Delaware Latino entrepreneurs gather at Legislative Hall to connect with lawmakers and strengthen community ties

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Dozens of Latino business owners showed up at Legislative Hall in Dover this week to network with Delaware’s community leaders, legislators and representatives.

La Plaza Delaware and the Delaware Alliance for Latino Entrepreneurs hosted the event. The mission of the organizations is to support Latino entrepreneurs and help them grow and elevate their businesses.

Mary DuPont, founder and executive director of La Plaza Delaware, said the gathering gave legislators and members of the Latino community an opportunity to build relationships and better understand how policy decisions can affect them.

“It’s important, because so many bills come up. So much legislation is passed that has a huge impact on the Latino community,” DuPont said. “And I think it’s really important that, when legislators are considering these bills, they have a frame of reference. They actually know somebody. They met some Latino businesses or members of the Latino community. And they recognize — ‘Hey, these are my constituents and they matter.’ They’re making a difference here in Delaware. They have businesses. They’re contributing to our tax base. They’re buying goods and services from other members of the community. They make the economy go around.”

For some entrepreneurs, the event was also an opportunity to speak more openly about issues affecting their communities and businesses.

Milly Morales, an entrepreneur from Georgetown who owns the beauty salon Celestial Beauty, said many Latinos are often raised to stay quiet — something she believes needs to change.

“Creciendo latina, mis padres siempre me enseñaron de ser más calladita, de no platicar, ‘más calladita te ves más bonita’ y, honestamente, estando aquí te obliga a platicar”, ella dijo. “Tienes que dar un paso adelante y hacer tu círculo más grande con las personas que afectan nuestra vida y nuestros negocios.”

“Growing up Latina, my parents always taught me to be quieter, not to talk too much. ‘The quieter you are, the prettier you are.’ And honestly, being here forces you to talk,” she said. “You have to step up and expand your circle to include the people who affect our lives and our businesses.”

Morales says conversations about policies and decisions at the state level can have real impact even in smaller communities.

“Muchos piensan que lo que pasa en la noticia no afecta a todos, porque estamos en Delaware, eso es todos los Estados Unidos, pero honestamente afecta a las comunidades pequeñas, afectan los buses latinos y afectan a los niños”, Morales dijo. “Siendo una persona negociante, creo que mucha de la gente no sabe que hay leyes también que les pueda afectar.”

“Many people think that what happens in the news doesn’t affect everyone, because we’re in Delaware, which is the whole of the United States, but honestly, it affects small communities, it affects Latino buses and it affects children,” she said. 

Another attendee, Biriviana De Leon, a Sussex County business owner, said she attends events like this to support organizations advocating for Latino entrepreneurs and to better understand the decisions being made at the state level.

For her, being close to Legislative Hall creates an opportunity to connect with the lawmakers shaping policies that can affect businesses and the broader Latino community.

“I feel like power is knowledge. So I feel that’s what La Plaza is giving me: the knowledge,” she said. “So I feel another thing is also networking. Connections, connections, connections. That’s something that, in our community, we don’t have that knowledge on networking.”

De Leon also pointed to a recent bill, Senate Bill 241, that she believes could impact some members of the Latino business community.

“This bill is requiring that the contractors, the [general contractors], on site be part of a union,” she said. “It will affect the Hispanic community majorly, because you’re subject to a labor union and not everybody wants to be part of a labor union. And at the end of the day, it will cause a ripple effect, believe it or not.”

For De Leon, networking events like the one in Dover are also about making sure Latino voices are present in conversations about policy and economic growth in the state.

“I feel like, if you are a Latino entrepreneur, it is important. And I have learned this through La Plaza, to make your voice be heard. The Latino community is in Delaware, and we’re here to stay,” De Leon said.