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[quote=Anonymous]People
Many Hyattsville neighbors have lived there for decades, but a sizeable and growing contingent of newer residents are changing the existing community in big and small ways. Latinos, artists, hipsters, academics, LGBTQ(A) community members, and young families (clearly these groups are not mutually exclusive) are increasingly moving to the area. The neighborhood is genuinely diverse in many ways, racially, ethnically, and socio-economically (for a start). Our population is about 18,500 and the breakdown of the population from the 2010 Census was 35.6% Black or African American, 34% Hispanic or Latino, 24% Caucasian, and 4.4% Asian. It’s a friendly and welcoming community. A few years ago Hyattsville became the first small community in Maryland to add transgender-inclusive non-discrimination protections to its laws. Residents have a strong commitment to social justice and it's a pretty liberal place, as voter registrations and neighborhood yard signs will attest. Some have referred to Hyattsville as the “new Takoma Park.” We were the second city in the country (after Takoma Park) to lower its voting age for municipal elections to 16, in a deliberate attempt to foster a culture of civic engagement in the community. We’ve extended the municipal franchise to non-citizen residents and have codified our longstanding Sanctuary City practices. Our Mayor, City Administrator, and Chief of Police are African American women.

The neighborhood is about 10 years into a baby boom, with no end in sight. A 70's era approach to parenting seems to be shared by many Hyattsvillenos (Hyattsvillains? Hyattsvillagers? There's no real consensus on the collective name). Hyattsville kids often have an unusually large and free range they’re allowed to travel on their own through the neighborhood. Children roam the streets together in groups, going from one house to another. This is still a neighborhood where kids (of appropriate ages, the precise age varying family to family) are sometimes thrust outside on a summer day and expected to return home by nightfall. If you’re part of this community of parents, you may find that you have an unexpected guest or 10 show up to your house wanting a snack. It's a great place to start a family. Parenting is a communal activity in Hyattsville.

The area seems to have a higher than average number of librarians, archivists, artists, actors, scientists, professors, and people with PhDs. Hyattsville is about halfway between the University of Maryland and Catholic University, about two miles from each with an easy commute to either campus. A number of residents work at the nearby National Archives II or Goddard. There’s a regular neighborhood Dungeons & Dragons game, attended by 40-somethings. Neighbors go to Burning Man and Renaissance Weekends. Hyattsville residents are generally quirky, idealistic, and nerdy.

While the Caucasian and African-American populations are pretty well integrated into the community as a whole, the fastest-growing (and probably now the largest) demographic group, Latinos, are less so. In light of the potential barriers of language, culture, socio-economics, and geography (the largest concentration of Latino residents live west of Queens Chapel Road, in what’s referred to as West Hyattsville), the city and residents could do a better job of reaching out to all of their neighbors. I know this is a priority many share, but are not quite sure how to achieve. Right now a large segment of our population is effectively absent from the community’s civic life. Latino residents might equally claim the converse, about the lack of engagement of Caucasians and African-Americans in Latinx community activities.
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