SOUTHFIELD: graphic breakdown in the schools leaves whites in the minority. According to Ken Siver, spokesman for the Southfield Public Schools, minority enrollment for 1991-92 is 58 percent — up from 56 percent the previous . year. Black enrollment is 56 percent, up from 53 percent in 1990; white students number 42 percent; the remainder are Oriental, Hispanic and American Indian. According to a recent population study of metropolitan Detroit, Southfield is home to more Jewish people than any other Detroit suburb —to- day estimated at 26,600. Yet the study also predicted that more Jews will leave Southfield than will move in. The study projected that 600 Jewish families will move each year from their homes in Southfield, and most will leave the city. Some are opting for the southeast Oakland County neighborhood of Hun- tington Woods, a one- 24 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1991 square-mile community viewed as an anomaly sur- rounded by areas undergo- ing changing demograph- ics. Detroit's Orthodox Jewish community is ex- pected to remain strong in Oak Park and southeast Southfield. Yet new popular choices for the mainstream Jewish community are West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Birmingham, and as far northwest as Commerce Township, Novi and Keego Harbor. Many who left Southfield, or who are put- ting their homes on the market, declined to be interviewed for this article. Their reasons varied. One man, a former active mem- ber of the Neighborhood Project, said his reasons are negative, and he didn't want to worsen the situa- tion. He said the schools are changing, and his chil- dren's friends have left. He wants to stay, but he no AT RISK? longer has the choice. His family comes first. In August, the Steingolds moved from Southfield's Beacon Square subdivision to a home in Farmington Hills. Mrs. Steingold said she loved Southfield and all of the amenities it offered. But she wanted to be closer to the Jewish com- munity. With the Maple- Drake Jewish Community Center and many temples and synagogues just minutes away, she felt she chose the right place. The couple wanted to move just once, and they will stay there until retirement, she said. "It's not a real Jewish-y neighborhood, either," Mrs. Steingold said. "I think there are fewer Jews at my daughter's elemen- tary school than there were at Leonard (in Southfield). I was a little surprised. "I know that will change when she gets to junior high school," she said. "Southfield is a wonderful city that has many things to offer that aren't out here. But there are other advantages here. Things are close. We are on the border of Novi, Walled Lake, West Bloomfield. "I'm not sorry. I love it here," she said. "The desire to migrate is always there," said Southfield's Mr. Stebbins, who just moved from a house at 12 mile in Southfield to the 10 Mile and Greenfield area to be closer to the heart of the Orthodox community of nearby Oak Park. To retain a Jewish presence in some of the older Jewish neighbor- hoods, the Jewish Federa- tion of Metropolitan Detroit formed the Neigh- borhood Project to provide interest-free loans for down payments and home im- provements for Jewish people buying in targeted areas of Oak Park and Southfield. Since its inception five years ago, 461 loans have been granted. "We wanted to do some- thing to keep Jewish peo- ple in these neighbor- On Shabbat, Orthodox Jewish families are seen walking along the area of Greenfield and 10 Mile Road. In recent years, the intersection has become a Jewish center for the Orthodox community. West of the intersection is Southfield: east is Oak Park.