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Born in Mexico, Hector Garcia is CLAC’s newly appointed Executive Director. No stranger to the United States, Hector pursued high school education in both Los Angeles and Ottawa before returning to his native Mexico. Commenting on this experience, Hector recalls how his first impression as a Mexican in Los Angeles helped him understand the challenges of being a minority in a foreign country.

After finishing his Business Administration degree at Instituto Tecnológico de México in Mexico City, Hector worked as a consultant for the Economist Intelligence Unit, a subunit of The Economist.

Hector moved to the Twin Cities in 1973. Responding to his interest in the Latino community in Minnesota, proposed a Mexico liaison position to Prudential Bache Securities. He remembers that during that time, the Latino Community in the Twin Cities consisted in a small presence in the West Side of St. Paul. He has also served as Vice President of International and Domestic Emerging Markets at Wells Fargo Bank. During this time, Hector visualizing the demographic changes of the next decades, and he became a strong advocate for economic relations with Mexico.

Hector transitioned from business to more active involvement with people and community.
He cofounded APEME, (Asociación de Profesionistas y Ejecutivos Mexicanos en el E.U.A.), was Executive Director of NCCJ (National Conference for Community Justice Minnesota and Dakotas District and cofounded and directed the AHAHA Public Policy Forum (African, Hispanic, Asian, Native American).

Before coming to CLAC, Hector served as President of MEX‐US Global, a consulting firm on international investment, market growth, trade and intercultural relations.

Hector’s interests include reading, especially Juan Rulfo, John Steinbeck, Leo Tolstoy, economist Joseph Stiglitz, financier George Soros, and noted Minnesota reporter Thomas Friedman.

In his experience working on behalf of the Latino community in Minnesota, Hector is uniquely well positioned to understand the challenges and assets Minnesota Latinos as this community matures and develops. His dream and his vision for CLAC is for Minnesota Latinos to unite around common issues and work collaboratively to advance the common good of Latinos and all Minnesotans through public policy changes.

Hector is married to a Minnesotan who also worked in Wells-Fargo. His son was born in Minnesota and now lives with his family in New Orleans.

Director's Column: Democracy and the Latino Voice in Minnesota

By Hector Garcia, Executive Director

DEMOCRACY
The United States of America is a democratic country. Due to these foundations, it has maintained liberties and economic abundance which attract so many immigrants from other nations. In a democratic system, the vote is a powerful resource for the people. Through the vote, citizens can influence the decisions and actions of the local, state and federal governments.

It is possible for the people to directly recommend to their legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives as well as to the Governor that a new law be proposed to the Legislature and be evaluated for approval by both chambers.

In 2009, the Latino community of Minnesota represented 216,574 persons (4 percent of the total population of the state); it is projected that in 2035 we will account for 551,600 persons (11 percent of the total). In spite of this rapid growth, our community will not attain a proportionate strength in society if it does not participate in the legislative process.

CLAC- A DEMOCRATIC VEHICLE FOR THE LATINO COMMUNITY
One of the main functions of the Chicano Latino Affairs Council (CLAC), in which I have the honor to serve the community as Executive Director since October 15th, 2009, is to convey to the Legislature and to Minnesota's Governor the distinctive characteristics, realities and aspirations of the Latino community so that they in turn can consider these in their proposals for new legislation. Thus, the voice of the Latino community will be taken into account and, when approved, the proposals can become law and contribute to the progress of the community and to the solution of its problems.

CLAC and three other organizations--Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, Council on Black Minnesotans, Minnesota Indian Affairs Council-were created by the Government of Minnesota so that it could collaborate with our communities in consistently building a more unified and successful state.

CLAC identifies areas of priority interest to the Latino community in the following: economic development, education, health, housing, and immigration. It is within these areas that we advise the Legislators and the Governor so that the interests of the Latino community will be considered in their proposals for new laws, which will then improve the lives of Latinos in the state.

Another of the vital functions we perform is that of helping the members of the Latino community and its organizations access services and programs offered by the State of Minnesota. In addition, we publicize the achievements of Latino individuals and organizations so that our image before the government and the overall population in the state can be more objectively enhanced.

In order for a democratic society to function at an optimum level, it is essential that the people contribute to the efforts of the government and not rely only on electing its political representatives; democracy requires teamwork. Therefore, CLAC must communicate to the Latino community ways in which it can collaborate with us and with the government in the solution of challanges and the creation of a better society for all who live in the beautiful and distinguished state of Minnesota.

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
In the name of CLAC, I invite all the members and organizations of the Latino community to carefully study the above functions and capacities as they represent an invaluable resource that the Government of Minnesota has made available to us. The CLAC staff, Rosa Tock, Gladys Rodriguez, Oscar Echandi and I, invite you to write or come to our offices at 60 Empire Drive, Saint Paul 55103 or to call us at 651 296 9587 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday.

Your ideas, questions, concerns and projects are of great importance to us in carrying out our duties and efficiently serving both you and the State of Minnesota.

Unity, constructive communication and collaboration are the necessary ingredients for a community to become successful. Great accomplishments and the solution of significant challenges are possible if a community operates as a team, which is committed to the goals that its members have agreed to set for themselves. CLAC, as a bridge of communication and coordination, has supported the interests of the Latino community in Minnesota since 1978. With your help, during the upcoming years, we will surpass what has been done until now by laboring to make the dreams of each child, adult and elder in the Latino community become a reality.

From the Capitol: Latino Economic Development

By Rosa Tock, Legislative Director

As part of CLAC's permanent engagement with the Latino community, CLAC envisioned this year to focus its outreach efforts on economic development and its impact in the community with the aim to provide policy recommendations. Two main reasons prompted the Council to work on this complex but vital policy area: 1) the economic downturn disproportionately affecting minorities, and 2) the importance of recognizing Latino entrepreneurship and the Latino future workforce in the renewal of the state's economic vitality.

As we know, changing demographics, a retiring population and a potential slow economic growth might compromise the main factors behind economic stability, namely, the growth of productivity that comes from private investment, the skills and abilities of workers, public investment, and technology from research (private and public). The workforce is expected to shrink due to boomer retirement (i.e. half of all teachers will retire by 2020) and the number of high school graduates will likely decrease 10.3% by 2013. In the meantime, the Latino population is projected to rise rapidly: from 216,574 residents (4% of the total population) in 2009, it will become the largest minority in 2035, with an increase of 181%, attaining 551,600 persons (11% total population). In the meantime, between 2000 and 2005, Latino students grew by almost 13,000 while the white population contracted by 43,000. According to the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), it is estimated that between 2006 and 2016 the state will add news 291,000 jobs in addition to 650,000 replacement openings. This requires that for Minnesota to compete in a global economy, the state secures a highly trained workforce.

During the months of July and August, CLAC decided to continue its role in gathering information from the community with the purpose of better understanding the community's concerns and needs, but also to identify best models and practices that could be replicated or utilized as a way to bring more opportunities in revitalizing economic corridors and regions. The results of community visits and the exploratory survey on workforce development centers are contained in the report A Closer Look at Minnesota Latino Workforce and Business Development: Findings of CLAC's 2009 Community Visits.

What we found reveals the need to concentrate efforts and strategies in more effective community outreach and providing the right tools to help enhance the skills and abilities of Latinos in many industries and economic sectors. One recurrent challenge found when trying to find current statistics and doing secondary research is the fact that there is very little data available regarding Latino business development or workforce development in Minnesota. The most recent data dates from the 2000 Census and some estimates for 2007 and 2008, however, information on the needs and particularly the new areas of Latino development and improvement remains very limited.

The main recommendations that arise from this report (soon to be released) are as follows:

To increase Latino economic outputs and productivity:

·Support Latino small business development, particularly those located in vital economic corridors in the metro area and Greater Minnesota.
·Support programs and partnerships that promote the design and implementation of effective workforce models that will enhance the opportunities of Latino workers.
·Support programs geared to retraining laid-off workers.
·Increases collaboration among state agencies and community-based organizations in their outreach to Latino small businesses in the areas of:

   o   Infrastructure and assistance in small business financing.
   o   Provide linguistic and cultural competent information and access to resources and
        services through the development of a bilingual directory.
   o   Monitor the legislative work with the Legislative Job Task Force and the Small
        Business Caucus.

DEED is in charge, mainly, of developing strategies to promote business recruitment, expansion and retention, workforce development, and community development. In a recent article for the bilingual newspaper Eventos in October 2009, DEED's Commissioner Dan McElroy recognizes that the Latino population is an important audience for the agency, and is willing to cooperate with the community when planning programs, hiring DEED staff, translating agency print materials and procuring the services of interpreters for public meetings. To find more information about services and programs provided by DEED, please see the Eventos edition published in October of this year.

We can only imagine the significant benefits that would result from working in cooperation with DEED and other policy makers by exchanging information and coordinating programs that build capacity to support and create relevant businesses and workforce programs.

Summer Engagement Community Notes: CLAC Economic and Workforce Development

By Oscar Echandi, Community Liaison

Every year CLAC works to research and transmit the voices of the Latino community to the Minnesota Governor and state legislators. In this mandate, CLAC reports on the Latino specific education, health, housing, economic development and immigration in Minnesota.

Readers of this newsletter know that for the last two years CLAC sponsored Latino Students in Our Public Schools in 2006 in partnership with the Center for Rural Policy and Development and published A Latino health report in 2008. In preparation for this research CLAC often seeks to assistance of Latino community agencies, community members, leaders and other experts who have firsthand knowledge of both Latino contributions and areas for development.

In 2009 CLAC focused on the issue of Latino economic and workforce development. To this end, the past summer and fall have continued the established community engagement strategy. This past June, CLAC partnered with Metropolitan Economic Development Association in convening an opportunity for community leaders and workforce development experts to comment on Latino contributions to Minnesota's economic and workforce development.

The meeting was facilitated by Edgardo Rodriguez, who works for MEDA and serves as CLAC Board Member. The aim of the gathering was to generate a list of specific areas where the Latino population significantly represented large contributions toward Minnesota's prosperity. A second goal identified critical areas for Latino economic development in conjunction while a third goal generated potential policy recommendations aimed at stimulating further economic growth for Latino businesses and workers in Minnesota. From this meeting a core advisory task force was formed which accompanied CLAC community engagement and lent their expert voice in informing CLAC outputs.

Following this initial gathering of experts, CLAC directly engaged the Latino community through the identification of four site visits which exemplified vibrant economic growth through four distinct models. The first site visit took place in Northfield in the offices of the Rural Enterprise Center. This exciting agro-enterprise initiative is organizing Latino farmers in developing free-range poultry for commercial sales. The second site visit engaged the Willmar Area Multicultural Market, a rural commercial development project which is captivating both Latino and Somali cooperation in the city of Willmar. The third site visit took in the already established Plaza Verde commercial market in the heart of Minneapolis while the final visit was in East St. Paul's developing Latino commercial district on Payne Ave.

For each site visit, I served in identifying best practice strategies as well as the most important needs for supporting Latino economic development in Minnesota. This community input (on a micro scale) serves to enrich macro legislative recommendations and educating Minnesota's Legislators about emerging Latino economic input in the state economy.

In tandem with community visits, CLAC also developed a targeted online survey aimed at collecting the input of workforce development experts who could effectively voice the future needs of Minnesota's Latino workers. This survey was distributed in August and responses analyzed in September.

As in previous years, the output from this work will be reflected in a published report containing the a review of the most recent Latino economic and workforce development research, community visit summaries and the findings of the workforce survey together with legislative recommendations for strengthening Latino and Minnesota's future.

Watch the CLAC website closely in the next weeks for the final report publication.

Minneapolis, MN - For this issue's Un Orgullo Minnesotano, CLAC interviewed Noelia Garcia Vasquez of La Loma Tamales.

Vazquez originally from Morelos, Mexico was recently awarded the 7th Annual NACCE (National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship) Entrepreneur of the Year. You can read more about this award here.

CLAC recently sat down with Noelia in La Loma's cafeteria located in the corner of Mercado Central to talk about her origins and the lessons of running a successful business.

Noelia began her early years in Mexico studying pharmacy and inventorying merchandise. She shares that these early lessons were a good preparation later. During this time, her mother made best tamales in town. They were so good, in fact, that her and aunt and brothers would sell them on order for holidays and feast days.

When she arrived in Minnesota in 1993, she continued this tradition by making tamales in her kitchen on special holidays. Just like in Mexico, close family and friends would often ask for extra tamales to sell. Noelia recalls that demand for her tamales was so great, that oftentimes her kitchen would be full of steam for days on end as she worked to prepare sufficient tamales.

At this point Noelia conceived a tamale business concept and together with her husband Enrique, began to look for ways to make her business hopes a reality. In 1999 the Mercado Central initiative developed on Lake Street. Noelia and Enrique looked for a good space to set up a kitchen, but found that the Mercado's corner cafeteria was the only available spot.

Undaunted, Noelia continued to make tamales and La Loma Tamales was opened on July 31, 1999 as one of the founding businesses of Mercado Central. In a stroke of good fortune, Noelia and Enrique inherited needed equipment for their business from a closing restaurant.

With a $23,000 start-up loan, Noelia recounts how in the early stages of her business planning, she worked with Latino Economic Development Center and Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) in acquiring needed business planning, set-up and inspections.

The impact from La Loma Tamales product was immediate. Working long days Noelia, Enrique and their staff worked from their home and in Mercado Central to keep up with the increasing demand of customer orders. During this time Noelia learned the difficult lesson of expanding a business. La Loma has expanded so quickly, that "for 3 years, for every tamal we sold we lost a penny."

What was needed was a strategy for good accounting and business management which could return La Loma to profitability. Responding to her need, NDC and the University of St. Thomas provided accounting resources in the form of three students and a supervisor to La Loma. With their input, Noelia created a recipe database, archived their business documents and created an electronic inventory. They also raised prices $.25 on each tamal.

Noelia and Enrique's next decision was to sell tamales wholesale through the creation of a tamal factory. With an established market, a good product and renewed enthusiasm, La Loma Tamales received a $300,000 combined loan Neighborhood Development Center, Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers, Franklin Bank and the City of Minneapolis.

Noelia recalls that the licensing process took a whole year as the state inspectors did not know what tamales were. In collaboration with the University of Minnesota, a state pilot inspector worked with La Loma Tamales to develop Minnesota's founding state guidelines for tamale production. Noelia recalls that "everything was created from scratch, factory, processes diagrams, it was incredible!" The factory currently produces 2,500 tamales each day.

Currently La Loma sells about 1 million tamales annually over six separate businesses. Noelia has taken over much of the business accounting. Her advice for successful business owners "business planning and strategy are the most important area of your work". Every 3-4 months, she sits with her staff reviewing account costs, ingredient fluctuations, quarterly strategy review, market sales and prices adjustments.

She remains a dedicated student at Dakota County Community College where she studies supervisory management, (a combination of human resources management, finance, sales, marketing, and business planning). Her next step is complete her degree in accounting.

As we completed our interview Noelia reminded me that "the success of a business is your employees". Recognizing the benefits of education, she continues to encourage her employees to learn new skills to improve themselves and the business. In a testament to her employee commitment, her youngest employee has worked for La Loma for three years.

Please help us congratulate Noelia for being this issue's Un Orgullo Minnesotana.

* 1 (4 ounce) jar chopped maraschino cherries

Directions:

Place ham in a roasting pan. Score the rind of the ham with a diamond pattern.
Press a clove into the center of each diamond.
Drain the juice from the pineapple rings into a medium bowl, and stir in the brown sugar.
Coat the ham with this mixture. Arrange the pineapple rings over the outside of the ham. Place a maraschino cherry in the center of each pineapple ring, and secure with a toothpick.
Bake uncovered for 4 to 5 hours, basting frequently with the juices, until the internal temperature of the ham is 160 degrees F (72 degrees C).
Be sure the meat thermometer is not touching the bone. Remove toothpicks before serving.

¡El Minnesotano! E-Newsletter, Summer/Fall 2009

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