At the offices, banks and professional buildings of Portland, the young real-estate agent thinks one day he might walk inside and see a reflection of his diverse city.

He is still waiting.

City lacks diversity in key jobs
by Trevor Maxwell
Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
November 21, 2005

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"A lot of companies, they are forgetting about the minority populations,"said Hang, 29, who grew up here and graduated from Portland High School and whose mother fled Cambodia when he was a boy. "We need to catch up," hesaid.

In a city where one in seven people now represents a racial or ethnic minority — and where most of the growth during the next two decades likely will be within those groups — the professional class remains almost entirely white.

That's a problem as Portland competes to hold onto its place as a cultural and economic hub.

Recruiters at businesses and colleges say the class gap hurts their efforts. It makes some residents hesitant to seek legal help or medical treatment. And it pushes away young minorities, who don't find many role models among the city's most respected jobs.

"You look at the professions, and we are not in there yet," said Rebecca Hershey, a student at the University of Maine School of Law in Portland.

After college and working in New York City, she returned to Maine last year and found a vibrant scene in this city, with diverse communities of color that had grown dramatically since she left in 1996.

"People need to own that they are part of a community that excludes," said Hershey, who is black and Latina. Some of her friends struggle to get job interviews, despite holding multiple degrees. She chalks up much of this not to overt racism, but to the traditional networking that goes on in white-collar America.

"We're doing our part by going the traditional route," she said. "At the same time, the employers in this state have to keep up with the rising tideof people in our generation.

"We're not outsiders, we're Mainers," Hershey said.

In 1990, about one in 25 Portland residents belonged to a racial minority, according to U.S. Census figures. By 2000, it was about one in 10. Now social-service agencies say the figure is approaching 10,000 people who are racial or ethnic minorities, about 15 percent of the city's total.

Of the professionals living in the Portland area in 2000, whites represented98 percent of lawyers, 97 percent of nurses, 96 percent of doctors and 98 percent of secondary-school teachers, Census estimates show.

100 percent white

Among the dentists and financial advisers who responded, none was a person of color, so the federal report estimates those professions as 100 percent white.

"One of our goals is to have the look and feel of the community we serve,"said Jason Elliott, head of human resources at Maine Medical Center in Portland, one of the state's largest employers.

While the number of minority workers at Maine Med has roughly doubled since 1998, to about 350 of 5,400 total, only a few are nurses, doctors or administrators.

"Those professions," Elliott said, "are not as diverse as we'd like them to be."

Reza Jalali wonders why the rest of the country seems to be passing Portland by.

"This struggle is not new, it's been going on for decades," said Jalali, a political refugee from Iran who came to Portland in 1985 with degrees in social work and civil engineering.

Jalali has been a reference for minority job applicants. He has networked with companies and started a coalition for minorities to take on issues such as housing and health care. He has served on city and state task forces formed to address the lack of minorities in government and the professions.

The result, Jalali said, was mostly talk.

"It's embarrassing," he said. "We have had enough time to do some mentoring,to make some progress. In the past few years, I feel we've actually gone backwards."

Few changes in police

Nearly a decade ago, the Portland Police Department printed a booklet called "A Kaleidoscope of Cultures" that stressed its commitment to diversity. Former Chief Mike Chitwood told the public that police would aggressively recruit minority candidates.

At the time, all 149 sworn officers were white.

"Police departments have to reflect the community," Chitwood said in May 1996. The chief even proposed giving preference to minorities who passed the civil service exam, an idea that never moved forward.

Since then, two Asians and one black officer have joined the force. The other 152 are white. There are no minority captains, sergeants or lieutenants.

Just this month, the issue surfaced again. Mayor Jill Duson and the local NAACP backed a black candidate from Florida for police chief, but City Manager Joe Gray and most of the city councilors went with Tim Burton, a home-grown white officer who served as the city's acting chief after Chitwood resigned.

"We're tired of the excuses," Jalali said. He has been told over the years that not enough candidates apply or that they don't want to come to Maine because it is too white, or too cold or too small.

If there aren't enough applications, change the ways you reach out, Jalali said. Ask what you might not be doing to attract newcomers.

"If this was really a priority for these departments and employers," he said, "we would see change."

The Portland Public Schools also are having trouble reflecting the communities they serve. The percentage of minority students has tripled since 1995, from 9 percent to 28 percent of the total, or about 2,030 students. An entire office is dedicated to multicultural affairs.

Yet only 1 percent of teachers — eight out of 784 — are minorities. And out of 62 administrators, 60 are white.

"I usually find that I'm the only one, everywhere I go," said Grace Valenzuela, a native of the the Philippines. She heads the multicultural affairs office and helps lead the push for greater diversity within the district.

All Maine employers could do more to reach out to minorities, Valenzuela said, but the problem is more complicated than it might appear.

"We were recruiting a minority teacher from Boston," but the top offer was $20,000 less than her current salary, Valenzuela said. Even factoring the cost of living, the teacher turned Portland down.

While the city compares well economically to the rest of the state, Maine still lags in some key indicators. For household income, Maine ranked 36th in 2003, with a median of $39,838. All other New England states were ranked higher, with New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut in the top five.

Minority grads leave state

Each year Valenzuela watches minority graduates leave for college or to live with family in other states. In time, some return.

"The problem is they don't stay because they can't find jobs," she said.

Not all the blame can fall on the economy.

Tony Nguyen, who owns Mekhong Thai Restaurant on Forest Avenue, loves the city because it is friendly, relaxed and offers a safe place for families.But he does not see much incentive for young minorities to stay.

"In Boston, they have Vietnamese doctors, dentists open seven days a week," said Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee who came to Maine in 1982. Jalali hears those same concerns from Somalis, Sudanese, Cambodians and others.

"If I'm the child of an immigrant, I want to get out and be where people who look like me are running the show, or are at least part of the show," hesaid.

"If I look around and everyone like me seems to be working in a chicken factory or a fish factory or cleaning buildings at night, what are the chances that I go out and get an MBA or become a lawyer?

"It destroys a community because you don't have role models," he said.

Describing to colleagues why diversity really matters, Jalali says you can forget about political correctness.

"This is not about hugging and loving each other, it's about dollars and cents," he said. "From a business point of view, we need them a lot more than they need us."

Major firms like Nike, General Motors and Microsoft have made integration programs part of their core missions, citing research that shows diverse work forces increase productivity and innovation.

Former Gov. Angus King and former Attorney General James Tierney are among those who have stressed the importance of diversifying the professions in Maine.

Employers who can build relationships with diverse clients will be better positioned for the future, economists say.

Census forecasts

That's largely because the demographics in the United States are changing faster than Census forecasters can keep up. By 2025, minorities could make up 40 percent or more of the nation's population, with Hispanics and Asians accounting for most of that growth.

Portland's changing demographics

"If any of the banks did that, Asians would go to them so fast. It all happens through word of mouth," he said.

Elliott of Maine Med said more of that has been happening in the past few years. He pointed to the Diversity Hiring Coalition of Maine, a group of schools, businesses and nonprofit organizations. The coalition, which includes L.L. Bean, MBNA and TD Banknorth, seeks to increase diversity through networking and shared resources.

"I would love to walk into a professional building and see someone of a minority group there," Hang said. "Even to see a receptionist at a doctor'soffice, it's instantly a comfort level."

He grew up in the housing projects at Kennedy Park under the watchful eye of his mother, who worked in a hair and nail salon. Go to school, get a degree, she told him.

At Portland High School, Hang excelled at athletics, earning a track scholarship to West Virginia Wesleyan College.

He considers himself fortunate. If he had not gotten the last-minute scholarship, his path might have been much different. For Hang, college wasa door that opened at just the right time.

When he returned to his home city to live near his mother, he saw old friends working in factories and restaurants. Some were bright and talented but hadn't gone to college and didn't have a network to help them find better jobs.

The challenge, Hang said, is for those people to access higher education and employment that matches their abilities.

"They have tons of potential," he said. "They want to stay here in Portland."

Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at tmaxwell@pressherald.com