![]() ![]() Led to Republican Governor John Hoeven’s assertion that Northĭakota had a “strategic interest” in maintainingĪ robust refugee resettlement program to help stabilize and grow the state’s North Dakota, for instance, would have suffered a significant population loss between 19 if notįor an influx of Bosnian refugees who moved to the state. Several rural economies in the United States at a state level too. Examples can be found across the world in places such as Loubeyrat, France Lower Saxony, Germany and Nhil, Australia as well as in other American communities such as Central Falls, Rhode Island Rutland, Vermont and Clarkston, Georgia (all small towns whose mayors requested that the federal government resettle more refugees in their communities). While it is an almost unbelievable feat to resurrect a dwindling community, this phenomenon of refugees finding success and revitalizing a small declining community is not unique to Lewiston. Historical crime rate in Lewiston, Maine – Graph by the Sun Journal To quote Professor Catherine Besteman of the nearby Colby College, “Lisbon Street had a lot of empty storefronts, and now it’s full of Somali cafes, translation agencies, a mosque.” The crime rate declined, rent prices stabilized, and the city’s economy and population have continued to grow ever since. With the refugees’ arrival, Lewiston became one of theįastest-growing communities in Maine. This phenomenon of non-urban communities losing population to more urbanized areas has been dubbed “ rural flight.”īut unlike other communities confronted with decline, Lewiston found a way to rebound starting in 2001, with the arrival of more than 1,000 Somali refugees who had previously been resettled in various locations across the U.S. Approximately 22% of people living in the rural regions of France, Spain, Greece, and Portugal are “elderly retired,” and only 10% of farmers in the European Union are below the age of 35. Half of the rural communities across the country now face such high levels of depopulation as young people leave for urban areas that deaths outnumber births. For the first time in more than 30 years, many states in the United States recorded declining populations most of these are majority-rural states such as Wyoming, West Virginia, and North Dakota. With the refugees’ arrival, Lewiston became one of the fastest-growing communities in Maine.ĭepopulation and economic decline are not unique to Lewiston they are commonplace in non-urban and rural communities across the world. ![]() While “rural flight” and economic decline are not unique to this Maine city, Lewiston found a way to rebound starting in 2001, with the arrival of more than 1,000 Somali refugees who had previously been resettled in various locations across the U.S. By 2000, Lewiston’sĭowntown area became the single poorest census tract within Maine, with a poverty rate of 46%. Population decreased by 15%, and Lewiston’s family and per capita incomeįell to the lowest ranking in Maine. The last half of the 20 thĬentury was defined by decades of continuous population loss and decreasing Hit Lewiston, devastating the city’s economy. Beginning inġ956 with the closure of the Androscoggin Mill, a series of textile closures Abandoned mills sit at the center of theĬity, memorials to the city’s heyday before the textile industry relocated overseas. ![]()
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