Resource center for Latino-owned businesses opens
When then-Councilman Bill Peduto began talks years ago with local Latino leaders about creating a business resource center, Beechview was the obvious choice as a location.
Much of the city’s growing Latino and Hispanic population lives in that community and in neighboring Brookline, and businesses such as Las Palmas’ IGA Market on Beechview’s main drag draw more Hispanic Pittsburghers to the neighborhood.
But since the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corp.’s business incubator opened last month in a city-owned building on Broadway Avenue, staff and board members have been touting it as “borderless” and “with no boundaries.”
“We wanted a Latino organization without geographical limitations,” said Guillermo Velazquez, executive director of the nonprofit PHDC.
At a Nov. 21 ribbon-cutting and reception for the new center, nowMayor Peduto called it “much more than an incubator.”
“It’s a welcoming door to our city,” he said.
“It’s important to think of ourselves as an economic development group,” said Daniel Conlon, a PHDC board member and an attorney with Downtown law firm Tucker Arensberg. “We’re in Beechview, but if we need to help a business get on its feet in Penn Hills, we can help there as well.”
In addition to business assistance, the agency offers housing and employment services. Staff and volunteers are fluent in three languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese.
Nationwide, the share of new entrepreneurs who are Latino was 25% in 2018, up from 10% in 1996, according to a report from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 9,000 Latinos or Hispanics live in Pittsburgh, comprising about 3% of the city’s population.
There are about 24,000 Latinos and Hispanics in Allegheny County, or 2% of the population, up by more than 100% since 2000.
The terms Latino and Hispanic are often used interchangeably. Latinos are persons of Latin American descent living in the U.S.; Hispanics generally refers to
Spanish-speaking people and doesn’t include Brazilians who speak Portuguese.
Tax services to caterers
The Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corp, which organized in 2015, in the last three years has assisted 60 entrepreneurs, including 30 whose firms became incorporated and 15 who started operations, Mr. Velazquez said.
Types of firms counseled so far include digital marketers, tax services, caterers, cleaning services, grocery stores, beauty salons, auto body repairs, property management, and a range of contractors that provide roofing, landscaping and other construction-related services.
Mr. Velazquez, a native of Mexico who wrote a business plan for the incubator while completing a master’s of business administration at Point Park University, became executive director of the PHDC last year.
The incubator program provides entrepreneurs with help setting up accounting systems; connecting with financial sources such as banks, crowdfunding and government loans; and education to help become certified as minority-owned firms.
Its staff also spends time counseling clients on cultural differences that can impact business and entrepreneurship. “Just like language differences, we have differences in our financial culture,” Mr. Velazquez said.
For many Latinos who aren’t accustomed to saving money, he provides lessons in setting aside earnings and planning for the future.
The incubator program costs $25 a month and members pay for their own business cards, marketing promotions, licenses and other materials. Business assessments cost $105 for the initial, two-hour session.
A brick-and-mortar space
Before the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corp. settled into its new space, it leased temporary digs in a few locations around the city, including a cubicle in the offices of state Sen. Wayne Fontana, DBrookline.
It now occupies about 4,200 square feet on the second floor of a renovated building that also houses the Beechview Senior Community Center and a street-level coffee shop. The red line of the Port Authority’s lightrail train stops a few steps from PHDC’s entrance.
The organization has a 30-year lease with the city to occupy the space with bright blue walls, an open design plan and a mezzanine that overlooks the main floor.
“A Latino organization with a brick-and-mortar space is really significant,” said Mr. Conlon, who was raised in Mexico and attended college and law school in the U.S. “It shows it’s there for the long run.”
Funding to renovate the space included grants of $375,000 from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, a $75,000 Community Development Investment Fund grant from the city Urban Redevelopment Authority and a $85,000 loan from the URA’s Pittsburgh Business Growth Fund.
The Heinz Endowments has provided a total $450,000 to PHDC since 2016, including funds for the new incubator space and for operations and program support.
Besides incubator resources, the facility offers coworking space with 16 cubicles and flexible seating for 15 to 20 individuals.
Coworking tenants pay monthly rent ranging from $150 to $400 — depending on how many seats they lease — and have access to typical coworking amenities such as Wi-Fi, copying, conference rooms and a kitchen.
New entrepreneurs
On a recent afternoon, Jesus Marquez, 35, and Aureliano Gonzalez, 36, immigrants from Barinas, Venezuela, discussed their entrepreneurial aspirations in a conference room. Mr. Velazquez and Maria Nunez, PHDC’s community manager, helped to translate.
Mr. Marquez is employed by a remodeling contractor and planning a venture to print customized, branded tshirts and other clothing items for businesses.
He and Mr. Gonzalez, who works in hotel maintenance, want to partner on their own residential remodeling company.
After leaving their South American homeland, where the economy collapsed in recent years under socialist regimes, they said they feel welcome in the U.S., despite the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on immigration.
A November report from immigration advocacy group New American Economy ranked Pittsburgh 27th out of the 100 largest U.S. cities for its support of immigrants.
It got high marks for government and community leadership, but its score dropped in inclusivity — an “area in which the city could improve,” the report noted.
Chicago was the topranked city.
Other organizations in Pittsburgh that offer resources for immigrants include the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Latin American Cultural Union and Casa San Jose.
‘Abre Tu Negocio’
Duquesne University’s Small Business Development Center has been assisting immigrants for more than a decade and offers free counseling with fees for classes, said Mary McKinney, SBDC director.
One offerings is a quarterly workshop conducted in Spanish, “Abre Tu Negocio en Pittsburgh,” which translates to “Open Your Business in Pittsburgh.”
Monica Aveni-Ranii, an immigrant from Argentina who owns catering firm La Mendocina, a decade ago sought help from Duquesne’s small-business center to better understand business taxes and legal issues.
This year, the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corp. helped convert her business from a sole proprietorship to a limited liability company.
She welcomes the PHDC’s new space as a site where groups such as the Latin American Cultural Union can hold workshops and where immigrants will be comfortable speaking their native languages.
Over the years, she’s met with Latino organizations at libraries or Panera Bread cafes. “When we’re all speaking in Spanish, a lot of people look at us and wonder what’s going on.”
While Pittsburgh “is getting better at embracing diversity,” she said, “sometimes it’s hard to be accepted.”