Free workshops to connect Latino business community with resources, local organizations
Opportunity Stanislaus is hosting a series of workshops geared toward Latino business owners across the county to provide information about business resources.
Starting today, the organization, in partnership with the Valley Sierra Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the Central Valley Hispan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and City Ministry Network will host five bilingual informational workshops across the county.
The free workshops will cover growth opportunities for businesses and start-up assistance, and business owners can take part in one-on-one consultations and networking opportunities. Representatives from the hosting organizations will help connect business owners with appropriate resources and information about funding and grants, and keep them up-to-date on new funding on a local, state and federal level.
Aluriel Ceballos, who runs marketing and special projects at Opportunity Stanislaus, said the workshops came about after the organization started a county-wide needs assessment. Ceballos said it became clear that the Latino business community would benefit from more direct information about resources available to them.
“When we were canvassing businesses, a lot of them did not know about the grants or weren’t connected to services,” he said. “A lot of them don’t use email or aren’t connected to online services, so it was important to go to them with different resources, so we have different organizations that provide free services specifically to that demographic.”
Ceballos said the main goal of the workshops is to bring resources to these local, often rural businesses through trusted community organizations, and in a way that’s accessible and helpful.
He added that Opportunity Stanislaus is working on increasing their Spanish-language resources, as well as outreach to the Latino Community.
“There’s a disconnect there and we’re trying to build a bridge between our organization, and Latino business owners and managers,” he said. “This is the first step in a long road.”
The workshops will be held at the following times:
- June 21, 6 p.m., El Campestre Dos Restaurant, Newman
- June 22, 6 p.m., Turlock Salvation Army, Turlock
- June 23, 6 p.m., United Samaritans Foundation, Hughson
- June 24, 6 p.m., Riverbank Community Center, Riverbank
- June 25, 3 p.m., Familia Farmacia, Modesto
More information is available on the Valley Sierra SBDC website.
This story was produced with financial support from the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
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This story was originally published June 21, 2021 at 1:49 PM.
