Latino Pittsburgh!<\/p>\n
[Music Plays] We have everything in Spanish!<\/p>\n
It is an extremely exciting time!<\/p>\n
A time in the Pittsburgh region when finally [Speaking Spanish] We’re hearing Spanish more often.<\/p>\n
We’re enjoying authentic Mexican food and welcoming more and more Latino neighbors.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh so far compared to similar sized cities, has had a next to nothing Latino population.<\/p>\n
But that is changing the jurisdiction, says Lourdes Sanchez Ridge, a respected attorney at a large downtown firm and a board member of the Greater Pittsburgh Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n
It is the only growing ethnic population.<\/p>\n
It is the only growing population in western Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
What are the numbers?<\/p>\n
Well, the last real numbers that we have is, of course, the census.<\/p>\n
And that was the 2000 census.<\/p>\n
At that time, there were about a little bit over 17,000 people in the metropolitan area.<\/p>\n
Now we don’t have the numbers, but I know there has been some studies as far as the birth rate here in Allegheny County and has tripled in the past two years.<\/p>\n
I believe it’s two years.<\/p>\n
And lik I said, you just you just go out and you can see and hear a lot of Spanish being spoken.<\/p>\n
So it’s just in the it’s just in the atmosphere, you know, that they’re there.<\/p>\n
And for Sanchez, rich growing the Latino cultur and population here is personal.<\/p>\n
She was born under the Communist grip in Cuba.<\/p>\n
I lived there for six years.<\/p>\n
My parents actually attempted to leave the country before I was even conceived, and I came when I was six.<\/p>\n
We settled in Miami and there my parents worked.<\/p>\n
From the moment they got here, we came with one suitcase for four people and that was it.<\/p>\n
Sanchez Rich graduated from law school, got married, and she and her husband are raising a family in suburban Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
I’m from believer of the American dream, and now I’m an attorney.<\/p>\n
My brother is a cardiothoracic surgeon in Connecticut, and it’s great.<\/p>\n
I’m the most patriotic person you will ever see.<\/p>\n
And she believes Latinos of any ethnic background can come to the Pittsburgh region to find the American dream.<\/p>\n
And if Pittsburgh’s Beach View neighborhood is any indication, many are finding success.<\/p>\n
Not only has beach views seen a sharp increase in Hispanic neighbors, but take a look.<\/p>\n
There are several authentic markets here.<\/p>\n
This is one of the first!<\/p>\n
Including the Jimenez market, owned by Saul Franco Jimenez.<\/p>\n
We saw all the Mexican style that you cannot find in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
Jimenezs market, offers only authentic Mexican merchandise, canned goods, sauces, specialty peppers, pinatas hanging from the ceiling.<\/p>\n
There are videos and books.<\/p>\n
It’s all in Spanish.<\/p>\n
So this is the bread you were talking about.<\/p>\n
See, it’s like pastry.<\/p>\n
Like the song called Conchas.<\/p>\n
Called Conchas.<\/p>\n
This is like a gun.<\/p>\n
It’s like a cake.<\/p>\n
Like this is like a ho ho, right?<\/p>\n
Yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n
What is that?<\/p>\n
Bimbolete in Mexico.<\/p>\n
Well, we call a native of Guerrero, Mexico he mentions has become so successful here.<\/p>\n
He’s just started another business here in Squirrel Hill, an authentic Mexican restaurant called Mi Mexico.<\/p>\n
He prepares what’s called a tortoise.<\/p>\n
It’s a grilled Mexican roll filled with chorizo.<\/p>\n
That’s spicy Mexican sausage.<\/p>\n
It’s toppe with jalapeno, avocado and more.<\/p>\n
And if that’s not authentic enough, take a look inside.<\/p>\n
Cows tongue tacos.<\/p>\n
Yeah!<\/p>\n
This is steam goats.<\/p>\n
Steam Goats?!<\/p>\n
Yes!<\/p>\n
Can you make tacos with that?<\/p>\n
Yes!<\/p>\n
He says when he arrived in Pittsburgh ten years ago, there were only about 50 Mexican Americans living here.<\/p>\n
And he knew every single one of them.<\/p>\n
Not anymore!<\/p>\n
Do you feel it’s growing?<\/p>\n
Oh, definitely.<\/p>\n
How do you know?<\/p>\n
Because every year I got new customers, and I used to know a lot of them.<\/p>\n
And now everybody can’t.<\/p>\n
I don’t know all of them.<\/p>\n
And every year, it’s more new and new people.<\/p>\n
Why do you think they’re moving to Pittsburgh?<\/p>\n
I would say because a lot of people are moving from Columbus, Chicago because it’s too crowded back there.<\/p>\n
It’s not many jobs.<\/p>\n
And right here because it’s growing.<\/p>\n
They can find job really easy.<\/p>\n
Are Latinos finding jobs in Pittsburgh?<\/p>\n
Yeah, they’re finding along with Beach View in the city of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
The growing Latino populatio is being seen in Washington, PA, Canonsburg, Washington County, New Kensington, Westmoreland County, among other local cities and towns.<\/p>\n
If you know the Hispanic culture we’re very driven by the family.<\/p>\n
We’re very family based.<\/p>\n
And once one person moves, they bring their brother and they bring their sister and they bring everybody else.<\/p>\n
So that is how it’s been growing.<\/p>\n
A little by little.<\/p>\n
But actually now it’s not so little now.<\/p>\n
Now we’re seeing every time.<\/p>\n
I remember coming in here when I first moved here 15 years ago, you couldn’t see anybody or you can hear any Spanish being spoken anywhere.<\/p>\n
[Speaking Spanish] And local companies like PNC are not only planning for an increased Latino population.<\/p>\n
[Speaking Spanish] It’s Spanish speaking.<\/p>\n
Phone center has been up and running for eight years now in an office space in the U.S.<\/p>\n
steel tower downtown [Speaking Spanish] phone center services markets including Pittsburgh, where PNC does business.<\/p>\n
I started working for the bank, and we realized that there was a growing Hispanic population only here in Pittsburgh, but throughout the country, and calls were coming into our call center in Spanish, and we wanted to make a department that was able to service that community.<\/p>\n
More than 13% of the American population is Latino.<\/p>\n
Across the state, in Philadelphia, for example, 11% more than 20% in some cities, similar in size to Pittsburgh and in the Pittsburgh region.<\/p>\n
While it is grown, Latino population here is a little shy of 2% for the first time.<\/p>\n
But Sanchez Ridge believes if local leaders do more to attract this population.<\/p>\n
And while Latinos already here reach out to welcome others, a growing Latin population can become the key to turning around.<\/p>\n
The Pittsburgh region’s overall population decline.<\/p>\n
It will grow.<\/p>\n
It will take a very long time, though.<\/p>\n
We’re not going to see this be another Miami or obviously California explosion.<\/p>\n
There won’t be an explosion.<\/p>\n
Luckily, because we have time now to set up this framework, I believe that it will be something that that will enrich the lives of people here in this community.<\/p>\n
And not only that, Michael, but there’s 41 million Hispanics here in the United States.<\/p>\n
And in five years, they estimate there will be 56 million.<\/p>\n
And right now the Hispanic population spending $700 million.<\/p>\n
And in five years they will be spending $1 trillion.<\/p>\n
Why can’t Pittsburgh get part of that trillion dollars?<\/p>\n
It’s not just the Hispanics here in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
We need to reach out to other Hispanics, and they’re buying power to get that money in here to it’s Pittsburgh, a good place for Latinos.<\/p>\n
Yes, there can be a good plac if they make the right decisions and have the right choices.<\/p>\n
[Music Plays] Jimenez says he’s finding lifelong Pittsburgh residents are embracing their new neighbors and, of course, his authentic food.<\/p>\n
I want something authentic and I like the tacos being soft.<\/p>\n
I like the avocado fresh.<\/p>\n
I like being all types of meat.<\/p>\n
Authentic!<\/p>\n
Absolutely authentic!<\/p>\n
Now we’re seeing a whole lot more, and I just want to raise the awareness that that it is important to have diversity.<\/p>\n
And it’s such a rich culture!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Latino Pittsburgh! [Music Plays] We have everything in Spanish! It is an extremely exciting time! A time in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-265149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}