ITHACA, N.Y. -- From 1980 to 2000, the foreign-born Hispanic, and largely Mexican, population in New York state grew significantly. In a study just released, two Cornell University researchers claim this growing population of immigrants can potentially contribute to community development in upstate New York, where population loss and economic stagnation or decline have been pervasive for decades.

"The growing number of Hispanics is related to the changes in the agricultural workforce in New York and nationwide. Increasing numbers of these farm workers and their families settle in upstate New York communities where they work and then face various challenges and opportunities as they seek to become integrated in the social and economic life of the community," noted Max Pfeffer, Cornell professor of development sociology who co-authored the study "Immigrants and the Community" with Pilar A. Parra, a research associate in Cornell's Division of Nutritional Sciences.

According to Pfeffer and Parra, the Hispanic population in the New York communities studied grew by 69.9 percent between 1980 and 2000, while the African-American population grew by 29.6 percent, and the non-minority population (i.e., people who identify themselves as "white") declined by 2.3 percent. As a result, the ethnic composition of New York's farmworker population became overwhelmingly Hispanic (mostly of Mexican origin) in 2000 compared with predominantly African American in 1989, according to records of the National Farmworker Job Program administered in New York state by Rural Opportunities Inc.

"Community leaders need to address the needs of this growing immigrant population and consider related opportunities for community growth and development," Pfeffer said.

The two researchers studied five communities in the Hudson Valley and in central and northwestern New York. According to the foreign-born farmworkers interviewed, the major challenges to working in New York state are learning English and gaining access to health services, education and training. U.S.-born residents questioned listed jobs, housing and language skills as the main challenges for their communities in settling the new Hispanic immigrants.

The majority of foreign-born farmworkers feel that the communities in which they live are welcoming, but they express mixed feelings about their communities' receptiveness. U.S.-born members of the community, on the other hand, were ambivalent about the population growth and opportunities the newcomers present for stimulating employment and economic growth.

"Immigrants and the Community" is the first in a series of reports based on a four-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Fund for Rural America and is part of a larger effort to identify major population trends and their consequences for rural America.

Related World Wide Web sites: The following website provides additional information on this news release.

"Immigrants and the Community": http://rnyi.cornell.edu/poverty_and_social_inequality/