DISCOURSE
percentage of them that actually have ended up being part of the census workers , because from that , everyone got to hear what the census was , why it ’ s important , and how the resources are allocated based on who responds . A lot of people there hadn ’ t ever heard that , what it really meant . They just thought it meant an informational thing , not understanding that ’ s how budgets actually get done .
This is an election year too . How has the SHCC been encouraging people to vote , and why is the election important to the community ?
Our community , we do things as a group , so we ’ re encouraging that whole mindset . As a group , discuss these issues together . Sit together , fill out your mail-in ballots . Figure out who hasn ’ t been registered yet . Get them registered . … Everyone , of course , is looking at what our presidential election will look like , but … it ’ s not so much who that person will be as much as will that leadership start talking more about these things that are important for all of us ? Equity in education . Equity in employment . … What does it look like to maybe finally have a comprehensive immigration reform ? … What ’ s going to happen with our ( Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program ) students ?
Are we looking for leadership that ’ s going to alleviate some of the fear that we have in our community for , quite frankly , our other family members ? There ’ s some families that are mixed-status , and a lot of people don ’ t realize that . … The level of anxiety is so much that we ’ re looking for leadership that ’ s going to help alleviate that and start to help find solutions .
Over the past decade , Latinos have started new businesses at a faster rate than any other demographic group in the U . S . Do you see this trend continuing past the pandemic ?
I do . When people start a business , a lot of them may be immigrants or may have an immigrant background . If you ’ ve already left everything you ’ ve ever known , you are that much more willing to be like , “ You know what ? This is what I ’ m going to do . I ’ m going to take control of my destiny and start a business .” … There ’ s a resiliency to keep moving forward . And I think , if anything , it ’ s going to continue . … This pandemic is detrimental , there ’ s no way around it . It has been detrimental to a lot of businesses , and it ’ s made everyone have to revamp their plan and pivot in different directions that they may not have ever thought of . But then there ’ s also businesses that have found , “ Hey , I didn ’ t realize that I could have an e-commerce platform . I can sud-
24 comstocksmag . com | October 2020