1.    Assisted 10 new businesses with their business plans.
We organized and promoted a successful “How to make your write you own business plan” seminar that started on September 26 and continued on October 3 and 10 of a total of 15 hours with the participation of 17 students who we assisted in preparing their own business plan.  The seminar resulted in helping in the creation of two new small businesses.  They are: “Panaderia El Bolillo” on Monona Dr Madison and “Aguila Real Restaurant” in Prairie du Sac.  The Bolillo bakery will be sponsoring our first networking meeting this year and we have three prominent speakers lined up as part of that program.  The effort brought in some new jobs for the community, (5 for Bolio and 7 for Aguila, respectively).

2.    Provided technical assistance to existing and start-up business owners through classes and/or The Minority Business Resource Center.
Thanks to our technical assistance, one of our members, Antonio Estrada, will be opening a new branch of “La Mestiza, Mexican Cuisine” soon to open Downtown Madison.  This will also bring us a few new jobs (5) and we also assisted another restaurant, “Fiesta Mexican Grill” that recently opened its doors on Gammon Rd across the street from Memorial High School.  That brought some more new jobs to the area (5).
The first QuickBooks seminar was offered on May 5, in collaboration with MATC with a total of six sessions (15 hours). Fifteen students attended.  The Latino Chamber of Commerce supported attendees with 50% scholarship paid to MATC to offset the tuition cost.
On June 13, we offered the Seminar “How to start your own restaurant and catering service” which was very successful with the enthusiastic participation of 23 students.  We brought the instructor Alexandra Arata from Montgomery College in Maryland.
The second and last QuickBooks seminar of the year was hosted on November 12th and 19th, December 3rd, 10th, and 17th and consisted of 15 hours of hands on classroom participation in a computer lab with 15 students.  A total of 98 individuals and business attended our seminars, classes, and workshops (28 more than originally projected).
We also provided several Bilingual English/Spanish training courses in collaboration with OSHA and Vera Court Community Center pertaining to things such as forklift driving certification and computer classes in different levels.  These events targeted our member’s employees and prospective employers as they learn more about the opportunities for small businesses in Madison.

3.    New Sponsors:
We are proud to have on board new sponsors such as “La Taqueria Guadalajara”, “El Pastor Mexican Restaurant,” “Centro Legal de Inmigracion,” and “La Mestiza Mexican Restaurant,” who supported us last year, bringing in some extra funds to assist in marketing our courses and seminars.  We hope to expand on this area as part of our effort toward becoming self sufficient.

4.    Surveys:
We surveyed the various businesses and individuals who attended our classes and seminars to determine if our efforts were fruitful in assisting in their economic growth and what other programs or educational opportunities we could provide.  The result is that we have put on programs to answer their needs to help empower them.
 
Most persons needed assistance in starting a business (about 60%).  New businesses who had just begun sought information on licenses and registration. (about 25%).  The rest were mostly questions about training and courses on such topics as “How to start your own restaurant,” “QUICKBOOKS”, “How to write your own business plan” and job skills training.
We were able to take care of most walk-ins and persons and businesses who call for information, internally through available resources.  Others were referred them to different offices and agencies who could assist them.

5.    Networking meetings:
Our monthly networking meetings have continued to grow in attendance and relevance.  We meet each month at a different member’s businesses in the morning or afternoon for a short informal networking/informational meeting.  The addition of speakers on various business related topics has been helpful to all the members in learning about worthwhile business related items they were able to share their experiences about.
Our relationship with the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce (GMCC) is becoming more useful to both agencies as we continue to collaborate.  Recently, with the addition of the Minority Business Association Council (MBAC) we have worked together on some new initiatives including assisting businesses to register as MBEs.

6.    Our Website :
Our website has become more user-friendly, informative, and easier to maintain and update.
Aside from working on providing an English language page, to allow more access to non-Spanish speakers, we will be working on including a directory of our membership in 2010.
The English option will assist other members of the non-Latino community who have an interest in working with the Latino community to find out about each other and work together.

7.    Business Expo Dinner:
Business Expo/Dinner: We designed a special committee to lead the efforts in preparation for this event. The committee started to work on the planning in June and the results were great. The business expo had 23 Latino and non Latino exhibitors, and the dinner boasted almost 140 attendees.  This time we added the innovation of a musical/cultural show by “The Omeyocan Dance Company”, from Milwaukee, since Mexico was the host nation being featured and Mario Mendoza, the Mayor’s assistant, made a presentation to the Chamber where he proclaimed the day as “Latino Chamber Day for Mayor Cieslewicz.  Judging by the participation and the feedback we had from the participants, we feel it was an extremely successful event.  In 2010 we are considering hosting to separate events and doing it as fund raisers.