August - September 2001 Edition

Dramatic Increase In Filipino and other Asian Population   2000 Asian Population in Fair Lawn Indian 498  Chinese 350 Filipino  335  Japanese 43  Korean 231  Vietnamese 26  Other Asian 75    From 1990 to 2000, the number of Asians in Fair Lawn went from 215 to 1549 according to data recently released by the United States Census Department.  Ludi Hughes, one of the leaders of the Filipino American Association of Fair Lawn, talked with Fair Lawn News about the growing Filipino community.   Ms. Hughes said that Filipinos have been moving to Fair Lawn because of its excellent school reputation. Most own their own homes and have moved here from New York and other New Jersey towns, as well as directly from the Philippines. According to Ms. Hughes, first generation Filipinos have to work very hard to afford the housing prices and real estate taxes in Fair Lawn. Many of the women are nurses at St. Joseph's hospital in Paterson. Most of the men are professionals including accountants, financial planners and doctors. Since the Philippines were under Spanish control for 350 years, most Filipinos are Catholic.  In Fair Lawn, they attend the St. Anne's Church noon service on Sundays and hold a special Filipino mass on Christmas Day. Although Hackensack and Bergenfield have Filipino food stores, Fair Lawn does not have one, at least not yet. The Filipino community is working hard to build bridges with the rest of the Fair Lawn community.  The Filipino Association of Fair Lawn recently awarded scholarships to three Fair Lawn high school seniors -- Jill Oppenheimer, Eleonora Teplinsky, and Noa Gafni.  These three students demonstrated "outstanding academic achievement, exhibited meaningful community service and demonstrated exemplary leadership" Ms. Hughes said that Filipinos are also trying to work with other Asian Americans in the area to promote issues that are important to them, such as health care and racial profiling. What Do You Think?: Send an e- mail to editor@fairlawnnews.com or post a message on the Fair Lawn News Discussion Forum.