MILFORD – Almost sixty entrepreneurs throughout Kent and Sussex Counties are well on their way to starting a new journey in their careers come the new year after graduating from a business class tailored to their individual needs.

La Plaza Delaware graduated the cohort on Dec. 19 at Avenue United Methodist Church in Milford, one of two sites where the group trained the future business leaders by offering a community-minded business development curriculum from West End Neighborhood House – in Spanish.

“We’re building leadership in a language they can understand clearly and perfectly,” La Plaza Delaware Kent County program manager Neyda Albarran told the Delaware Business Times.

La Plaza is a growing nonprofit organization geared toward supporting future Latino and minority business owners through leadership, business and financial skill-building. While it started with a focus in Sussex County, the group is working its way north – with Albarran and others helping to lead the way.

She played a key role in helping educate the recent cohort of business class graduates along with other leaders, teaching on a variety of topics over a 12-week span to include business start-up, financial literacy, leadership skills, marketing, taxes, business insurance, research skills, legal aspects of owning a business and more.

Of the 59 recent graduates, Albarran said business plans, which were required during the course, included businesses focused on garbage collection, pet care, insurance, real estate, health, retail and promotional items, construction, lawncare and landscaping and more.

“We had such a wide gamut of businesses. One wanted to open a bilingual daycare. There were just so many beautiful businesses. You name it, we had it. And at La Plaza, we continue to help them through their start up, ribbon cutting and hopefully successful business operations,” Albarran said.

The key, she added, is offering a community of support at their fingertips in their language so they feel comfortable and can be successful in their new roles.

“The Hispanic community, specifically the immigrant community, they come here to work. And a lot of times they come here to work quietly and stay under the radar and try to stay to themselves for historical and political reasons. They are here to work and make sure family is taken care of and they just don’t want to make a lot of noise,” she said.

For those reasons, many new Hispanic business owners like La Plaza’s business graduates didn’t have a lot of connections to the business community.

“A lot of times the chambers don’t even reach out to them, to no fault of their own, they just don’t know the businesses are out there working hard and the same is true for the agencies that have money earmarked for minority business owners. Since they stay in their close communities, they often don’t get this information,” she explained. “The agencies and chambers say all the business owner has to do is come and ask, but there again, there is this fear of institutional power where even going into one of these buildings can be intimidating. So hopefully, we’re opening this space where they can connect in a safe environment by bringing the entities to them.”

The next classes for emerging Hispanic business owners, free of charge, will begin Monday, Jan. 27 at Avenue United Methodist Church in Milford or Thursday, Jan. 23 at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Georgetown.

Students who go on to join ¡DALE!, the Delaware Alliance for Latino Entrepreneurs, can also have their new businesses published its Hispanic business directory Now on its third edition, the organization, which works closely with La Plaza, publishes the directory through the Cape Gazette which is then mailed to all Cape Gazette subscribers

“We want to encourage our community to shop Latino businesses number one, of course – SLB. Get to know us. We’re getting out of our comfort zone in a big way, culturally and in other ways. Get to know your neighbors – we’re not that far away. Ask the questions. We’re not afraid to say why we came here or how this has changed our lives. We always want to share those stories of gratitude to the United States.,” Albarran told DBT.

Continuing, she added, “We are building the American dream for these graduates. Many didn’t even finish an elementary education in their home country, but they are here now and graduating for maybe the first time in their lives. The graduates and their families dress to the nines during our ceremony because they are so proud of where they have come from and where they’re headed. Now, after they graduate and start rolling with their businesses, we need the community to support their neighbors. They’re here and ready to share their experiences.”