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Eddy Matchette/Freelance
On any given afternoon at Town Square Plaza in Sugar Land, you will find Fort Bend County's ethnic diversity on display.
On a recent weekday, three young Asian-American men sipped Frappuccinos outside of the Starbucks there. Yards away, two middle-aged black women slid through a door at the Japanese Grill and Bar. An Anglo woman and her daughter splashed water at the fountain in the shadow of City Hall.
And inside Baker St. Pub and Grill, five South Asian men chuckled together on a corner of the restaurant's square bar.
Welcome to what has been branded through reports, data and opinion as the most diverse county in America.
When results of an annual survey by Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research are released April 19, its director, sociology professor Stephen Klineberg, expects findings to be much like those from previous years.
The survey, which questioned hundreds of Houston-area residents on beliefs and attitudes, has for several years compared findings from Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.
In 2015, the survey took a closer look at diversity in Fort Bend County, where the 628,000 residents reflect a mix of 36 percent Anglo, 21 percent black, 24 percent Latino and 20 percent Asian or other.
Among residents of the three counties, those in Fort Bend were the most enthusiastic about the region's diversity. They also had the best rating for the relationship between ethnic groups, with 54 percent describing it as "good" or "excellent."
"Fort Bend has been more accepting of diversity because the more you experience diversity, the more you accept it," Klineberg said. "We are in Houston, where all of America will eventually be with diversity, and Fort Bend comes closer than anyone else in experiencing it."
In Klineberg's 2015 study, Fort Bend had the most highly educated population of the three surveyed counties. About 42 percent of its population age 25 or older has college degrees, compared to 31 percent in Montgomery and 29 percent in Harris.
Drawn by opportunity
As Houston's job growth flourished in the 1960s and '70s, a diverse mix of newcomers were drawn to the First Colony and Pecan Grove master-planned communities.
Already in the county was a black community dating to when slaves were used for farming and ranching in the 1800s. A Hispanic population also existed in western Fort Bend by the 1950s, according to Tim Cumings, vice chairman of the Fort Bend County Historical Commission.
Oil careers brought more Hispanics to Houston and eventually to Cinco Ranch, now also called "Katy-zuela" because of its affluent Venezuelan population. Many of various Asian backgrounds were drawn to the area when the Texas Medical Center expanded in the 1990s, and some established local private medical practices.
These professionals looked toward suburbs outside of Houston to raise families and live quietly, said Sony Philip, 33, who works at the Texas Medical Center. He moved back to Fort Bend 10 years ago after being raised in Sugar Land.
An ongoing draw to Fort Bend includes factors such as master-planned communities, recognized school districts, proximity to Houston and developments such as Sugar Land's plaza.
"The county has a perfect combination of opportunities" for families and careers, Philip said. "I knew the area was diverse when I came. People know it's diverse and know there's communities here for them."
Businesses owned by minorities in the county include local Asian-American resident Thompson Lin's Applied Optoelectronics in Sugar Land.
A changing chamber
No one, however, sees a picture of complete harmony or claims that people of diverse backgrounds interact in all aspects of life throughout the county. When you map out where people live based on ethnicity, some neighborhoods in Rosenberg, Missouri City and Sugar Land are predominantly composed of those in the same ethnic group.
Since 2012, Fort Bend ISD has been investigated by the U.S. Department Office of Civil Rights with allegations that black and Hispanic students in the districts have been disciplined at a disproportionate rate. The investigation is ongoing.
The district's truancy court, one of only two in the state, has been the subject of similar complaints. The court remains, but the district this year decriminalized truancy charges in accordance with a new state law.
"There's always going to be some issues," said County Judge Robert Hebert, who's lived in Fort Bend for 36 years. "But we embrace diversity, and we are active in all of our communities. You want to avoid separation and assimilate, and I believe we are doing that."
Hebert, who is white, said the county is poised to lead not only Houston, but the nation, as a model of diversity.
It's an idea that Keri Schmidt, president/CEO of the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, has sought to foster in her group.
Schmidt has recruited diverse candidates to what had been a mostly Anglo board. Her 39-member board went from being more than 90 percent white and 70 percent male to 50 percent white and 55 percent male. She sees the change as something that can spread to other groups and communities.
"Our leaders have embraced these cultures," she said of the chamber. "It's positive change … and our community is better for it. We have a large influence. Here, it shows you what the future will look like everywhere."
In an essay she wrote this year to the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, a nonprofit organization for chamber executives, Schmidt said all chambers must embrace diversity or shrink.
The same goes for the county, she argued.
"Changes like this don't happen overnight and demographics take time to reset," Schmidt wrote. "I believe we are better for our combined diversity - in our communities, our cities, our counties, our nation."
