Thread: KS: Bilingual push is part of Hispanic chamber outreach

Bilingual push is part of Hispanic chamber outreach
By STEVE PENN
The Kansas City Star
In a month or so, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City will unveil its new Web site, which for the first time will be bilingual. And the chamber’s meetings also are now in Spanish.

It may take a few steps like those for Carlos Gomez, the new president and CEO of the chamber, to reach out to the Hispanic small-business owner. But Gomez is willing to take those steps and others to respond to the ever-increasing number of Hispanic businesses.

In addition to building a Web site, Gomez has been busy making sure that every one of the chamber’s publications is bilingual.

“We’re making a concerted effort to embrace bilingualism and also focus on small businesses,â€

Do tell, how does a person with no more than a 5th grade education level save over $2,000, which would be a years salary based on $10 day in Mexico, to be smuggled into the US, then take a job that pays just over minimum wage, then save enough money to open a small business? How many of you have a years salary in savings? - I know I don't, and if I did I would be able to live comfortably and go through the immigration process the legal way and not be in the shadows. Does that make sense to anyone but me? Granted the vast majority of those Latino owned businesses he talks about are in the service industry, but what about the restaurants? What bank gives a loan to someone who makes under $10 an hour and has no SS number? I still have more questions than answers...

I know I'm rambling but these are a few things I've seen around here and I do know a little about small businesses because I am self employed.

You can open a small business with little or no money. It depends on what you are selling. In most stores you sell new merchandise unless of course you are running a second hand or antique store which if it was me I would advertise it as such. When I was in a neighboring town at a Goodwill store a few months ago, there were two hispanics from my town who knew very little english buying fancy dresses that I assume were for the store they had in town here. Most likely they were selling the dresses as new because I knew the store they owned and it wasn't advertised as a second hand store.

On a side note the Goodwill clerk was having a really hard time communicating with them especially about sales tax rules. I don't think the hispanics understood the sales tax rules-it looked like they didn't know how to fill out the resale form and as they were insisting on getting the dresses tax free.

I have seen a few garage sales around here that happen quite regularly where non english speaking hispanics are selling new stuff at a discount. I always wondered where they got it because it wasn't the usual garage sale stuff and there were lots of multiples of things. Of course at a garage sale you don't have to collect sales tax or claim your sales on your income tax.

Really if you are a small business and were dishonest and wanted to you could do everything under the table and not pay income tax or you could exaggerate your expenses and pretend like you didn't make much. Only your conscience would know.

Many of these small business such as especially car lots and restaurants have been discovered to be money laundering outlets for drugs. A Mexican restaurant, a couple blocks from me, replaced a Pizza Hut and never has more than 4-5 cars in the lot and it has been that way for over 3 years!

Many of these small business such as especially car lots and restaurants have been discovered to be money laundering outlets for drugs

I never thought of that angle. We have a business in our former A&W building that never has more than three cars there. The owners just painted the building a glowing gold and flaming pink red color on the front and two sides that's awful. It almost glows and you would notice it even if you were several blocks away. The weeds grow in the cracks everywhere and the building looks really run down. You couldn't pay me to go in there and I know of no one who's eaten there.