Moving from NYC Burbs to MD/DC/NOVA - Biracial Family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rent in Capitol Hill near Eastern Market. Coming from Brooklyn this is your best option. The PK3 programs are all good. You may not get into your IB but you will probably get in somewhere when she is 3. That buys you several years to decide whether long-term city living with kids suits you. We love it here but I get families who move in the upper grades. We've been doing a mix of public and private depending on what each kid needs.

This.

Yes, this. If one of you works in Arlington and one near Union Station then this is a no brainer: Capitol Hill. It has the diversity you want, the metro commute, the walkable Brooklyn style lifestyle, and the schools at least for a few years (until grade 5 if you move in boundary for Brent). Charter schools too.

All these other places are very nice and diverse (Crestwood, SP, Rockville, SS) but the commute will destroy your soul, especially if you insist on public transit.

I think the Hill would be good location-wise, but it won't have at least 10% middle/upper SES AAs. Crestwood and Rockville check that box, but won't necessarily be walkable and Metro-accessible. Will be hard to meet all of OP's requirements with any neighborhood, so she'll have to decide what her priorities are.

Are you kidding? Of course it would. Maybe not 30-40% UMC but certainly both some UMC and MC AA families. Many have lived here for generations. It's true some of my UMC AA neighbors send their kids to private though.

PP here. I'm AA myself and I know plenty of middle and upper middle class AA families in Shepherd Park, Crestwood, and Rockville areas. I only know one such remaining family *with school-aged children* on the Hill (I know one other family but they recently moved to a different part of DC given that middle school was on the horizon). The Hill is great in many ways but has always been sort of weird to me because of it being mostly upper SES white families but lower SES/impoverished AA families.

I live on the Hill and I'd say the one exception to this is biracial families. I can think of lots of families with one white and one AA or one white, one Latino parent.

[Anonymous]

None of these areas people are listing are at least 10% AA middle/upper class. OP, that is a unicorn in VA and DC.

[Anonymous]

We live in Fairfax Alexandria by Kingstowne and this area is pretty diverse. There are tons of biracial families - white/black, white/Asian, white/Hispanic. Our elementary school is like 40% white, 15% black, 20% Hispanic, 15% Asian. On our block, we have 3 African-American middle class families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cheverly, MD, would give you the metro commute, diversity, and budget that you want. It is walkable but not as many amenities as some of these options. Schools would be fine through elementary. And it's very charming.

This poster is right. The neighborhood would be great for you. Quite diverse, but not a lot of amenities. However, we do love living here and having such an involved neighborhood is worth it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cheverly, MD, would give you the metro commute, diversity, and budget that you want. It is walkable but not as many amenities as some of these options. Schools would be fine through elementary. And it's very charming.

This poster is right. The neighborhood would be great for you. Quite diverse, but not a lot of amenities. However, we do love living here and having such an involved neighborhood is worth it!

I also live in Cheverly and love it, but other than being racially diverse, it's nothing like what the OP's looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't live in MD if you will work in Arlington. Live in DC (although unless you're in Capital Hill, that commute will suck too). Check out the Kent Gardens neighborhood and school in Mean. Lots of diversity including AA/white biracial kids.

Huh? The school is 66% white and only 3% AA.
http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:13:::NO:0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P0_EDSL:036,0

34%non white is quite diverse in an upper SES neighborhood, although you are correct on the AA numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would consider Del Ray or Rosemont in the City of Alexandria.

Don't listen to those who would suggest Arlington. North Arlington is the whitest part of NoVa and very segregated; South Arlington is seriously unattractive. Coming from a cute town like Maplewood, you would wake up every morning and think you'd moved to a bad neighborhood in Union or Rahway.

Alexandria is an interesting city and will give you a pretty easy commute to Union Station and Arlington Courthouse (although the traffic within Alexandria is quite horrible). You would be able to walk to the King Street Metro from many parts of Rosemont. And while I appreciate the shout out re Rosemont being diverse, I have to say I think we are the only biracial (or AA, for that matter) family in the area. On the other hand, we've lived here for 30+ years and we love our home and the life we have created here. There are quite a few military and retired military in the area, which really helps with keeping the culture from being too insular.

Del Ray or Old Town are probably more diverse street by street but there are pros and cons to both. If you do look at someplace like Old Town or Del Ray, be very sure that there is off-street parking and that you have some sort of yard or outside play space for your little one. Another poster mentioned Kingstown and that sounded interesting but the commute would probably double.

You also could look south of Alexandria in the Fort Hunt section of Alexandria. For $900K you could get a wonderfully large house in Villamay with a very large lot and you would only be adding 5 minutes max to your commute (one of my sibs lives there and our kids carpool so we have the timing down pat). Also, lots of military in Villamay so, again, a more diverse and open culture. My sister and her family (all Caucasian) love the community feel in Villamay. If we were to pick up and move that would be the place we would go. The trade-off is that you would need to drive to the Huntington Metro if you wanted to take the metro to Arlington Courthouse.

Regardless of which location you choose, you probably will want to look at parochial or private schools for your child. Some of the public elementary schools are okay but Alexandria (City of and Fairfax County) doesn't seem to have very many good options for middle school or high school.

I hope this information helps! Good luck in your search and your move!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of these areas people are listing are at least 10% AA middle/upper class. OP, that is a unicorn in VA and DC.

Crestwood is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these areas people are listing are at least 10% AA middle/upper class. OP, that is a unicorn in VA and DC.

Crestwood is.

Yep.

Crestwood is about 50/50.

I agree it's probably not as walkable as you might want. We walk pretty much everywhere but we're also willing to walk a mile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rent in Capitol Hill near Eastern Market. Coming from Brooklyn this is your best option. The PK3 programs are all good. You may not get into your IB but you will probably get in somewhere when she is 3. That buys you several years to decide whether long-term city living with kids suits you. We love it here but I get families who move in the upper grades. We've been doing a mix of public and private depending on what each kid needs.

This.

Yes, this. If one of you works in Arlington and one near Union Station then this is a no brainer: Capitol Hill. It has the diversity you want, the metro commute, the walkable Brooklyn style lifestyle, and the schools at least for a few years (until grade 5 if you move in boundary for Brent). Charter schools too.

All these other places are very nice and diverse (Crestwood, SP, Rockville, SS) but the commute will destroy your soul, especially if you insist on public transit.

I think the Hill would be good location-wise, but it won't have at least 10% middle/upper SES AAs. Crestwood and Rockville check that box, but won't necessarily be walkable and Metro-accessible. Will be hard to meet all of OP's requirements with any neighborhood, so she'll have to decide what her priorities are.

Are you kidding? Of course it would. Maybe not 30-40% UMC but certainly both some UMC and MC AA families. Many have lived here for generations. It's true some of my UMC AA neighbors send their kids to private though.

PP here. I'm AA myself and I know plenty of middle and upper middle class AA families in Shepherd Park, Crestwood, and Rockville areas. I only know one such remaining family *with school-aged children* on the Hill (I know one other family but they recently moved to a different part of DC given that middle school was on the horizon). The Hill is great in many ways but has always been sort of weird to me because of it being mostly upper SES white families but lower SES/impoverished AA families.

I live on the Hill and I'd say the one exception to this is biracial families. I can think of lots of families with one white and one AA or one white, one Latino parent.

NP here, we're an U/MC African American family on the Hill, I agree not terribly common but not a unicorn situation either, including at school. A good number of the U/MC AA families (along with a few white and biracial) at my DC's school live in the nice neighborhoods east of the river. So not exactly on the Hill but not much further away.

[Anonymous]

Mixed race family - AA/White with DD. Live in 20816 on border of D.C and MD near Western Ave. 10 min walk to red line Friendship Heights metro. 20 min morning drive to Arlington. Great neighborhood. Homes run around 800-1M+. Great schools, lovely neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these areas people are listing are at least 10% AA middle/upper class. OP, that is a unicorn in VA and DC.

Crestwood is.

Shepherd Park too.

[Anonymous]

NP here, we're an U/MC African American family on the Hill, I agree not terribly common but not a unicorn situation either, including at school. A good number of the U/MC AA families (along with a few white and biracial) at my DC's school live in the nice neighborhoods east of the river. So not exactly on the Hill but not much further away.

I'm the PP upthread who said I don't know many AA middle/upper SES families on the Hill, but know plenty in some of the other neighborhoods mentioned. One of my friends used to live there--her child was the only AA student in her pre-K class a few years ago (a Hill DCPS school).

Maybe you live in a different part of the Hill, or maybe it varies block by block, but I haven't found it to be very diverse--I remember walking around the Eastern Market area with my friend one weekend and remarking that we were literally the only AAs around.

[Anonymous]

You can find what you are looking for in population in Colonial Village, Shepherd park or Takoma, but it's more suburban and the commutes will suck. You may way to check out Southwest Waterfront, at least for the short-term. Lots of diversity, in both race and income. More middle/upper middle AAs over here than on the Hill. Commutes to both Courthouse and Union Station would be relatively easy. Crime is low in most areas. Lots of families, especially younger kids. Parents are working on the IB school to make it a better option, to the point where the preK classes have now gotten popular. Lots of green space and near the water - not much around right now for shops or restaurants, but there will be a lot more options when the first phase of the Wharf opens in a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of these areas people are listing are at least 10% AA middle/upper class. OP, that is a unicorn in VA and DC.

Then you've never set foot in crestwood, shepherd park or the farthest east part of ccdc/20015 by the Park. Or colonial village. Where do you even live?

But, op, none of these District neighborhoods with an abundance (majority) of high SES AA households is great for an Arlington commute. And none are walkable like town center Maplewood.