1998 Community Assessment

Community Profile

The examination of social needs in a community must be done in the context of the communitys overall condition. This chapter provides an overview of selected characteristics of the community which significantly influence the resulting social outcomes and the social indicators examined in this assessment.

Recent Demographic Patterns

Growth

The metropolitan area is comprised of five counties, with Travis County at its core and four adjacent counties to the north, east and south. This metropolitan area has grown at an average annual rate of 3.5 percent since 1990. From fewer than 850,000 in 1990, the population in mid-1998 has surpassed 1.1 million. The growth during the decade has been more pronounced in the past four years and the consequences of this growth will begin to be more deeply felt in the near future.

Patterns

The regions growth in the 1990s has not been homogeneous. Rather, the growth has been very diverse and largely from two different groups. Although an accurate and more detailed examination will be possible after data from the upcoming census becomes available, it is now possible to draw some conclusions on the basis of general observations of recent growth. The local economy and its labor demands have tended to attract two contrasting groups of new arrivals. One group is highly educated and trained. These individuals arrive with the resources needed to compete successfully in the economy and to secure housing in the increasingly expensive housing market. By the same measure, the other group is nearly the opposite of the first. These new arrivals are drawn to the Austin area by the labor requirements of the service industries, e.g., construction, hospitality, and others requiring low-wage, low-skilled labor. Most of these workers are Hispanic; some are citizens and some are documented or undocumented resident aliens.

Projected growth

Experts project that the metropolitan areas population will nearly double in a 25-year period, from the mid-1990s to 2020. Such long-term projections are based upon difficult-to-predict events and conditions.

On a short-term basis, however, estimates of population growth are more certain. It is likely that by the time of the 2000 census, the areas population will be near 1.2 million.

Population Shifts

Dispersion

The rapid growth of the past decade has greatly increased urban sprawl and the largest pockets of growth have taken place outside the core of the metro area. From the perspective of social services delivery, an important consequence of this growth is the relative size of the City of Austin and Travis County compared to the entire region. As growth occurs in surrounding counties, the regional population densities will change and the resulting demand for services will shift. Twenty years ago, Travis Countys population was nearly 80 percent of the five-county metropolitan area. Today, it is just above 60 percent. Twenty years from now, Travis County is projected to be less than 50 percent of the metropolitan area. Increased regional cooperation in planning and delivery of services will certainly be required since very large parts of the population will be in the areas closer to the county borders. This pattern will increase the proportion of workers and families who split their work, residence, shopping, schooling, and child care between two or among three counties.

Diversity

The cultural diversity of the Austin area will continue to increase. For example, Travis Countys Hispanic population has steadily increased over the past two decades and is now approaching 25 percent of the population. For the countys current population of young children (age five or younger), Hispanic children are already more than one-third of the countys total. This growth is about equally young families of recent immigrants and young families of US-born, largely assimilated Hispanics.

Other minority populations are also significant. Asians are still a very small group slightly more than three percent of the population but their demographic growth and economic impact is substantial. African-Americans have sustained a stable percentage of the population with growth rates equal to the overall population growth.

New Arrivals

Newcomers to the Austin region also will be significantly represented in the affluent sectors and professional occupations. This pattern will create both challenges and opportunities as these new Austinites integrate into their new community. The sense of belonging and the extent to which newcomers commit their talents and resources toward a new community are two qualities which will be important to monitor and to nurture.

Dilemma of Prosperity

The Perception

The current economic prosperity and perceived attractiveness of the Austin area are highly desirable features that the community can be grateful for and will want to sustain. However, these features produce a false aura of widespread affluence and success with no serious social needs. In recent times, there has been some indication that funding for social services was not provided to the Austin area because other communities were viewed as having greater needs. This perception that there must be no serious problems in a prosperous community can have a significant negative impact on the communitys ability to attract resources for important social needs. This condition requires the adoption of a wiser, more thoughtful approach for defining needs and justifying the need for resources.

An issue related to the regions strong economic prosperity is the potential for residents to expect that anyone who wants to can and should prosper in todays economy. Thus, the extent to which local philanthropy, volunteerism, and public support for social needs keep, or do not keep pace with demand, will be important to monitor.

The Reality

On the contrary, for some, prosperity generates additional areas of need. There is a tendency toward higher stress in many occupations. The increasingly complex urban setting can produce more depression, suicide, alienation and family disintegration. Since these problems can affect all sectors of the community, they can create new needs and new desired outcomes as the community changes.

Social Equity in the Future

Disparity

As we examine indicators in almost all the issue areas, there is clear evidence that a significant part of our community is persistently lacking in critical areas. This group of people are over-represented by minorities and the economically disadvantaged. The particularly challenging fact is that the relative disparity for many social indicators remains the same today as a decade ago. For example, educational level, job earnings, use of preventive health services, and quality of housing are indicators in which minorities and the economically disadvantaged may have improved their absolute status but compared to the community average have remained the same or become worse.

Self Reliance

Another important development that will influence social equity in the future is the actual and perceived movement toward self-reliance and autonomy by the minority communities. This is a complex pattern to address because it can allow a "they do not want help" perception. A creative community can encourage the rising anti-dependency move by providing resources for the effective establishment of processes and systems for self-reliance while continuing to address the significant, continuing real needs of the community. An example of this condition relates to immigrants who may lack adequate knowledge of, and beliefs and attitudes toward, preventive health care. That populations tendency toward self-reliance may be a positive one but it may also keep them from adopting practices that will improve their own and their childrens health.

New Trends

Recently, we have nationally and locally focused on new ways to help the disadvantaged. Welfare-to-work, benefit vouchers, pooled health insurance for low-income families, for example, reflect this focus. As we change the way we define needy populations and how they can be helped, there will be a constant need to monitor how the adjustments are made and what new outcomes result from these changes.

Social Equity

All of these forces and changing conditions will have an impact on the communitys ability to bring about social equity. Old and new concepts will be tested and tried. That conflict between the approval of social support for the disadvantaged and the perceived personal negative impact on ones neighborhood and family will be more deeply felt. Urban planning in the region is moving toward encouraging greater population and development density. Dealing with the "not-in-my-back-yard" ideology will become more important as the areas growth and diversification put greater demands on affordable housing and transportation. Regional alliances and planning, more diverse partnerships among public agencies, and increased numbers of private/public ventures will all be required as we develop solutions for the more complex social and community needs.

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