Alma Lorena Monzón Germán immigrated, on foot, from Sinaloa, Mexico to Arizona, with the goal of making enough money to help her daughter finish her education. Eight years later, she has founded her own party-decorating business and is among the many Hispanic/Latinx entrepreneurs receiving expert business assistance through the community-based organization RAIL CDC. Supported by LISC Phoenix, the work is one way LISC seeks to unleash talent and level the entrepreneurial playing field. As Hispanic Heritage Month comes to a close, Monzón Germán shares the story of her journey and of the heritage she hopes to pass on to her daughter.

Latino/a/x entrepreneurs, many of them owners of small, neighborhood-serving businesses, contribute some $800 billion a year to the U.S. economy. In recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, we checked in with Hector M. Treto, a businessperson himself and consultant with RAIL CDC in the Phoenix area. RAIL connects local entrepreneurs to Spanish-speaking small business experts who can help hone business plans and offer culturally relevant technical assistance.

Chavez Boxing Gym is among the diverse small businesses around the McDowell Road corridor of Phoenix receiving expert business assistance through the community-based organization RAIL CDC. Supported by LISC Phoenix, the work is one way LISC seeks to unleash talent and level the entrepreneurial playing field, and we weighed in with owner Pete Chavez, to hear his remarkable story, in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month.

To mark Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, four LISCers with roots in Latin America shared their reflections on the relationship between their heritage and their commitment to community development and social justice. Hear what they have to say in the videos that follow.

The historic Latinx-majority communities of Southside Mesa, AZ have endured decades of disinvestment - and are now faced with potential displacement. With support from the grassroots community development group RAIL (for Retail, Arts, Innovation and Livability), a longtime LISC partner, residents and other stakeholders are strategizing and taking the reins of the future of their neighborhoods. To close out our commemoration of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, we took a look at how Southside Mesa is making it happen, this month and every month.

On Fullerton Avenue, in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood of Chicago, storefront businesses dominate a commercial corridor that has long been home to immigrant enterprises—from the Eastern Europeans who put down roots a century ago to the Latinx residents that lead so many operations today. Victor Gallardo and Sergio Villegas, long-time co-workers and now business partners, are part of that rich tapestry, as is Hangry’s, their 28-seat restaurant serving burgers, wings, pasta and more to area families and neighborhood visitors.

Three years ago, we wrote about the Latinas Welding Guild, an Indianapolis organization that trains women, most of them BIPOC, to enter a field that is still more than 95 percent male. Through the pandemic, the Guild not only survived but has thrived as a vital educational and community hub. To commemorate Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, we’re sharing the Latinas Welding Guild’s story via the video below, created to celebrate the 2021 finalist for LISC Indy’s “Love They Neighbor” awards and the strength of the community that Guild founder Consuelo Poland continues to nurture.

In honor of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, we spoke with Rural LISC's Nadia Villagran, to learn about her experience growing up in a mutual self-help community, and how it shaped her family's lives, her own world view and her career as a community developer and a Latina leader in rural California.

In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are sharing the story of Consuelo Poland, founder of the Latinas Welding Guild and director of RUCKUS, a flourishing makerspace in the North Mass Avenue industrial corridor of Indianapolis, where LISC has been supporting the growth of a new and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem. Poland is dedicated to connecting Indy’s residents, Latina and otherwise, to satisfying work in creative, hands-on and entrepreneurial jobs, and building a supportive community for small businesses and makers in the process.