Boulder County, Northern Colorado chambers work to boost Latino businesses

Chambers of commerce traditionally have worked to boost economic development and provide educational, marketing and advocacy for their members and their communities. But an established chamber in Boulder County and a newer one in Northern Colorado are tackling a more specialized role: aiding Latino-owned businesses.

For the Longmont-based Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County and the fledgling, Fort Collins-based Noco Latino Chamber of Commerce, the challenge is helping largely Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs navigate a largely English-speaking economic infrastructure.

“A lot of people are looking for an ‘identity’ chamber like us,” said Carla Colin, office manager for the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County, where membership had grown to 249 by late November. “We have a rule that we serve every business that needs support, so they don’t even have to be from Boulder County. They don’t have to be a business owner. They don’t even have to be Latino.”

One entity her group is supporting is the year-old Noco Latino chamber, said Jose Luis Ramos, who has channeled his experience as an economic-development specialist for the city of Fort Collins and a bilingual business sustainability coordinator for the city of Longmont into offering support to Latino-owned businesses in Larimer and Weld counties. He reached out to Berenice Garcia Tellez, then board chairman of the Boulder County Latino chamber.

“We asked for their help so we could learn from their experience,” Ramos said. “We are working together, and they’re helping us a lot.”

‘There was something missing’

Ramos had been a software engineer and for 11 years co-owned Las Salcidas restaurant in Fort Collins. In his economic-development role in Fort Collins, he helped small businesses apply for Payroll Protection Program loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I realized a lot of the Latino-owned businesses were not