The Assignment

I was pouring through a pile of reference materials in a little corner on the fourth floor of the Harold Washington Library. Determined to finish this article by deadline, I hurriedly researched Latino-owned, Chicago-based businesses for information how they got started, what services they provide, how they're run and, most importantly, whether their recruiting efforts include reaching out to and hiring Latinos and others with disabilities.

The Plan

The task was daunting. Having no prior experience in the collection of employment statistics, I relied on the advice of the librarians who suggested I start by looking through the latest edition of Hispanic Business and the National Directory of Minority-Owned National Business Firms. Luckily the suggestions paid off as I discovered the library's copy of Hispanic Business was a special anniversary edition that included Latino-owned Fortune 500 companies. Among the list of top businesses, seven were Illinois-based companies.

Thanks to Hispanic Business' thorough reporting, I was armed with the names of the CEOs, and information about their revenue. I also identified smaller Latino-owned Chicago-based companies with the use of the Directory. At the conclusion of my research, I had a list of 10 companies and a plan.

Next I created a set of interview questions I thought readers would find interesting. They included: What services do you provide and how did your company get started? How many people are employed at your company? What is the cultural/racial make up of your employees? What do you envision for your company over the next few years? Are there any employees in your company who have disabilities? Are any of them Latinos? If no, why? Have you hired people with disabilities in the past?

The Execution

After preparing the questions, I searched the Yellow Pages for the businesses' contact information. I found information for six companies. I thought that with several Latino-owned businesses I wouldn't have a problem getting an interview. After all, what business would not want to share their success stories?

Things didn't go as anticipated. When I made my first phone call, the person who answered the phone intentionally disconnected me. Within a span of three days, I experienced "hang ups," disconnected numbers and unreturned phone messages from five companies. The assignment would have been a disappointment if it weren't for two bright spots: Jel and Inc. and Azteca Foods.

Jel and Inc.

Chicago's Jel and Inc. was established by Gerardo Jaime and his father in 1994. A small, family-owned business, Jel and Inc. provides landscaping services in the Chicago metropolitan area and suburbs. Jaime's staff of seven is diverse with regards to gender and ethnicity. Jaime currently does not have any employees in his company with diagnosed disabilities. He added that he is willing to hire and make accommodations for employees with disabilities as long as they can perform the tasks of the job. In his spare time, Jaime works as a consultant, supporting small businesses with strategic financial advice. In terms of Jel and Inc.'s future, Jaime hopes to expand the services to other municipalities. Jaime also said I was welcome to visit Jel and Inc.'s office.

Azteca Foods

Like Jel and Inc., Arthur Velasquezs' Azteca Foods also is family-owned. Azteca Foods got its start in Chicago's predominantly Mexican Pilsen Community in 1970. Velasquez was fresh out of college armed with a masters degree in business administration. He and nine other individuals made an $8,000 investment on a manufacturing plant that produced a ten-fold profit gain by the end of its first year. Azteca Foods got its name from the investors who were also members of the Azteca Lions Club. They believed that this new business should have a name which best represented and paid tribute to Aztecs, the originators of their primary product: tortillas. The company's sales of the centuries-old food has earned them more than $36 million in revenue.

Azteca Foods does not sell directly to other stores. Instead, 80% of their products are sold to food brokers who, in turn, sell them to retailers. Velasquez hopes his business continues to thrive and expand under the management of his children.

Azteca Foods has two distribution sites in Chicago and more than 200 employees. The racial/ethnic make up isn't very diverse. Because it's a family business, 80 percent of the employees are Latino. There are currently four employees with known disabilities working at the company. Velasquez stated that he has made accommodations for his workers. He explained that everyone needs one kind of accommodation or another to do a job successfully and that accommodating someone with a disability was really no different.

The Conclusion

When Jaime and Velasquez graciously granted me telephone interviews, they assumed I was a graduate student on assignment to learn about different businesses. Indeed one of the many roles in my busy life is that of graduate student. But this wasn't a school assignment. Towards the end of each conversation I told them I was writing an article for Proyecto Visión and promised each C.E.O. a copy of my report.

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