Cultural Competency, Public Administration, and Public Service Delivery in an Era of Diversity

A scholar of public administration writing in an issue of PA Times points out that the immigrant population in the United States is approaching about 12 percent of the total population (Franco 2003). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, minority populations in the United States (Hispanics, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and others) together represent some 30 percent of the total population, a figure that is expected to approach 40 percent over the next two decades. Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau released population estimates showing that four states (California, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Texas) and the District of Columbia are “majority-minority”—minorities make up more than half of the population-and that in five states (Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, and New York) minorities constitute at least 40 percent of the total population. Further, the total Hispanic population in the United States passed 41 million on July 1, 2004, increasing significantly in the nontraditional Hispanic states of Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina, and South Carolina (U.S. Census Bureau 2000; U.S. Census Bureau News 2005a, 2005b).