The Tennessean reports that census figures, out this week on America’s foreign-born population, “show Tennessee — and particularly Middle Tennessee — becoming an increasingly popular destination for immigrants.”
“Since 1990, the state gained nearly 200,000 foreign-born residents,” writes Chris Echegaray, “an increase that moved Tennessee’s ranking from 31st to 24th for the number of immigrants and refugees.” He adds that of the almost 250,000 foreign-born residents in the state, “the largest cluster — 101,932 of them — lives in the Nashville-Franklin-Murfreesboro statistical area the Census Bureau measures.”
Over the last year, NPT has been introducing Middle Tennessee to these immigrants with our Next Door Neighbors documentary series. We’ve profiled the Kurdish community — Nashville’s Kurdish population is the largest in North America — in Little Kurdistan, USA; and the Somali population in Somali. Little Kurdistan, USA went on to win a regional Emmy award in the Historical / Cultural Program Special category.
These new census figures are a good opportunity for us to remind you that both of our Nest Door Neighbors documentaries are available online, in their entirety, for free viewing anytime you like at wnpt.org/nextdoorneighbors. Take a half-hour to get to know your new neighbors. If you’d like to discuss the documentaries, you can do so here in the comments section, or on the forum on the NDN site.
Look for two new Next Door Neighbors documentaries this year.
