `` You see the different people and cultures. I think it's making Attleboro a more interesting place to live.''
From 1990 to 2000, the city's Hispanic population increased 60 percent, to 1,805 people, according to adjusted federal census figures. The number of Asians increased 72 percent, to 1,569 people during the same period.
Attleboro's much smaller African-American population also increased dramatically during the 1990s, from 365 to 814 people, according to a report compiled for the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston -- a jump of 123 percent. The figure includes both blacks who identified themselves in census statistics as African-American only -- 691 people -- and those who listed themselves as multiracial.
All-in-all, nonwhites made up 11 percent of Attleboro's population in 2000, up from 7 percent only 10 years earlier.
That change appears to be accelerating.
Between 2000 and 2005, the percentage of white students in the city's school system has dropped from 86.74 percent to 83.66 percent, according to figures provided by the superintendent's office.
At the same time, Hispanics grew from 4.6 percent to 8.4 percent of total enrollment and the percentage of African-Americans increased from 2.66 to 4.1 percent.
Asians as a portion of enrollment actually dropped to 4.8 percent in 2005, compared with 5.8 percent in 2000.
Much of the demographic change, officials say, stems from a large influx of immigrants from Central America, along with smaller numbers from East and South Asia, Africa and Europe.
Blacks and other minorities also are arriving from the Boston metropolitan area, whose traditionally more diverse population is now moving outward to the suburbs.
The ongoing changes have elicited surprisingly little notice from Attleboro residents, who have traditionally welcomed minority groups and others seeking opportunity.
`` Attleboro has always been a melting pot,'' said Bill Donlevy, who runs Comprehensive Social Services of Attleboro, which provides language and citizenship training for immigrants.
Early in the last century, French Canadians arrived in numbers to fill plentiful factory jobs. They were eventually followed by newcomers from Portugal, Puerto Rico and Southeast Asia.
For immigrants and minorities, the city's East Side provided relatively cheap housing and city factories made available low-skill jobs that served as the bottom rung on a climb to economic well being and social status.
As one wave of immigrants followed another, previous waves took advantage of their economic gains to become homeowners, professionals and business owners.
That's a process that has traditionally been accepted by Attleboro residents, many of whom are first- and second-generation immigrants.
`` I don't think people here waste a lot of energy on foolish things like racial differences or hate,'' said Max Volterra, a prominent attorney and former Attleboro state representative who immigrated to the United States in 1938 with his parents, fleeing Mussolini's Italy.
In the 1960s, Volterra was part of a human relations group that tried to promote more diversity in the city by trying to attract families of color. They failed.
`` But that seems to be coming true on its own, now,'' he said.
Despite rapid change, city and school officials say racial and ethnic friction has been mercifully infrequent.
`` We occasionally have problems between people of different backgrounds, but usually you find out it started over something else -- not race,'' Attleboro Police Chief Richard Pierce said.
That hasn't always been the case.
In 1995, two self-proclaimed racists killed a black man during an booze and cocaine-laced party at a South Attleboro motel. The killers were later convicted of first degree murder.
In 1999, city police became the targets of suspicion following the mistaken arrest of a 55-year-old black man on a warrant intended for a white suspect. That prompted charges of racial profiling and harassment.
Police and the mayor at the time, Judith Robbins, said the incident was an honest mistake.
Attleboro's escalating numbers of immigrants and minorities parallel a profound change in population trends throughout Massachusetts.
`` From colonial days, Massachusetts has probably never experienced such an incredible influx of races and ethnicities as it is witnessing now,'' said Ali Noorani, a spokesman for the Massachcusetts Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.
Spurred by newcomers from Central and South American countries, Asia and the Middle East, the Massachusetts immigrant population hit a 50-year high in 1999 and continues to expand, according to a report by the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth.
And a significant number of the new arrivals are illegal immigrants.
Of just over 900,000 foreign-born residents in the Bay State, an estimated 175,000 are believed to be here illegally, according to the MassINC report.
But while Massachusetts is rapidly becoming more diverse because of immigration, that change is far from uniform.
According to `` Boston at the Crossroads,'' a study compiled by Harvard University's Guy Stewart, most of the growth occurred in `` satellite cities'' surrounding Boston, including Attleboro, Brockton, Fall River, and New Bedford. Smaller suburban communities, meanwhile, have been much less affected.
Despite its recent upswing in diversity, Attleboro remains largely white.
Whites, whose numbers increased 4 percent to 37,467 people during the 1990s, still constitute an overwhelming majority of the city's population.
As a percentage of overall population, however, their numbers have shrunk from almost 94 percent of the population in 1990 to 89 percent in 2000.
Although immigrants from abroad make up a large part of Attleboro's changing socio-economic landscape, migration from central cities also plays a role in the city's changing makeup.
Victor DeSantis, former director of the Institute for Regional Development at Bridgewater State College, attributed much of the racial and economic change taking place in Attleboro to class shifts as more people from traditionally diverse cities like Boston and Providence seek new homes, opportunities and schools in the more prosperous suburbs.
`` Just as white flight characterized the major cities in the '60s, beginning in the '70s and '80s anyone with the economic means was moving to the suburbs,'' DeSantis said. `` When you come down to it, the migration of minorities to the suburbs is really more a function of class than an issue of ethnicity and race.''
But while more people were arriving in the area from major cities, an even larger number arrived from overseas.
According to census figures, Attleboro's immigrant population jumped 12.9 percent between 1990 and 2000 to 3,745 people -- equating to 8.9 percent of the overall population.
That's a much higher percentage of immigrants than is found other area communities such as North Attleboro, with a 4.4 percent immigrant population, and Norton, with 3.6 percent.
The largest chunk of Attleboro's foreign-born, 23 percent, are Portuguese who began a major wave of immigration here in the 1960s and have remained the city's largest immigrant group.
But the number of Hispanic and Asian immigrants has risen rapidly in recent years, partly as a result of successive waves of immigration from Vietnam, Cambodia and Central America.
According to the latest census figures, newcomers from Guatemala now make up more than 12 percent of Attleboro's immigrant population, while Cambodians now account for 9.9 percent.
By contrast, Indians represent the largest immigrant group in North Attleboro, whose immigrant population grew from 813 people to 1,183 during the 1990s.
By far, the largest numbers of recent immigrants to Attleboro have been those seeking new starts because of wars or poverty in their own countries.
During the 1970s and '80s, large numbers of Vietnamese and Cambodians arrived in Attleboro following the Communist takeover of their homelands. Then, beginning with the 1980s, the Attleboro area began to see a growing number of arrivals from Central America -- particularly Guatemala and El Salvador -- where armed conflict was a continuing threat.
But even as the shooting in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala died down, Central American refugees kept coming.
Now poverty rather than bullets is driving many to seek new opportunities here.
`` Guatemala is a very poor country,'' said Wilma Galvez, a social worker and advocate for Guatemalan refugees in the Boston area.
Guatamala has long been an agrarian nation rich in fertile fields and volcanoes but poor in jobs and industry. The lack of economic vitality forced many to consider leaving for Attleboro and other small New England cities for the prospect of low-cost housing and entry-level service and manufacturing employment.
`` Many of these people are not refugees in the traditional sense, they are economic refugees,'' said Ronald Takaki, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
But the promise of a better future alone has not been enough to improve the lot of those who have come to the Attleboro area seeking opportunity.
According to 2000 census statistics, almost 22 percent of the city's black residents and 12 percent of Hispanics live in poverty -- far more than the 5.7 percent figure for whites and even 9.4 percent for Asians.
Diversity has also had consequences -- particularly in placing additional demands on schools, struggling to adapt to increasing numbers of children who come to class speaking little or no English.
Of the city's 6,186 school children enrolled in pre-kindergarten through grade 12, students now speak a total of 36 languages besides English, ranging from Spanish to Ukrainian and Tagalog.
Although bilingual classes were abolished under the 1993 state education reform law, the city still provides English as a second language and English language learner assistance to students making the transition to English from their native tongues.
In addition, the city provides ESL classes to non-English-speaking adults, mostly through state and federally funded programs and private agencies like the Literacy Center.
Many officials see Attleboro's immigration surge as a source of strength.
Comprehensive Social Services' Donlevy said successive waves of Portuguese, Asian and Hispanic immigrants have put their stamp on the city by becoming landlords and business owners.
`` In the 1990s, a lot of the multifamily homes along Pine Street were owned by absentee landlords,'' said Donlevy. Now, he says, those homes have been fixed up by owner-occupants who take increased pride in their properties.
Immigrant-owned businesses exert an increased presence in the downtown area, including the Guatelinda Bakery on Union Street and a small Guatemalan restaurant and a Hispanic market on Pine Street.
Lower-priced real estate, better schools and a chance for economic mobility have exerted a strong pull for Central Americans and other immigrants, Donlevy said.
`` Some three-families on the East side can still be bought for in the neighborhood of $329,000,'' he said. `` That's a lot more than they were a few years ago, but compared with someplace like the Boston area, it looks like a bargain.''
In the Attleboros, the influence of newcomers is also readily visible on city streets, in schools and in churches.
In the last few years, many of the storefronts vacated by retailers in downtown Attleboro have been taken over by foreign-born business owners. Small ethnic churches headed by Hispanic and Cambodian pastors have become familiar fixtures in the local faith community.
And while public schools welcome an increasing number if immigrants, new schools like Mansfield's Al Noor Academy have been established to nurture the children of immigrants of the Muslim faith.
Not all immigrants to the Attleboro area come with the intention of making a permanent home here. Commonly, say members of the local Hispanic community, some come with the expectation of working for a few years, saving money, and return home to buy land or support older relatives.
Often, however, those plans are changed by marriage, job opportunities or a perceived lack of opportunity back home.
`` A lot of people came here initially on work permits and then decided to stay,'' said Donlevy.
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