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On this special Hispanic Heritage Month edition of the program 'Latinos and a Changing America' Part two of our special coverage. We look at the changing demographics of the United States and how Latinos are affecting the cultural and political landscape all across the country

Over the past two years the U.S. Census has released figures showing that Latinos now number some 36 million Americans and they're changing the face of this country. Today on Latinos and a changing America we'll look at some of the many communities affected by the incredible growth of the Latino population.

As we've heard, no longer can Latino communities in the United States be neatly divided into Puerto Rican New York, Cuban Miami, or Mexicans in the Southwest for instance. The states of California and Texas are still the most heavily Latino of all the fifty states, but in this new century that Latino character in these regions has acquired the flavor of immigrant streams from countries such as El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, and Nicaragua. The estimated 3.1 million Central and South Americans who live in this country are beginning to develop their own sense of political and social place, and they're transforming neighborhoods all across the United States. Latino USA's Deepa Donde reports from Houston, Texas where the rise of Central Americans has had a profound impact on the city and its established Mexican American population.

My name is Martin Espada and this poem is called 'The Janitors Garden' For Felix Rodriguez. Aibonito, Puerto Rico, 1997.

The tiny central North Carolina town of Robbins may well have the fastest growing Latino population in the country. In 1990 less than 7 percent of the town's residents were Latino, today almost half of them are. Dealing with such change is a challenge for the local school system as it is for many school systems across the country, which must educate their youngest Spanish speaking newcomers. But as Leda Hartman reports teachers and children in Robbins, North Carolina are coping with the influx in innovative ways.