The Census Bureau has projected that by the year 2050 approximately one-half of our country's population will no longer be white and of European ancestry. This growth in non-white populations can be credited not only to larger families and higher birth rates among these populations, but also to immigration. Latinos are the fastest growing population and are now virtually equal in size to African Americans for the first time in United States history. It is difficult to get a complete picture of these various communities because of the multiracial categories the census introduced in the last decade. The census projects that by 2050, Latinos will comprise as much as 25 percent of the total United States population.
Clearly diversity is no longer paradigm of black and white.
Taken as a whole, these four racial-ethnic populations have distinguishing factors that should be considered when designing outreach programs. First and foremost, these populations are extraordinarily dynamic. Younger than the white non-Hispanic population, these diverse populations still experience high rates of poverty, but rates of those entering professions and starting new businesses are also high. As these statistics indicate, it is clear many people of color have still not attained the income levels of the majority population. Many still live in poverty.