Beat Memo: Dominican Republic
How many live in the US? In the tristate area? How many in the home country?
Dominican demographic in United States: Since 2000, the Dominican-origin population has increased 159%, growing from 797,000 to 2.1 million over the period. At the same time, the Dominican foreign-born population living in the U.S. grew by 106%, from 543,800 in 2000 to 1.1 million in 2017.
Around 47% of Dominican Americans live in New York state with 41% in New York City alone, close to 40% of all Dominicans in the city live in the Bronx. Rhode Island has the highest percentage of Dominicans in the country and it is the only state where Dominicans are the largest Hispanic group.
However, my focus will be about Dominicans specifically in Washington Heights or actually in Dominican Republic.
What jobs do a significant percentage of them have?
Dominicans are more likely to be employed in service occupations or production, transportation, and material moving occupations.
Dominicans overall have significantly lower incomes compared to the total foreign- and native-born populations. In 2016, households headed by a Dominican immigrant had a median income of $37,000, compared to $54,000 and $58,000 for all immigrant and U.S.-born households, respectively.
Further, in 2016, some 24 percent of Dominican families were living in poverty, a much higher rate than the 9 percent for the U.S. born and 15 percent for immigrant families overall.
Why did they come? When?
Large-scale migration from the Dominican Republic to the United States began in the 1960s, in the wake of economic and political turbulence that occurred after dictator Rafael Trujillo was killed by rebels in 1961 and the U.S. military and other government agencies intervened.
But more recently, Dominican’s come to the United States for the work possibilities and the and opportunity to grow.
What are some major organizations/advocacy groups/resources in this community?
The Juan Pablo Duarte Foundation Community Space
In Washington Heights/Inwood, stores owned or operated by Dominicans stand out as one of the most significant economic phenomena in the area.
List/link the major media houses in the home country.
- El Caribe – daily.
- Hoy – daily.
- Listin Diario – daily.
- El Nacional – evening and Sunday.
- Diario Libre – daily.
How strong are relationships with the home country? How significant are remittances to the home country’s economy?
Dominicans are very prideful of their homeland. They visit very often and stay in touch religiously with folks back home.
In the homeland what is the GDP per capita? Where does that rank in the world?
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Dominican Republic was worth 88.94 billion US dollars in 2019, according to official data from the World Bank and projections from Trading Economics. The GDP value of Dominican Republic represents 0.07 percent of the world economy.
What is the system of government? When did this system come into place? Was there a colonial power? (Or was it the colonial power?)
The Dominican Republic is a representative democracy, where the President of the Dominican Republic functions as both the head of the government and head of the multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the bicameral National Congress.
Name of the NY consul general. How long has he/she been in the role?
Eligio Jaquez, since July 2020.
Possible story ideas:
First Story: What life is like as a med student in Dominican Republic with low resources in hospitals. And how the coronavirus has affected their day to day routine and if online learning has affected the process in any way.
Second story: Related to a Dominican owned business here in Washington heights. How has coronavirus affected the business and has the community being so tight knit helped it stay afloat.
Third Story: I don’t have a concrete idea on this, but I want to write on how tourism has been affected in Dominican Republic.
Sources:
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/immigrants-dominican-republic-united-states-2012
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19286985
https://tradingeconomics.com/dominican-republic/gdp