Kamala Harris to launch Hispanic outreach program in Miami-Dade, focused on small business
Sen. Kamala Harris is hosting the launch of a national voter outreach program for the Joe Biden campaign with Hispanic small business owners on Saturday, her first virtual Florida event since becoming the Democratic vice presidential candidate.
The new program, called “Nuestros Negocios, Nuestros Futuros,” will partner with Latino business owners to spread the word about Biden’s plan to encourage entrepreneurship among Hispanic communities, while involving them in the campaign’s Hispanic voter outreach efforts.
Saturday’s virtual launch with Miami’s Hispanic business owners is slated to be the first of several around the country, according to the Biden campaign — including in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin and North Carolina. Among the participants for the South Florida small business event: Ivan Nieves, owner of La Social restaurant; Pilar Guzmán Zavala, CEO of Half Moon Empanadas and Claudia Mendoza, owner of I.Q. Construction in West Palm Beach, and Bill Fuller, co-owner of Ball & Chain, which Biden visited in September last year.
“Small businesses ... are where we shop, where we work, and many times, where we congregate with our community,”Laura Jimenez, National Latino Engagement Director for Biden for President, said in a statement. “In order to truly meet Hispanics where we are, we need to be where they are, which is exactly why we’re launching ‘Nuestros negocios, nuestro futuro.’”
The business owners who get involved in this coalition will receive campaign organizer-style training, including how to reach out to other small business owners, write op-eds for the Biden campaign and serve as surrogates for the Democratic presidential candidate.
They could also be asked to distribute voter registration information to their customers and put up Biden signs in their businesses.
The new program comes as the Biden campaign is looking to ramp up outreach among Hispanics, including in Florida. The campaign is currently in the middle of a $26 million-ad-buy rollout this week in major Latino metro markets, like greater Miami-Dade.
Among the policies Biden is proposing for Latino-owned businesses:
▪ A “restart package” to help entrepreneurs rehire and retain workers they’ve been forced to let go as a result of the coronavirus pandemic’s financial fallout
▪ Reforming Opportunity Zones to serve minority-owned businesses
▪ A plan to triple the federal goal for contracting with small disadvantaged businesses.
This story was originally published August 29, 2020 at 11:03 AM.
