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Latino Chamber celebrates grand opening of office space

Celebration marks a big step for organization offering support to Latino businesses
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Board members and staff of the Latino Chamber of Boulder County cut the ribbon to commemorate the grand opening of their new office space on Friday in Longmont.

The Latino Chamber of Boulder County now has a physical location to offer their services in Longmont.

The group celebrated the office’s grand opening with Latino business owners and community members on Friday. The office is inside the Longmont Economic Development space at 1925 Pike Road in Longmont.

Latino Chamber Board Chair Berenice Garcia Tellez said the grand opening was significant because it provided a place for face-to-face interactions with Latino business owners and professionals.

“For Latino businesses, they prefer that one-on-one connection and now they have a space where they know they can come and find us and talk about what they want to do, business development, taxes, accounting, etc.,” she said.

The Latino Chamber helps build, strengthen and promote the interests of Latino businesses across Boulder County, including assisting owners with the navigation of the system.

“For us, operating a business back in our countries is different than here. They need to have the proper guidance before getting into trouble,” Garcia Tellez said.

While the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Latino community especially hard, Garcia Tellez said there was a silver lining for the Latino Chamber in that it really ramped up and brought into focus the important work of the organization.

“COVID was hard for our community, but for us it was an excellent opportunity to help and be at the table,” she said.

The Latino Chamber has assisted over 200 businesses since the pandemic began, including providing grant support to 115 businesses of which 92 received grants. They also hosted three vaccine clinics with the help of county partners, getting more than 1,200 people vaccinated.

The next big step for the Latino Chamber is getting more professional development opportunities out to Latino professionals. As their demographic population continues to grow in Boulder County, Garcia Tellez said she wants to see more Latinos in high paying jobs.

“We really believe in the change of demographics so we’re really going to put in the work to diversify the future workforce,” she said. “We really need more Latinos in high end sectors.”

The board chair was thrilled to be celebrating the office landmark on Friday and seeing the large community turn out.

“We’re doing this for them,” Garcia Tellez said.

To learn more about the Latino Chamber or to find membership opportunities, which are open to anyone, go to www.latinochamber.org.


Amy Golden

About the Author: Amy Golden

Amy Golden is a reporter for the Longmont Leader covering city and county issues, along with anything else that comes her way.
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