Census Gives Miami Good News & Bad

Posted by Julia Klaiber on December 21, 2010

With the 2010 Census now published, stories about how we’ve fared in the first decade of the 21st century are popping up everywhere.

In Miami, where key demographic indicators held steady since 2000, education indicators are the big story. A December 18 Miami Herald article reveals the Miami-Dade metro area has seen a nine percent increase in high school diploma holders (from 68 to 77 percent) and a four percent increase in attainment of at least a bachelor's degree (from 22 to 26 percent).

Unfortunately, these gains reflect big disparities in educational attainment among ethnic and racial groups. Miami Dade College president and CEOs for Cities partner Eduardo Padrón is quoted in the article, stating plainly:

"This is not a Hispanic problem or an African American problem. It's an American problem. A much larger proportion of our work force is going to be Hispanic and African American. If these people are not prepared to assume the jobs that are being created in the 21st-century `knowledge economy,' the country is in for real serious problems.''

Padrón citied CEOs for Cities Talent Dividend research, which has calculated the economic impact of boosting college attainment by one percentage point as worth $2.3 billion in personal income to the Miami metro. Read the full article here.

We hope to build on this dialogue when on February 3, together with our partners at Florida International University, CEOs for Cities hosts The Miami Brain Trust where we intend to explore how the city's collective and catalytic leadership is transforming Miami as a place where all its citizens can imagine a better future in the 21st century.