How important is diversity to you?

I got into an interesting conversation with a friend about diversity in LI neighborhoods. My husband and I wanted an area that was mixed. We're Jewish and didn't want our kids to be the only Jewish children in their class, but wanted them to meet people from other backgrounds too. My friend's husband is looking for something a little more... monochromatic. Both she and her husband are Christian and white.

It made me wonder: How important is neighborhood diversity to LI house hunters?

Re: How important is diversity to you?

As a kid, I grew up in a predominately working class, Italian immigrant community, but went to parochial school that was VERY diverse. I loved the diversity, even though I didn't realize that it was diversity b/c I was so young. My parents moved us out to a very white, upper middle class town on the south shore for middle school and it was culture shock for me. It was my first experience of religious diversity, but everyone was white - a stark difference from my first school. When an African American family finally moved into the town (my freshman year) I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, some of the kids in my school weren't. Even though she was the sweetest girl, she started receiving hate mail, her locker was filled with hate notes, KKK letters were written on her locker and she was made to feel uncomfortable at her school solely b/c of her race.

I think this town has more diversity now, but when we were house hunting, I knew that I wanted a completely diverse picture for our children. We found a neighborhood that was diverse in population and socioeconomic levels and I love having our sons' friends over who come from different backgrounds.

How important is diversity to you?

For me- as long as the neighborhood is quiet and safe and the schools are good that's what's important. However I believe in diversity as well. Going to an all white school isn't something I want for my future children they need exposure to other backgrounds. I will say though, I wouldn't move to a 99% Jewish or 99% African American neighborhood simply because we wouldn't fit in and would be the odd ones out. However, I believe in living in a mixed neighborhood. I live in port Jeff sta. So when we were looking as long as the neighborhood was safe and the school is good, I'm happy

Re: How important is diversity to you?

I wanted the best school district we could afford. The fact that it is diverse is a great plus. Growing up, I was one of less than a handful of Jewish kids. I faced anti semitisim growing up from the teachers, but not the kids. There were many instances where the teachers would say anti Semitic things but my fellow classmates came to my rescue. There was one girl who was anti Semitic and the other kids made fun of her for it. I did not want my kids to grow up with it.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

It's important to us. We chose an area that has a mix of many different ethnic and socio-economic groups and one of the reasons was that we wanted our children to grow up in an area where everyone wasn't exactly like them.

How important is diversity to you?

While it was important to us, the town we were focused on, we couldn't land a house. Our criteria then was solely focused on location and school districts which led us to Harborfields. Diversity will always be an issue however, my kid is color/religion/ethic blind. My kid is mixed and she understands that different people make up different things. The end result is as look as we keep good friends around her and us, we will do great. We would of moved to a town to appeal to her but really, you are who you are and would only keep those you truly want/need, near you. Im grateful to land in Huntington with great neighbors.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

it's very important for me. Not just race but ethnicity. A predominantly black neighborhood can be very ethnically diverse as can a predominantly white neighborhood.

I went to a VERY diverse H.S. and my race and was actually the minority. I never really noticed the differences until I went to college and saw how little racial diversity there was. It was just odd to me. I also now realize that going to such a diverse high school made me more tolerant to the differences in others. I want my son to have the same experiences and so far so good. He's in a daycare with a Russian lead teacher, Hispanic assistant teacher, Caribbean assistant teacher, and is hearing 3 different languages daily. I love it.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

When we bought our house we were NOT specifically looking for a diverse neighborhood, that really wasn't on our priority list at all. We wanted a safe, clean, family friendly neighborhood with things we needed (stores, places to eat, etc) in close proximity and most importantly, good schools. Our future children's quality of education was at the very top of our list when we were in the market 10 years ago.

DH and I didn't grow up in a diverse neighborhood, we both went to Plainedge schools and most everyone was middle income, white, and Jewish or Italian. I don't think those facts negatively impacted either of us in any way so for us, having a home in an ethnically diverse town was just not something we focussed on. Obviously what is important to someone in their home/town is going to vary greatly amongst each individual.

Message edited 1/19/2016 2:09:47 PM.

How important is diversity to you?

When we were house hunting our number one priority was school districts preferably Suffolk County - anywhere. Then our second priority from our short list of towns was that they had a larger Asian population as my daughter was adopted from China and we wanted her growing up with kids in the same nationality as her. I am very happy where we are and the funny thing is she has no Asian friends at all and actually prefers not to "hang" out with that group of kids.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

The districts we looked in were predominately Caucasian / Asian, and we only considered Nassau county. Similar to where we grew up.

Message edited 1/19/2016 8:35:18 PM.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

It wasn't a consideration. Not that I didn't want diversity, but we were looking in the towns we grew up in which are predominantly white, we just wanted to stay in our hometowns.....not bc they were predominantly white but bc it was our home.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

How important is diversity to you?

I went to a very diverse school district on Long Island and had a wonderful education. I would move back to the district, but at this point diversity is not as high on our house hunting priority list as a good special education program is due to my son's needs.

How important is diversity to you?

I grew up in Long Beach, which I think is diverse as it gets for Long Island.

Our school district has super affluent students who live in $5M oceanfront homes and students below the poverty level (LB is a city and has subsidized housing). We also have a pretty strong Jewish community as well as catholic, asian, african american, spanish etc. It's like a small melting pot.

I think I am a better person because of it. I felt like growing up I was exposed to many cultures and it gave me insight and appreciation of diversity. It was not something I actively sought out when looking for a home, but I do see it as a positive.

Message edited 1/20/2016 3:19:20 PM.

How important is diversity to you?

Interesting question as I was just talking with someone about something similar. She lives a few towns over and mentioned how she was glad her kids went to the day care they did bc it was very diverse which the town they live in is not. It got me thinking bc we live in a diverse district but I'd love to move to this other town which is not. Not for that reason, just bc it's a nicer area and the district is better in terms of test scores. I think diversity is important to me but i wouldn't avoid a town that fit our other needs (like affordability, good schools, close to family and jobs) just bc it lacked diversity. I might consider making sure our dc participate in activities and events that expose them.

How important is diversity to you?

I live upstate. The school district zoning here is not like LI. Because of this there is a lot more diversity - especially from an economic standpoint. When we were looking for a house, we were looking for a great school district. The one we currently live in is ranked 5/85 for our region.

I teach in a VERY economically diverse city school (about 23% free or reduced lunch). Some people live in million dollars houses and go to Europe for long weekends, while others live in subsidized housing and trailer parks and probably have never been out of the city they live in. Although there is a decent amount of diversity, I still feel that the students are unaware of other student's situations.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

Although I live in Queens my town isn't incredibly diverse, I grew up here and my family is here so that was my priority. That said my own family is very diverse, my SIL is Jamaican, cousins that are Asian, Jewish etc. My children will grow up w diversity regardless of where they live.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

I am in an interracial marriage and my kids are biracial so it's important to me. I'm surprised and saddened to see that many people don't consider it important. I went to 2 different high schools myself while growing up, one was not diverse and the other was more diverse and looking back I really can tell you I do think it's important. I wish more districts on the island had a better mix of cultures and backgrounds...

How important is diversity to you?

I went to a diverse school from k-8 & in college where I would be considered minority (white). I have to say that even in diverse schools & neighborhoods, from my experience, people still stuck with their own, especially in college. Asians were with Asians, Dominicans with Dominicans, whites with whites, etc... I think in a lot of cases it just happens that way because you are raised doing the same things for the most part. I mean look at neighborhoods in NYC. I grew up in the Bronx, and you had your Italian neighborhoods, Irish neighborhoods, Spanish, Black, Albanian, Jewish, etc.... Doesn't make you racist or not open to diversity, it's just the way it is.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

This is really interesting.

I answered "not important". But Ill tell you why.

We had some money to spend on a house. Because of this we looked in certain area. Syosett, Northport, Woodbury to name a few. To us we were looking at what we could get for our money. And the towns we were looking at did not have a lot of less expensive homes.

Its not that we never considered diversity. We knew where we wanted to live (school district, amenities etc) rather than looking at other factors, like diversity.

IMHO less expensive homes means more diversity. I want to be crystal clear I am not making any assumptions or insults. MORE people have less money to spend on a house. So if everyone can afford in X town, you will have more of everybody.

Because we had more money to spend we looked at homes with big yards, pool and very good school district.

I guess our price point took us out of the places "more people" look to buy a home. And in that regard, took us out of places that are more diverse.

I grew up where the school was 50% white and 50% other (black, Asian, Hispanic). MOSTLY white stuck with white, etc.

In college my friends were the UN.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

I answered N/A. More important to me was commute time, school ratings, and size of property for our price range. We purchased in a not so diverse area, but the areas bordering ours are very diverse.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

Message edited 1/27/2016 9:43:41 AM.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

I might be naive, but in this day and age I really believe that socioeconomic diversity is much more of a dividing line than ethnic or religious diversity. I don't think that the world is entirely equal or that it treats everyone equally, but I think wealth, or lack thereof is way more important to how someone is perceived than their race or religious beliefs, sexual orientation etc. That being said, you do not find many communities on Long Island that have a lot of socioeconomic diversity.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by Mrs213

I am in an interracial marriage and my kids are biracial so it's important to me. I'm surprised and saddened to see that many people don't consider it important. I went to 2 different high schools myself while growing up, one was not diverse and the other was more diverse and looking back I really can tell you I do think it's important. I wish more districts on the island had a better mix of cultures and backgrounds...

I just want to point out that IMO being tolerant of other types of people, cultures, religions, etc starts in the home. Just because someone grows up in a more diverse neighborhood doesn't automatically mean they are more tolerant and accepting of others. I grew up in an all white neighborhood but I was ALWAYS taught to treat everyone equally, be accepting of people's differences and take everyone you meet on an individual basis.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with wanting to be in a diverse neighborhood, if that is something that is important to you that's great. I just feel like sometimes the assumption is made that if you don't grow up in a diverse neighborhood you're destined to become someone who is not tolerant or accepting of others and I don't find that to be 100% true...........at least in my experience.

Re: How important is diversity to you?

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by Mrs213

I am in an interracial marriage and my kids are biracial so it's important to me. I'm surprised and saddened to see that many people don't consider it important. I went to 2 different high schools myself while growing up, one was not diverse and the other was more diverse and looking back I really can tell you I do think it's important. I wish more districts on the island had a better mix of cultures and backgrounds...

I just want to point out that IMO being tolerant of other types of people, cultures, religions, etc starts in the home. Just because someone grows up in a more diverse neighborhood doesn't automatically mean they are more tolerant and accepting of others. I grew up in an all white neighborhood but I was ALWAYS taught to treat everyone equally, be accepting of people's differences and take everyone you meet on an individual basis.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with wanting to be in a diverse neighborhood, if that is something that is important to you that's great. I just feel like sometimes the assumption is made that if you don't grow up in a diverse neighborhood you're destined to become someone who is not tolerant or accepting of others and I don't find that to be 100% true...........at least in my experience.