Iowa to follow Storm Lake's lead in diversity

STORM LAKE, Ia. – For a glimpse of what Iowa might look like 45 years in the future, stroll down the streets today of this seat of Buena Vista County, the most racially and ethnically diverse in Iowa.

By 2060, Iowa on average could be just as diverse, according to an analysis of demographic data by USA TODAY and The Des Moines Register.

Buena Vista County has a Diversity Index rating of 49, which means that a person of any racial or ethnic background has about a 50-50 chance that the next person he or she meets will be someone of a different race. By 2060, Iowa as a whole is predicted to have a Diversity Index rating of 47.

It's part of a phenomena happening across the country. Places far removed from traditional urban gateways are rapidly becoming some of the most diverse places in America.

In practical terms seen through daily life in Storm Lake, it means growth in the local economy and in school enrollments. Officials say it also has brought an understanding of a wide variety of people and cultures and one heck of an annual Fourth of July parade.

"It all comes together on the Fourth of July, when everybody is wearing their native dress and marching proudly as they celebrate both where they came from and their home," said Mark Prosser, Storm Lake public safety director. "We've got so many cultures here it is amazing. Hispanic, Asian, African, Native American, Dutch ... it goes on and on. It's beautiful to see."

Storm Lake public schools are more than 80 percent non-white, with 18 languages spoken. The parochial schools are nearly 50 percent non-white. Iowa Central Community College, which teaches English to adults, helps residents who speak as many as 35 different native languages.

The Villager, a longtime family restaurant in Storm Lake, serves all the traditional Iowa foods — from pork tenderloins to rhubarb pie — but also offers a full menu of Mexican dishes of enchiladas, burritos and tacos.

Sara Huddleston, a native of Mexico, remembers a very different Storm Lake when she moved here in 1989 to work at Buena Vista University. She met and married a Storm Lake man. When the couple visited her family in Mexico, they remarked on her size.

"They all said, 'Oh, you've lost so much weight,' " she recalled. "It was because I couldn't find the tortillas and chilies and spices I was used to cooking with. Now, you can get those at any grocery store here."

Public access signs in the community are often in two languages: English and Spanish. Police, paramedics and other public service agencies have bilingual officers and staff, useful to handle emergencies and to make daily life easier throughout the entire community.

The changing face of Iowa will come with challenges, but if faced openly and earnestly, communities will become stronger than before, leaders say.

"The biggest issue is understanding cultural competency," said Carl Turner, Storm Lake schools superintendent. "The sooner you understand people, where they come from, what their traditions are, the sooner you see how they enrich your community and make it a special place."

The wave of diversity will not land equally across the state. Many counties will remain largely white in the coming half century, according to the USA TODAY/Des Moines Register analysis.

Butler County, which is 98 percent white today, is expected to remain largely the same for the next 45 years.

While Iowa will be more diverse than it has ever been by 2060, it will still be among of the least diverse states in the nation. Iowa has ranked at the bottom 10 of states in diversity since 1960 and will continue to do so through 2060.

For example, Iowa's predicted Diversity Index of 47 by 2060 is identical to that of Mississippi in 1980.

Economic factors are the most powerful drivers of immigration (people moving to Iowa from another country) and migration (people moving to Iowa from other states), said Liesl Earthington, an Iowa State University economics assistant scientist who studies labor trends.

"The state's diversity is going to depend a lot on what kinds of industries are strong or weak here," she said. "Ag industries such as meat packing draw a minority population from Mexico and Central America as well as Texas, California and the Southwest."

In Storm Lake, for example, the changes in the meat-packing industry propel the story of the city's evolution. In 1981, Hygrade Food Corp. closed its plant, which employed about 500. The jobs paid an average of $30,000 — equivalent to almost $87,000 in 2014 dollars. The loss of income smashed the local economy.

"In 1981, you were wondering if there was going to be a Storm Lake," said Art Cullen, a Storm Lake native and editor of the Storm Lake Times. "We thought we might blow up and drift away."

However, population diversification based on economic trends can backfire. African-Americans moved north during World War II through the 1950s to Detroit, St. Louis and other cities to make automobiles and work in other factories.

But when the manufacturing economy collapsed, many cities were left destitute, with large populations of people with neither jobs nor family ties to the region, who put great strain on shrinking city services in the midst of a shrinking tax base.

"If those agribusiness draws fade, the populations will move on and growth will stop," said Dave Peters, an Iowa State University sociologist who studies demographic shifts.

Tyson Foods and Sara Lee both operate major meat-packing operations in Storm Lake.

When IBP, now a subsidiary of Tyson, bought the Hygrade plant and opened its pork-processing plant in Storm Lake in 1982, its workforce was largely comprised of Tai Dam refugees brought to Iowa from war-torn Southeast Asia.

Since 1985, the majority of packing workers in Storm Lake have been of Latino traditions or Lao refugees, according to research by Mark Grey, University of Northern Iowa anthropologist.

The new IBP jobs were not unionized and paid far less. Few of the former Hygrade workers, who were mostly white, worked for the IBP operation. Some bitterness — and racism toward the newcomers — lingers even today, officials acknowledge.

"Racism is alive and well in Storm Lake," said Prosser, the public safety chief. "But I'm proud to say it is in no way the majority of this community. It exists, but we have worked hard as a city to make sure this is a place of tolerance and acceptance. I believe it is."

That should provide some hope to small Iowa communities who have suffered population declines for more than 30 years.

"We have a lot here in Storm Lake that a lot of communities our size would love to see," Cullen said. "We've got a lot of retail, growing schools — they're putting on a $20 million addition to the high school right now. Put that against a lot of these towns that are closing schools and merging schools and shuttering up downtown."

Added Cullen: "If Iowa looks more like Storm Lake in 45 years, we are very fortunate."