Access to capital and industry representation are at the forefront of Maria Mendoza’s mission to teach Latino youth business skills and entrepreneurship.
A bilingual real estate agent for NextHome 365 Realty, Mendoza started out as a part-time employee nearly 10 years ago and became one of the first real estate agents in Skagit County to serve Latino clients.
Hailing from a family of farmworkers, she recalled to a group of nine students on the evening of Wednesday, July 24, that working in real estate was a longtime professional goal of hers.
Mendoza is the second guest speaker the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce asked to present in front of a class — specifically the first-ever Latino Business Youth Program.
The chamber launched its Latino Business Leaders program in 2019, but this year Silvia Reed, business development and foundation director, organized an initiative to attract community members between the ages of 16–24.
Participants who sign up for the free, two-month training attend a total of six sessions that cover early fundamentals — from knowing how to market a business to determining operational costs.
Reed is strongly anchored within the chamber and over the years, surveyed existing Latino business owners about their economic growth. She consistently analyzes the performance of Latino businesses at the national and local levels, which prompted her to form a youth cohort.
Skagit County’s Latino population sits at nearly 20%, a representation of the county’s prominent migrant farmworker history. But even with this large percentage, Reed noticed there weren’t a lot of training services despite a growing business community among Latino residents.
“When it comes to youth, it’s important they have somebody they can relate to, somebody from their community that might have faced the same challenges they are facing now,” she said.
When Mendoza’s parents purchased their first home, she realized how little they knew ahead of their purchase.
Mendoza weaves this realization into each client interaction she has, as a majority of them are without Social Security cards and rely on Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers instead.
An integral part of her job is how she prepares her clients prior to their initial home search, Mendoza explained, such as sharing bank recommendations and credit-building tips.
In Mendoza’s family, money had an emotional aspect, too. As a child, Mendoza recalled how her family never openly spoke about their finances — a discussion deemed as “taboo” or inappropriate.
Children may serve as an interpreter or translator for their families, Reed said. Many of the students are interested in taking over a family business, such as Yareli Lopez-Fernandez, a 2020 La Conner High School graduate whose dad owns a landscaping company.
“His reality was completely different than that of his daughter,” Reed said. “With this program, if she decides to take over the business, she not only has the experience of her dad, but the education, so it becomes a little bit easier.”
Olivia Capriotti is a Dow Jones summer news intern, specializing in data journalism. Reach her at oliviacapriotti@cascadiadaily.com.
