Since 1992, the Dayton Hispanic Chamber has promoted economic development in the region by helping Hispanic businesses grow through business and educational resources and networking.
For the first time in the chamber's history, the president, vice president and executive director are all women.
We spoke with Christina Méndez, the new executive director of the Dayton Hispanic Chamber, about the organization's current trajectory. She also talks about how the issue of immigration is steering some of their focus.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Christina Méndez: The philosophy that the Dayton Hispanic Chamber has is that we look at each member more like a business client, and so we're really on a one-on-one basis. We're treating every member like a business client, we meet with every single person, kind of develop individualized plans, and then try to connect community partners.
"We're treating every member like a business client, we meet with every single person, kind of develop individualized plans, and then try to connect community partners."
Our biggest thing is making sure that we have strategic partners for the Latino community, because we've been here since 1992, but I think that there's a huge opportunity to build deeper relationships and build niche things for our community because we have such unique needs.
And so it's really been a lot of background work with working with the individual businesses. And I feel like we're on a tour to reintroduce ourselves, re-meet everybody, explain what our initiatives are and come up with those kinds of specific things.
So we're really deep into the work, especially with workforce development and everything that's going on in the country right now. We're deep into making sure that everyone has accessible resources to job opportunities and that they're not missing out on any resources that are available to the masses. We want to make sure that the Hispanic community knows about them as well.
Jerry Kenney: Within those conversations, those one-on-one conversations that you're having with local business owners and entrepreneurs, what are the challenges that they're bringing to the table? What concerns do they have? And then what are they enthusiastic about?
Méndez: The beauty about Latino people is that we're super resilient. So we're, I don't think our enthusiasm has waned. The challenge is that I think they have a big opportunity to expand on the access to resources being available in Spanish.
I'm kind of really surprised when I took on the role how much things are still not available in Spanish, and we haven't really integrated the Hispanic community inside of Montgomery County. There's 21,000 Latinos here based on the census, it's probably more than that, and I don't feel like they were integrated as much as we should be. So I think those are the challenges.
Outside of this experience, I've been a business consultant and a fractional CMO for seven years at my own agency. So when I was just brought on, inherent information that I just knew from being in this space, I was so surprised at how many people weren't aware of these resources.
So that has kind of like led the work, is that I think that their challenges, they're not even being communicated to. There's no bridge between the existing resources. So right now we're just doing the legwork to make sure they know about the existing resources, one, and that they're available in Spanish, too.
The climate right now is making everything a lot harder. So, you know, enrollment is down, everyone is incredibly scared. So it's made the work twice as hard because where we had, I see the difference between before things changed in January to now. So it is a lot of fear and now it's making it a little bit harder for us to get the word out because now no one wants to even engage because they're so scared.
So it's made the work very, very nuanced, very hyper-specific, very, very laborious, but a labor of love that I'm dedicated to. I signed up for this, so I'm in it for the long run.
"The climate right now is making everything a lot harder. So, you know, enrollment is down, everyone is incredibly scared."
Kenney: What is your message if people are reluctant to reach out to you, tell us why they should actually take that step and how you can become partners.
Méndez: Yeah, so it is very important if you are a Hispanic- or Latino-owned business, that you reach out to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce because we will meet you where you're at. We don't need to wait.
You don't need to stay in hiding for four years and wait so things blow over to fight for your business and grow your business. There are people in Ohio, there's definitely people in Montgomery County, this is a very immigrant-friendly city that wants to help you grow your business and we are the kind of the middlemen between your business and the resources and we're here to walk you through every step of the way.
"Reach out to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce because we will meet you where you're at. You don't need to stay in hiding for four years and wait so things blow over to fight for your business and grow your business."
There's no problem that's too big or too small. You're not gonna feel like a burden. We can literally pretty much assist with any and everything from permitting to websites to marketing. There's nothing that we can't touch. There's no problem that is too big or too stupid or you should have figured it out by now. We are literally here for the advancement of your business.
Kenney: Christina Méndez, thanks so much for your time today.
Méndez: Thank you so much. God bless you.
