Mayor’s Hispanic Latino Initiative, Durham, North Carolina

This initiative has been identified as a good immigrant integration practice by the NLC. Click here to find all about the other programs!

Located in central North Carolina, Durham is a city of 212,789 people. Fifteen percent of this population is foreign-born.

Started on July 26, 2002, the Mayor’s Hispanic Latino Initiative seeks to reduce the high number of violent crimes against Hispanics by building a stronger partnership among the Hispanic community, the city government, and police. Strategies developed to reach this goal include:

• Increasing the level of police activity in targeted Latino neighborhoods
• Integrating Latinos into the community by developing neighborhood capacity and breaking down barriers to community services, governmental institutions and employment opportunities
• Decreasing potential friction between Latinos and other population groups by promoting understanding of cultural differences

An increased level of police activity in Latino neighborhoods has served to deter violent crime, while crime prevention meetings with the Hispanic community established clear lines of communication and improved community relations.

The city has also seen a reported increase in Spanish language employees and in Spanish-speaking police officers thanks to outreach efforts and Spanish language employment fairs

Additional outreach includes:

• Spanish Language Citizens Police Academies
• Spanish language Neighborhood Watch Programs
• Development of a multidisciplinary outreach team
• Basketball and soccer games among police officers and the community
• Police diversity training addressing Latino culture
• Special information distributed to the Latino community on topics ranging from DWI to the use of firecrackers

For more information about the Mayor’s Hispanic Latino Initiative, please contact Yvonne Pena, human relations director, at (919) 560-4107 or Yvonne.Pena@durhamnc.gov.