💸💪🏾Moneda Moves (03): Who gets the job done
¡Buenos días, gente linda! This week, I've been thinking a lot about our immigrant communities. And in a place like New York City, how could you not? 🤔More than 3 million immigrants live in the Big Apple alone -- that's about 40% of the population (and 45% of the workforce). From the bodega owner next door, to the guagua driver that gets us to Times Square, you could say immigrants really do power the city.
When thinking about immigrants in this country through a money lens, the work they do in the U.S. and how they contribute to the economy is a big part of the conversation. More than 27 million foreign-born people are part of the U.S. workforce. The Latinx population is 47.9% of that group, per The Bureau of Labor Statistics. Talk about some serious poder. Just some food for thought as we delve into this week.
If you know someone who would benefit from having Moneda Moves in their inbox, share this notita with them here. 👋🏾Don't forget to tweet at me: @LyanneAlfaro or @MonedaMoves.
Lyanne
We're keeping tabs/cuentas on what happened last week in the world of Latinx in business. We review studies, features and news updates as they relate to our community and underrepresented communities at large.
NYC's legendary salsa record label has new owners💃🏽: Concord Music has bought Fania Records. Fania was founded more than 50 years ago by the Dominican Republic-born musician Johnny Pacheco and Italian-American lawyer Jerry Masucci. At the time, Pacheco started the company with $2,500, but it ended up gaining global recognition and helped establish future legends in the Latin music scene like Celia Cruz and Héctor Lavoe.
There's two ways that Fania became not only a household name but historic in its own right:
1. It's been credited as the record label that gave birth to salsa.
2. It was founded on the basis that artists should get paid for their work. "[Record companies] were spending money like it was going out of style, and that really ticked me off," Pacheco told Latino USA with Maria Hinojosa. He later added: "Every cent that came in, we put it back into the business."
Stanford is housing a program to help Latinx business owners scale📜: The Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative was born out of necessity. Latinx are starting businesses at a faster rate than any other ethnic group in the U.S., the Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative found. What's more, Latinas own 44% of Latinx businesses. #Jefas. Yet, 98% report less than one million dollars in annual revenue. That's where Jerry Porras saw an opportunity to help Latinx grow their companies. "Big companies have a huge effect on society," Porras, who is spearing the project said in a Stanford publication. Part of the reason these companies have not yet scaled is that access to capital is limited. The Stanford program plans to tackle the issue with data to inform public policy and training for entrepreneurs.
11 co-workers in California just won the state's largest Mega Million jackpot prize in a single ticket💸: The total pre-taxes? $543 million. On Friday, Roland Reyes claimed the sum on behalf of his group, adding that the choice to buy was "a spur of the moment" decision. Each person contributed two dollars towards the purchase of the ticket at a small business: Ernie's Liquors in San Jose. The co-owner, Kewal Sachdev, will also receive a hefty award of one million dollars. Not too shabby!
Get to know the powerful/potentes Latinx and up-and-comers in business.
August 5-8: Immigrant Arts & Women's Empowerment Summit🗽: This New York City-based event brings together entrepreneurs, artists and journalists to talk about immigrant arts in a cultural and economic context. I will be moderating a panel there as well. Please feel free to follow along with #ImmigrantArtsSummit. Quedan invitados.
No Art? No Innovation Economy: Economic Development Brought by Immigrant Artists
Confirmed panelists:
Christopher Carroll: Chief of Staff and Political Director, AFM Local 802
Lili Gil Valletta: Journalist, CEO Cien Plus and Dreamers Ventures
Vaibhav Saini: Author; Licensing Director (Life Sciences), University of Connecticut
Moderator: Lyanne Alfaro
Put your money/monedita where your mouth is! These are Latinx entrepreneurs, business owners and thought leaders to consider backing this week.
A nonprofit in Mexico is helping recently deported individuals find mental and financial stability🇲🇽: As undocumented immigrants and deportation take front and center in the news, what we know less about is what exactly happens when deportees land back in their country of origin. Israel Concha, a deportee himself, is now president of the Mexican non-profit, New Comienzos. Since 2015, the organization has worked with more than 5,000 deportees to help get them psychological help and prepares individuals to enter the workforce by providing accreditation in both English and Spanish. The story comes from Daniel Peña at NBC Latino, who writes that the nonprofit is run by donations, including those of other undocumented individuals living in the U.S. Concha's latest project has also taken off: He is working on data-gathering and research to demonstrate what has happened to the recently deported in Mexico City specifically.
Thanks for reading! If you were forwarded this newsletter, feel free to subscribe with this link. ¡Hasta la próxima!