 I'm thrilled to have everyone join us today this Monday as we talk about building relationships in your Latinx community with Alneres Benegas and we practiced your pronunciation and again I give you full invitation to please correct myself as well as Julia if at any time we mispronounce your name we certainly want to respect you your culture and your name so we are thrilled to have you with us and excited to dive into this conversation again the theme or the topic for today's episode is building Latinx relationships in your community so we're gonna get into that here shortly but before we do every episode we start by saying thank you thank you thank you to all of our presenting sponsors you can see them right in front of you on the screen and just like I say every episode go find them online they're easy to find they're doing amazing work to help you continue to do your amazing work so they're here to support us our episodes our guests that we are able to attract to come on and talk about the nonprofit landscape but they are really here and exist for one main purpose and it is to support you and to help you continue to do good in your communities so thank you to our sponsors and thank you to Julia Patrick for having this wonderful idea Julia is the CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy and I get to be her lucky friend slash colleague that gets to show up every day and be of service right alongside you I'm Jarrett Ransom the non-profit nerd CEO of the Raven Group and now we are back to you and we are just thrilled to have you on this share with us about building relationships in your Latinx community and I have a confession that I found you on Instagram right like I was really intentional on finding diverse voices diverse conversations diverse topics to talk about and so I reached out to you and I was excited to see your platform there on Instagram so if you have not found this you know lovely woman here in your community on Instagram I would love for you to share us again what your handle is so that everyone can follow you there yes thank you I'm excited to be here with you guys today my handle is I work non-profit so you can find me on Instagram there or at iworknonprofit.com thank you I love it okay a lot of us are understanding that this demographic is transforming our country in so many ways and let's back up a little bit and explain is it it's Latinx or Latinx number one I want to get that clear but I think a lot of people who print our primary English speakers don't understand the concept of the masculine and feminine structure to language and so how Latinx and again or is it Latinx how that is moving this this understanding even further of this demographic so before we really dig into building those relationships could you kind of give us that framework yes so for my understanding the Latinx basically encompasses both the male and female Latino community and it's basically just to make it more kind of politically correct in the in the community so I mean you could use Latina you can use Latina but Latinx is just a kind of more formal way of you know speaking about the individuals within that actual population right right and not in a gender specific manner correct yeah because now we have all these gender pronouns and we want to be respectful we don't know right and so I think it's a it's a good way to just kind of make sure that you're not you know assuming that someone is either male or female but that everyone is in one one kind of category yeah I think it's really cool even though I still get Mr. Jarrett ransom letters hey you know yeah I mean it's hard and I think it's part of a conversation that we're having across many parts of the nonprofit sector when we're communicating with constituents donors our own teams so thank you for kind of framing that up for us now you have I think we're going to talk about five different things to help build community to help build relationships I should say number one you talk about building trust I mean I feel like we could spend a thousand hours on this topic so I can't wait to hear what you what you have to say yes so I think that it's important to note that if you're a nonprofit organization that's trying to reach out to the Latinx community trust is going to be very key in that population and I'll just say in order to build trust there are like three things that I think for me as individual who has worked with the Latinx community very closely and currently does in order to build that trust and I think the first thing would be for nonprofits to really show up and what I mean by that is to gather in spaces in places where the Latino community is and so I think that for me is key because if the Latinx community can associate a base with the nonprofit organization then they're more likely to utilize the services um the second thing that I think would be key is communication so how you communicate to the Latinx community I think that they're not just individuals they are always part of a family structure and so it's important to note that when you're dealing or you're interacting with them to really acknowledge everyone who's around them as a whole instead of them as an individual person and then I think the last thing in terms of building trust would be to really just spend the time listening to them like listening to their needs and what they want before developing programs and services that you think might benefit that community and so I think that it's just a three-fold kind of approach to building that trust I mean it's obviously more but I think if a nonprofit can kind of focus on those things those three things I think that would be key to reaching out even what you said and we or you know we're only seven minutes in has just been fascinating and I recall sharing with you on the phone I was working at a food bank here in my local community and the program actually created you know like a recipe book for the boxes that were going out into the Hispanic communities and we were getting feedback from the recipient saying no we didn't make this recipe that's not something that we eat it's not something that we're familiar cooking and so really when you say this action number one is develop trust it's really understanding the needs of the community and I love that you said you know the family because we Julia talked so often here on the show about multi-generational giving multi-generational attraction like how do we build these relationships and the Latinx community is like the perfect example for this expression and how we can learn so much of this and a little bit of me being jealous because I'm like man it looks so amazing the community the support the family camaraderie you know so building trust first and foremost it is so imperative and that's exactly why we wanted to make it number one on this episode in conversation for you so thank you for hitting that hard fast and just right on point yeah so then moving forward hello this seems like so basic but it is right it's like a mindblower I mean I love your sharing that piece about you know the recipes for a food box imagine what good is a recipe if it's not in the appropriate language and even just measurements because think about recipes come in you know the US standard is a different measurement system than maybe somebody that's coming up through like in our community central Latin America yes it's not going to work so using Spanish language materials programs and services talk to us about that because it's not as easy as just doing Google translates no it isn't and I've worked with many organizations that actually serve the community the Latinx community but fail in this aspect and I think it's one thing that you definitely have to put in the forefront especially when you're talking about building trust because can you imagine going to a store or yeah reading a book or going in to get a service and they're not speaking your language like how could you even start the process right and so I think it's important that nonprofit organizations definitely take the time to create bilingual materials if not Spanish language materials and yes there are different dialects depending on where you're from I think from my understanding that the Mexican Spanish is more conversational and so that's what's utilized and yes Google Translate doesn't always do the best job so I think you know investing time money and effort to really you know develop these materials will go a long way before even starting to reach the community right I think it's really important to know I mean like for example you know being from Chicago you have a different linguistic base than maybe somebody in Southern California certainly people in the border communities of Texas they have different types of Spanish you know the Caribbean influence Mexican influence Central South American Spanish I mean yeah you have to really be thoughtful about this because I was equated to the difference between those of us in our own country who you know Jared's from the South you might have people that are speaking English from Great Britain from the Eastern Coast the Western it's different it is not one size fits all so I love that you so address this and I have a question okay so for those individuals in the sector that are like on their is this is wonderful but where the heck do I get started like how do I know the language and really that that first spoken language that our audience speaks now I am thinking and I've never really been a program manager or fully in the program side is this a wonderful opportunity to maybe go back to your onboarding are your intake documents and make sure that it includes those questions yes I also think that it's a it's it's like if a non-profit doesn't know where to start I think it's an important to like maybe do a survey of the community to figure out what's important for them in terms of how they want information to be communicated to them I know that it's not easy but also like even a lot of organizations use consulting services or translation services to help with that so those are kind of some ways that a non-profit can actually you know start to sort of look at how how to create these materials internally and then yeah starting with the intake documents would be a good one yeah the intake and even those surveys need to be done in those proper languages you know English but then knowing our community demographics I think is really important and those of us you know in the sector we should know our community demographic but then to really you know assess our our recipient demographic even further to know exactly okay if we are making multilingual materials programs and services what are those top languages that are most frequently spoken and and to know okay let's provide what's needed yeah yeah I agree it seems like such a basic thing but wow it does not translate no pun intended and not good job and it's only Monday I know you're here all week okay now getting back in seriously outreach strategies talk to us about that because it seems to me um you have to back up to your point and know who the market is right yes um what's about that yes so um with organizations trying to reach out to the Latinx community as we talked about like Spanish language materials are really key and important to make sure that you have that um on hand when looking to outreach to the community but also like developing innovative strategies to figure out where where are places and spaces that the Latino community gathers is it you know the food pantry as you mentioned Jarrett is it you know the laundry mats is it a grocery store local grocery stores um and then really you know shaping up strategies where you can you know go out and maybe campus like distributing flyers and Spanish about the programs and services maybe doing table setups um and then you know looking at what partners within the community serve the Latino community that also resonates with your organization organizations missions where you can like partner up and really serve um the these individuals uh collectively versus um individually and so um you know really looking at at that will will help to be able to you know go out and connect with the the Latinx community yeah I like that I'm thinking of that amazing leader Jarrett that we had from San Diego that was the Chicano Federation yeah and these were some of the things that she said kind of subtly you know like look for those groups that are already doing things but can't do everything yes can't do everything but you know we'll we'll work you know we'll work together but you gotta do some research beforehand yeah that collaboration is so critical so imperative and you know and to identify who the organizations maybe that are doing such a great job anytime I'm coaching my clients the first and first and foremost thing I ask is who is doing this or who is doing something similar to this and it doesn't need to be in our backyard I'm literally talking in the world where have you been smart something like this happening and what have you found in your research right first of all they're like well that's a good question I haven't researched that which then is our first homework right okay now go research that then secondarily what are they doing that's working and what are some things that have still opportunity for improvement and so really finding these strategic partnerships or resources even I think is is pretty imperative yes and I also one thing that I'm noticing that a lot of nonprofit organizations are starting to invest money in is having an actual community like outreach or community engagement department where there's a specifics that person that goes out into the community and is able to you know attend these events do these outreach tables connect with these partners help with the marketing team to you know post about the programs and services on Spanish language media and so I think it's really key to have someone that's really dedicated to doing this work because it'll help in the long run with being able to serve that community and in Chicago actually and I don't know if it's been done in other states we've been utilizing sort of a kind of a community health worker model in which we really employ people from the community who know the community to go out and be able to outreach so the individuals that you're trying to serve yeah and it's perfect because you know what what better person to go out and connect with the Latino community than someone who is Latino themselves or is from the community that you're trying to serve so I mean there's there's really different ways to kind of look at it and to really employ it at a nonprofit level I love that one of their own I'm going to share I was working with a food bank and we did a really large national for a lack of being a little vague here we did a really large national study and so here in Arizona border state right it becomes very political when it comes to sharing information especially when it comes to you know household information citizenship those kind of questions and for me to show up in the community was like red flag you know I really I was not able to receive the data the metrics that I was sent to receive which made it really critical right for the organization to invest in that outreach and to really provide the opportunity of having someone that is a little bit more near peer as opposed to sending solo Weta in which just did not go over well and I don't blame anyone for that you know but it was she's still learning opportunity which goes back Julia it's like so so often we think that it is just basic knowledge you know this is common sense but it's not it's really not and I think too as a nonprofit sector you know we're always rubbing those pennies together and it's it's kind of that fear of the investment for the financial component yeah you know we've had some questions come in and I'm going to push those more towards the end so so stick with us I want to get on to this this piece and it kind of dovetails to what Jared just said you know you can we use the word a lot of times of rubia you know why would you bring in a rubia for a community where it doesn't work and so hiring bilingual but I liked what you had to say here by cultural staff because we see this a lot throughout the border states where Jared and I live we have different types of language we have different physically different looking people they're not just all under the umbrella of Latinx I mean it's it's so it's such an interesting thing and yet I'm wondering how you suggest we do this without appearing to be biased or even outwardly racist or prejudice so some some ways that I've seen nonprofit organizations do this really well is if they're looking to expand their employee base to be more bicultural bilingual is posting it on the job posting right so you can you can make that a requirement bilingual preferred you know familiarity with the latino latinx or latino community and that's that's not wrong to do that right and then also really connecting with career or career type organizations that work with bilingual staff in order to promote these opportunities and hire them and when you do that it doesn't necessarily seem like you know there's any bias it's more like you're being intentional about trying to go after individuals that you think will be you know beneficial to your mission and to reaching out to the latinx community and I think there's there's definitely nothing wrong with it I mean I'm Hispanic and I and I love applying for positions where I know that my Spanish language is needed and that my familiarity with the background is needed I feel perfectly fine and I love the fact that like I can I can have more leverage in terms of job positions within the nonprofit sector because they need they need people like myself to help out so yeah amazing okay now this is really again we get to spend 100 hours just on this action item alone but eliminating barriers to service what does that look like because we've talked about language what are some of these other barriers so it would depend on the actual nonprofit so what I've seen um it you know some nonprofits do is that they'll develop these programs and services and try to reach out to the latin latinx community um and they don't have a greater understanding of what are some of the barriers for them to be able to participate um the latinx community has a lot of you know fear with the state and federal government and so if you're creating these programs that have like long intake um processes and uh very sensitive questions you know obviously for like the undocumented community um like the one I was a part of yes yeah and that could be that could be a that that definitely is a barrier that's kind of you know sometimes it's a turn off for you know the latinx community or if there's um you know if they don't have access to transportation or childcare so I think it depends on the nonprofit the type of programs and services that they're offering um and the you know their individual latinx community's needs and so I think it goes back to that main point that we were talking about with when you're trying to build trust really listening to the needs of the community before developing the programs and services developing those Spanish language materials so that you can be able to position yourself um you know at a point where you can you know reach out to them and then looking at spaces and places where you can um be able to uh you know recruit individuals within your programs and services but then again making sure that you have um the resources in place to um to serve the community and not um allow them to to have any issues with applying for your programs or services let me ask you this might seem like a super weird question but do you feel in the latinx community that there is a difference between working with the male and the female population like decisions that might come more on the the male side of the family or the hierarchy or is that just old school thinking no I I do think that that's something that um is still is still done until this day um I've worked with um families where I have to wait for um the uh the you know maybe it's the mother or um the female figure within the household to go back and speak to um the male in the household to make sure that it's it's okay to move forward um and I think that's what I was trying to insinuate when we were talking about like the communication and building trust that it's not just addressing the individual um you know uh that you're trying to you know work with but also like the family structure as a as a whole and that's key because you can't move ahead if they're not comfortable um if they're not ready or if they need to be able to make this decision with um the patriarch of the family so wow okay well I am mortified to say we don't have much time but I because I could talk to you forever in a day this is like my jam I love this discussion um because I see it in my community I see it in my family I see it in the the history and the geopolitics of my you know of the region so I want to get to this question it came in from uh Lauren and I it's a very very interesting it's a sorry to ask this basic question but in California people often use the term Hispanic more than Latinx can out there can out Mary Mary's god I didn't say that right yeah it's fine I'm fine no it's not fine um can out Mary's share share her insight about this kind of trend and what is the more appropriate terminology I would say that both are um acceptable I think Latinx tends to um encompass or Latino encompasses people from Latin America Hispanic is more just kind of like the general population you could be from anywhere like the Caribbean South America so I think it really you know depends on your organization what kind of language you want to use um but I don't think either one is is is um you can't go wrong is what I'm saying with using yeah with using Latinx or Hispanic so it doesn't seem to an older population too aggressive or too um modern to use the word Latinx yes um because that's something that's a sort of a new term um that we're we've been hearing um lately um so it again really depends on like the audience and who you're trying to target but um Hispanic and Latinx I yeah I mean I don't I don't think there's there's sort of any any difference within within those two um terms if you decided to go with you the one what a great opportunity then to ask your constituency base or your audience you know really what is the term you prefer just like we're doing with pronouns you know it's really a great time to ask and really hear directly from those individuals uh that you serve and those recipients of your program I wouldn't know either you know and I and I tell everyone that surrounds me and that and that you know I surround back is educate me please educate me I have like an open door policy that just as we said with you please correct us if we mispronounce your name because out of respect we certainly want to respect uh you your culture your namesake and whatnot um Julia I agree this has been phenomenal we are so appreciative that you um came in to to share your area of expertise with us please do check out Alneres Benek us I work non-profit at gmail.com check her out on instagram too super cool um page profile I don't know what it's called but anyway um really amazing to have you on I knew that when you and I had our brief very brief phone conversation about having to go on to be a guest on the show I just knew that you were going to you know blow our minds and provide so many fantastic nuggets of information so uh genuinely from the bottom of my heart thank you for coming on and for all that you do in our community I know you were in the Chicago neighborhoods and again just as a global citizen thank you for being part of the global world and all of the good work that you continue to do I'm just grateful to have you on thank you and you're thank you guys for for having me this has been a pleasure um and I look forward to next time yeah I would I would really love to um get you on and maybe have you address and Jared and I've been talking about this with a lot of our guests but having you address the concept of um asking querying serving engaging your populations to give us some better ideas because this is really you know Jared mentioned this we need to be asking more we can't be telling we need to be asking and so how do we how do we do that um certainly it's a it's a new dawn and how we can engage our constituencies hey I'm Julia Patrick CEO of American nonprofit academy been joined today by Jared ransom the nonprofit nerd also known as the birthday girl yes oh man man okay well you're going to be um off for a few days and so actually it's really fun and I'd love to share as you all know when spire was a wonderful presenting sponsor of ours and I am able to take um advantage of their partnership and so I will be experiencing one of the gala packages that when spire offers and yes I'm taking my son and we are going to Hawaii um Honolulu for the week to celebrate my birthday and um just so grateful for the opportunity and also to practice self care I'm loving that I can't wait to find out how it all goes down and um yeah to find out what that experience is um having purchased a trip from a gala because this is a big part of the fundraising circuit you know and um so yeah that's going to be fun again we want to thank our sponsors without you we would not be here I want to mention for those of you who get our Sunday um eblast that that talks about who's coming forward on the week Bloomerang is doing a really interesting survey about tech and so if you have a chance check that out five minutes oh if if yeah if even but they want to know kind of like your fear your hesitancy they're not trying to sell you anything it's just strictly like what's cooking and so check that out again fundraising events tv one of our newest programs um it's actually a different show check us out there it's a lot of fun whoo okay great way to start the week we will be missing you miss jared but we will be with you on that beach in spirit I look forward to coming back save my seat okay we will as we'd like to say at the end of every episode stay well so you can do well thanks everybody