Atlanta 2040: What life will look like in the city’s third century

We’ll welcome many Hispanic cultures

2040 Hispanic population in metro AtlantaWhat I’ve started to see is second generations and, in a few cases, third generations of family-owned businesses. A huge influx of Latino professionals has come to the Atlanta area, particularly millennials. When I was growing up, being Hispanic could be embarrassing. Your name was funny and hard to pronounce; you ate weird food. Now, it’s very cool, and there’s a whole celebration of it. Young people like Latin music, the food, the culture. There is a lot of entrepreneurship. We are seeing Cuban, Colombian, Peruvian, and Venezuelan restaurants. People learn to appreciate the differences in the Hispanic community first through food because people love food. There will be more understanding and acceptance.

—Santiago Marquez, president of Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce