New Latino Business Assoc. seeks solid footing in Lynn

LYNN – It already has 39 members but North Shore Latino Business Association Executive Director Frances Martinez said the two-month-old organization hopes to eventually claim all 276 Latino business owners as members.Martinez said the group is open to all area business owners and has its origins in her efforts to work with businesses with Spanish-speaking owners from 1996 to 2002. She left that position to run La Vida, a local organization working with children and, when she left La Vida last November, business owners urged her to form a business group, she said.”They came to me looking for direction,” she said, adding, “People said, ?We really need this.'”The association is reaching out not only to Latino-owned businesses but the 90 home-based Latino business owners Martinez said need assistance and advocacy. She said home-grown and established business owners need help understanding city rules and regulations and applying for loans with a business plan and the required paperwork.Association member Cristino Acosta opened his barbershop, Canon’s Place, in 1998. He rents out five chairs and said the association could help him expand his customer base.He is a native of the Dominican Republic but wants to bring Guatemalan, Cambodian and other customers into Canon’s.Jose Reyes has run Re-Yes Real Estate since 2002 from a 92 Union St. office he shares with other agents. Experience has taught him that new business owners need different types of assistance.”Sometimes when we open a business we don’t know what is involved regarding laws. We’re blindfolded,” Reyes said.Martinez said ongoing discussions about redrawing congressional district boundaries is a concern for business owners. They do not want Lynn moved into a district with other large cities where the competition for business grants and other forms of assistance is much stiffer.”We will be harmed in terms of what kind of resources we can get,” she said.She said the Latino stores that helped revive Union Street as a commercial way during the last 15 years are no longer the only businesses run locally by Latinos.”We have new-era technology businesses, the non-profit sector is taking shape with organizations like Lenoxx Inc., a home care provider, and La Vida. There are little businesses growing that, in the future, will become major businesses,” she said.Martinez said the association plans to devote an upcoming meeting to discuss business franchise opportunities and subjects including employee tax law changes. Reyes said Latino entrepreneurs need more education in local food and alcohol service regulations. Acosta said the city needs more Spanish speaking workers.”The idea,” said Reyes, “is to have a place to turn to.”