,according to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce there are five million Hispanic owned businesses in the U.S. that together contribute more than 800 billion dollars to the U.S. economy each year.

Now closer to home, the Hispanic population average is about five percent across northeast Indiana and more than eight percent in Allen County.

And of that population there are dozens of Hispanic owned businesses in Fort Wayne and there are also about 70 members who are making up the greater Fort Wayne Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and on this edition of PrimeTime will talk with members of the chamber about their work to advocate, promote and facilitate the success of Hispanic and Latino owned businesses.

>> Good evening.

I'm Bruce Haines.

With us today is Herb Hernandez.

He is the executive director of the Greater Fort Wayne Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and with Herb Palermo Galindo, one of our board members for the Hispanic Chamber and also owner of PGT Photography and design.

>> We welcome you both.

By the way, if you would like to join us as well calling you see the phone number on the screen there with any question or comment you might have for our guests and welcome to the program.

>> Thank you for the invitation.

>> Bruce , thank you so much.

Thank you for the invitation.

I'm sure you know there is even with the two of you there is I love this the the diversity of backgrounds that still lead to the unanimity of the idea that a fraternal gathering a chamber is a good thing for business and the balance diet of professional life .

>> So tell me a little bit about each of you and your in your backgrounds and how you found yourself as members of the chamber.

>> Well, let me start with you on this.

There is certainly I moved to Fort Wayne in 1994 and I saw this opportunity of moving from Chicago.

There was not too many Hispanic business owned here and weighing in.

I had studied photography in Chicago and what I utilize here for going to become known and established relationships was through my photography business and I established that I did many weddings and get intelligence and a lot of kinsinger that's in the Hispanic community because that was my target.

There was actually no photographers that focus on the Hispanic community then I learned about the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and then I established myself as a-businese continued my membership over the years became the chamber president and I'm now a board member for the Hispanic Chamber for many years.

So it's it's been it's been a great organization and a great way to learn about businesses and establish networking opportunities with others here in Fort Wayne in the region.

>> Herb, how about you, sir?

Well, I was involved in the early 1980s with a group called the Mexican-American Businessmen's Association and I was involved with the organization as a secretary and we were a de facto group.

Just a few Hispanic business owners got together to to meet once a month and talk about how things are going and things are hard.

They are not going that sort of thing.

>> And then I took a leave of absence to go to law school, came back in nineteen eighty seven and found out that the Mexican-American Business Association was no longer in operation and that disappointed me quite a bit and so I contacted some of the other Hispanic businesses that I knew and they said well we'd like to get together but we don't know how to do it.

>> We were just not able to get organized enough and I said well I'll tell you what, I'll help you get started but we're not going to be called the MexicanAmerican Business Association because that really doesn't include all the Hispanic Latino that we have here in Fort Wayne .

>> So I said we will apply to be a member of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

>> Their headquarters at that time was in Texas but shortly thereafter they moved to Washington DC and then we were incorporated with the optics of incorporation with the secretary of state at that time was your hogshead who's now the mayor of Indianapolis.

And then we submitted our paperwork to be five one six and we got our IRS determination of December of 1990.

>> So we started with our members and we grew to over 100 before the pandemic and now the pandemic lost a third of our members.

But now we're reengaging with members and now we're getting close to ninety five to 100 people now and you just the other day I we had our meeting board meeting yesterday and we told our board that we had seven new members so now we're at 100.

>> Wow.

So so the other thing on our board we switched from volunteer organization to a board and we currently have eight members.

We're look we're going to add one more so we have an odd number and we have age groups.

I'm the oldest one but I'm not on the board.

Palermo's the senior member.

>> Heesen is it's all right if I tell your age but roughly 50 and then the next one is Reinold Trevino.

>> He's in his late 40s and then we have another group of board that are in there.

I would say probably thirty nine to forty and then we have some at the younger end from twenty nine to thirty five.

So currently we have five men and four women so that's a total of nine right now because we recently added someone but we lost someone so we're going to try to replace them for the next year.

>> Yeah.

So we're very happy everyone on the board has a college degree and we have two that have a doctorate degree.

>> Well and all of them helping to mark time for the organization.

>> It sounds like it's been a very long but short thirty plus years for the chamber and the reasons folks came together in the late eighties and around nineteen ninety the same reasons folks are coming together yet today as far as wanting to get connected to other colleagues in the world of professional business and they they find the chamber how how has that trend looked to you from then to now?

>> Yeah, yes.

The answer is yes it makes us a little bit stronger knowing that other Hispanic business owners are experiencing some of the same challenges that another business is.

We have a plethora of businesses and we have thirty three restaurants that are owned by Hispanic Latinos here in Fort Wayne , not the franchise.

These are local Hispanic Latino owned businesses now not all of them are members.

We have a third of them.

There are members of the Hispanic Chamber.

We have three or four accounting firms that are a member.

We have probably a couple of translation businesses that are members and the list goes on.

>> I could go in more categories and we have several that involved the area of education.

>> So we're really happy with the diversity that we have and that we're here to help them if they have any questions or problems we can always find the right person to help work them through those challenges.

>> Yeah, and as your executive director now you were once upon a time in Palermo you're president I think at least twice with the organization.

>> Yes.

What do you say to folks who say I would like to consider membership but what what is in it if you will, for me?

>> What is the what are the benefits of a membership in the chamber?

>> That's the ultimate question that we always get.

So we created a a list of benefits that you know what you benefit from becoming a member is definitely networking attending some of the meetings that we have quarterly meetings every every quarter we have quarter queries which is our fourth Thursday of each quarter and we meet we have guest speakers that talk about their success in their business here locally in regional as well.

>> They get to meet other other people that actually have the same questions and the the members that have attended this this meetings are very excited and they continue to show up is very diverse.

So one of the things that I get asked are your meetings in Spanish and they are not there.

We are bilingual.

Most of the people are and so we we utilize English our as the main topic throughout the meetings but there's people that don't feel comfortable with their English level.

There is then we have someone that helps them as well to feel included and they also let them know that as you mentioned before, the contribution of the Hispanic business owners continues to grow and the the the percentage of women Latina women that are build into this economy, it's greater in our community that is so we have a lot of a lot of women entrepreneurs and they're doing very well.

So we just are here to help them get through the process experts in our community.

>> Yeah, I know that from the U.S. Hispanic Chamber that Hispanic women start businesses at six times the national rate a phenomenal statistic and for those who who watch that effort succeed you must think to themselves how do I get a slice of that?

>> Yeah, correct.

And the other was that within the Hispanic community starting businesses at three times the rate of the general population.

So as your membership has increased there's a correlation there as well I'm assuming to to stay within the community to say come on in the water's ine, let's start another business and you say of course restaurant is a natural but I'm sure it's across all disciplines in the community.

>> Yes, there's actually several groups within the communities and they're not just Mexican but also from different countries know Colombia what Amala in Honduras and South America as well that are just are new to the city.

>> They don't know where to go and they reach out to us to to see how they can have their business grow.

>> And one of the things first is they have to register locally their business and check for if there's their name is not used in a different business.

So we want to make sure that they go through the different requirements and also learn about, you know, doing their taxes and all the things that are behind the scenes that they have to take care of it so they don't get into a at the end of the year they have to put everything together for the taxes and it takes a long so we have experts they are members with where our chamber that provide that service for them.

They could help them guide them.

We also develop workshops where our community members that they can see and listen to the experts in their own language as well.

I smiled when I saw the title of one of them called Caffeinated Conversation.

It was called Networking and Advice from Experts.

It was held in July of this year with a reporting review saying that collaboration together we are stronger.

>> Yes, you tell me more about what you've seen along that.

Well, yes, that is true that we've been able to do more community outreach to be involved in more events to make our members aware of what other organizations that support us that that will help them to expand their connections, their relationships and the coffee ompany that's with collaboration with Rosalina Perez at Northeastern Innovation Center.

And so they had hired her last year and she had some learning curve to deal with.

But this year she's we're working together closely closer I should say.

And as a matter of fact, we're going to be having a couple of our Hispanic business owners be on the panel for their breakfast forum.

They do that almost every month or every other month.

And so we're happy about about that relationship that we have the greater Fort Wayne Incorporated.

We have our office there.

We have our meetings there.

John Urban and his the employees there, the staff, they've been very, very helpful to us.

>> So we really appreciate their support and I know that, uh, folks are thinking or see if I can count them all greater Fort Wayne , there's a black chamber of Commerce.

There's the regional chamber.

There's the East Allen Alliance.

But I assume it is again also a matter with all of them saying the more we collaborate the stronger we are.

So it's quite a mosaic.

I think I like to hear from both of you.

>> How do you sense that collaboration works because it seems that just about every base gets touched on a particular project or initiative when everyone comes together like that.

>> Yeah, yeah.

We were very much involved in the diversity equity inclusion movement that happened after George Floyd Death and thepGread was the champion and in promoting that and they did a great job making these different types of workshops available to the large corporations and a lot of the corporations help fund those programs for Eric Headly and for the city of Fort Wayne.

So that was a challenging moment where we had to stop and take a look and see where our what are we doing, where are we going, where should we be going?

>> And so because of that openness, uh, that we've been able to make a lot more connections in a shorter period of time and then I understand money now there was a welcome week activity so coming soon.

>> That's an interesting point.

It is.

It is this is a welcoming because it's a national movement as well.

So we are having it here and for witness to to really promote inclusiveness and the contributions of immigrants.

I mean if you really think about Fort Wayne for Wayne one hundred and some years ago it was a German town, right.

They spoke only German.

They had German schools, German newspapers and over that has evolved.

So our community as you mentioned earlier, you know, continues to thrive and grow and we like to have them have the same resources and provide that information to all.

So the welcoming week could only not just for the Hispanic community but everywhere every ethnic background there is and then they it's it's a great way to have them feel welcome.

And there's the city I tell you when I came here and four to four when I saw the opportunity and I said this is the city that I want to build on my legacy with my children and in my my jobs and so forth.

>> So it's been a great city.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity they had over the years with so many people.

They have opened their doors and they have provided some guidance and have been very welcoming to to to me and my my other colleagues as well.

>> Certainly collaborations come in and as paramount importance in the success of the undertaking.

It's also helpful to know who your neighbors are as you're taking on challenges or looking for breakthroughs and so it leads to a question when you're together you're having your networking.

What are some of the issues that Hispanic owned businesses are are facing dealing with that that come up for discussion that we should know about?

>> Well, I'll try I'll be brief because the one that's mentioned most is access to capital.

Some of our business owners have a challenge qualifying for a commercial loans only because when they are getting started they don't ask for a lot.

They may ask for five thousand.

Ten thousand and of course we understand that the banking industry's position on on these types of loans and that's a small loan for them to deal with.

>> They're used to prefer to deal with loans that are six figures and above and again that's not an insult or a criticism that's just the way business works.

But we do encourage our business owners that you have access to your home equity or you have access to other family members loan you money.

But we're a proud people.

We really don't like to go up to our brothers and sisters mothers or fathers or aunts and uncles to ask.

>> So we figure out a way and most of those are very creative in the way that they are able to create capital for their next step, their next growth, their next idea of going increase starting another usiness.

We have a couple of business involved and I would say probably twenty five percent of our members have three or four businesses that they own and they manage very well.

>> What's your view on some of the challenges that you see before the organization that again awareness is the first step.

It is awareness but also being comfortable to speak the language and so our community members don't feel comfortable speaking in English and so they want to have that kind of assistance, you know, and that's what we provide is like some some way that we can connect them with someone that is bilingual then they know they have been established here and they're very reputable business then we can connect them um in even now banks and in tax agencies and all of this they are most of them have now bilingual staff which I think it's great and they they are able to provide that that service because when I came here there was hardly anyone that spoke Spanish and there were so and such a need for someone to provide information and the language that happened after that with Bosnians, they came in here and then Burmese and then others from there spoke Arabic, other populations.

>> So so there's a cycle that we we go through here in Fort Wayne and in the sexes are becoming easier and easier as technology develops and the the businesses are more open to have someone that speaks their language and is able to provide that information as as Herb mentioned, our community is very proud if you give them service you have customers, they are loyal forever and they have found that here in the city in the region as well.

So it benefits everyone not just, you know, the person that receives that bilingual person but actually that many accounts will have because they were the first ones that provide the service in their books grow so it's a win win situation.

>> Yeah, I think we all recall the economics class about the dollar traveling through the community from business to business to business, you know, and so the payback is certainly exponential in that regard.

>> And you mentioned connections too.

We have a couple of extra pictures to share.

>> You all play golf very well and you all have a chance to get together and the fellowship of it is is very important.

>> It's also a fundraiser.

It can also be a fundraiser.

Yes.

This is lots of niches scratched in in some of the fellowship dynamics of the chamber.

>> I imagine.

Yeah, we've been very fortunate that we just had our third annual golf outing August the fourth we usually pick the first Friday in August.

We've been very successful with that over the years that we've had good weather.

I knock on wood on that before we get started on and we've had it at Colonial Oaks the the Riley family Pat Riley, Darlene Riley and now that they've retired that Mike is taking over and Mike is doing a terrific job.

We work with Dave and Brian and then Molly who's head of a food service over there for a catering.

They do a tremendous job so we really enjoy having our outing there.

We really are going to stay there.

>> We're not going to go elsewhere.

There you go.

See the loyalty, right?

Yeah.

It's just what you are saying and this is also a very busy chamber particularly in September.

>> But of course throughout the year you were sharing with me before the show some of the places which we will see the greater Fort Wayne Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in the coming weeks.

>> Yes, I mentioned a couple of yes.

>> Well we will be tomorrow's Saturday.

We will be with the embassy theater blessing to host.

>> I forgot the last name.

Let me help me out with his last name.

>> But since when and then with his group Conjunto and so they will be playing music and salsa music and they will have some heavy appetizers and cash bar.

So we're looking forward to that.

That's tomorrow night and then September the 13th we're having the we're attending the great Fort Wayne Economic Development Summit at the Mural Center starts at 11:00 thirty I believe goes till 5:00 and then the September 21st we will be with Steve Corona's Latinos count Steve doing a great job with Latinos count they're having a luncheon for their recipients.

Scholarship recipients are the grand Wayne Center and then the September 20th we will have our quarter with us and then on September 29th we'll have our award luncheon from eleven thirty one thirty at the Park Fumero Senate.

>> Wow.

Yeah it's it's something for every for every week.

>> Yeah.

And a tremendous success of course this being Hispanic Heritage Month to where it begins mid-September moves through mid-October but every month because Hispanic Heritage Month yeah.

And the way it was at Headwaters Park for the Fiesta celebration earlier this this summer too there is always a way of trying to get it in a nutshell for an elevator speech and what I had seen in some of the material was the idea that the work of chambers and nationally and locally is to essentially close the opportunity gap as they call it.

>> Yeah, you're nodding your head.

Tell me what that means to you.

Well, closing the gap is very important to us because people have to remember that we're new to commerce even though expansion has been in operation for 30 some years.

>> But across the country we didn't get started in business until after the Depression and those are just small operations and many of them were small operations for twenty years comparing our ethnic group to the Anglo Saxon Western business.

>> They have a lot of money.

The wealth is there and so that were whether we were able to close that gap we don't know.

>> But we're working we're trying pretty hard.

Well, we're we're facing the closing of the time gap but we're very grateful for your being with us today Herb Hernandez, executive director of the Greater Fort Wayne Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Board member and former executive director President Palermo Galatea joining us as well.

>> Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Bruce .

Thank you as well for being a part of PBS's Fort Wayne and vice versa for all of us with prime time.

>> I'm Bruce Haines.

Take care.

We'll see soon.

Good night