Economic Development and Entrepreneurship

Pathway Towards Independent Living:
n March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a national lockdown in the United States that significantly disrupted social and economic activities for over a year. In Minnesota, the pandemic resulted in the loss of 207,000 jobs in its first year, increased housing insecurity, and forced parents to juggle work with homeschooling. Frontline service workers and health professionals faced heightened risks by continuing to work.

Undocumented Latino Workers in MN:

A study of their Economic Impact

Creando Ando 2.0:

Building entrepreneurial
confidence in Latines in Region
Nine counties

Improving the security in our community

A look inside the scams impacting the Latine community of Minnesota and North Dakota.

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized housing stability as a critical social determinant of health. The quality, safety, affordability, and location of homes directly impact individual and family well-being. An equitable approach to housing stabilization and recovery measures is needed to address the persisting financial hardships and housing insecurity of Latines in Minneapolis. Recommendations include 1) education on renters’ rights to go beyond improved landlord-renter relationships; 2) continued investment in culturally responsive organizations to provide homebuyer education and counseling; 3) promotion of alternative models of homeownership; and 4) new outreach approaches to disseminate information on housing programs.

Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER) designed and applied this Creando Ando Program in Rochester to increase self-confidence and foster an entrepreneurial mindset among the Latino community of Rochester.

For the development of the project, we designed three workshops utilizing the Design Thinking model, which refers to the cognitive, strategic and practical processes by which design concepts are developed. Due to COVID- 19, all workshops were conducted via zoom.

The Austin Area Minority Business Project (AAMBP) is a program funded by Bank of America to stimulate entrepreneurship and economic vitality in Austin, MN by reducing legal barriers in immigrant status and business. In doing so, it improves local economic development, empowers underrepresented community members, improves accessibility to social services,
and increases civic engagement.

The aim of the Austin Area Minority Business Project (AAMBP) is to stimulate entrepreneurship and economic vitality in Austin, MN by reducing legal barriers in immigrant status and business; thus, improve local economic development, empower underrepresented community members, improve accessibility to social services, and increase civic engagement.

In 2000, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) and Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER) undertook a research study of Latino nonprofits in Minnesota to address a gap of information regarding the number and type of nonprofits that served the Latino community. The result was the
first Latino Nonprofit Economy Report, published in September 2000.
This report is an update of the previous one, and provides a picture of the state of Minnesota’s Latino nonprofit organizations by size, location, types of services and funding sources. The report is also designed to examine the impact the nonprofit sector has on Latino communities.

Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund (NCDF) contracted Hispanic Advocacy
and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER) to conduct a study to assess
the perceptions, experiences and needs of Latino residents of manufactured home parks in rural Minnesota so that they would be able to promote their cooperative ownership program with this community.