The Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber and other organizations will host an informational session called “Marketing to Latinos” from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Friday in the Columbia Room of the Vancouver Community Library, 901 C St. The presentation will focus on Latino buying power, demographics, stereotypes, and purchasing behaviors as well as strategies for effectively engaging the Latino market. It is free and open to the public.
o For more information about the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber, visit www.hmccoregon.com.
After two decades of serving Southwest Washington from its Portland office, the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber has now planted itself physically in this community with a new office in downtown Vancouver.
On Wednesday, that office in the 805 Broadway Building was packed with well-wishers who welcomed the 21-year-old organization into a community with a large and growing Latino population. In attendance were Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt and city council members Jack Burkman, Larry Smith, and Anne McEnerny-Ogle. Washington State University Vancouver Chancellor Mel Netzhammer, and representatives for Washington senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.
The Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber and other organizations will host an informational session called "Marketing to Latinos" from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Friday in the Columbia Room of the Vancouver Community Library, 901 C St. The presentation will focus on Latino buying power, demographics, stereotypes, and purchasing behaviors as well as strategies for effectively engaging the Latino market. It is free and open to the public.
o For more information about the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber, visit www.hmccoregon.com.
Since the chamber announced its plans to open a Vancouver office, “the community response has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive,” Gale Castillo, the chamber’s president, told the crowd of more than 100 people who packed the new second-floor office. At the midday gathering, Castillo asked each of the visitors to introduce themselves as the first step in making new friends and business connections on the north side of the Columbia River.
The office will become the hub for the chamber’s new small business assistance program and for other ongoing activities including leadership training, business development activities and a student scholarship program. The chamber also will work with local governments to address policy issues affecting Latino businesses, Castillo said. The office will be staffed initially by two business development coordinators, and other chamber staff members will work in Vancouver as needed.
The chamber was able to establish the Vancouver office with a boost from the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund, at the Northwest Health Foundation, which provided a three-year, $200,000 grant, Castillo said. The chamber also received $55,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funding through the city of Vancouver to fund the small business assistance program. The Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce also is receiving $55,000 from the same Community Development Block Grant to operate a separate but complementary small business assistance program.
The Hispanic chamber has some 850 members, mostly drawn from businesses and civic organizations that support the chamber’s programs and services. Castillo said its clients typically are businesses and individuals who are not members of the chamber. Graciela Cowger, a Ridgefield resident and an attorney with Stolowitz Ford Cowger LLP in Portland, is a member of the chamber’s board of directors.
The U.S, Census has a count of 34,000 Latinos in Clark County, Castillo said, adding that she believes the actual number is higher than that. “This is a population in need of service and underserved,” she said.
Mark Lopez of Battle Ground, president of Crave Catering, attended the Wednesday open house and told the crowd that he had received business assistance from the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber starting 16 years ago. Lopez, who hopes to grow his catering business into a much larger farm-to-market food production and sales enterprise, said he often faces challenges that leave him wondering what to do next.
“They’ve always been there with ‘What I do next,’ ” he said.
The Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber office is in Suite 230 of the 805 Broadway Building. For more information, call 360-450-9044 or visit www.hmccoregon.com.
