La Plaza Delaware launches Latino Leadership program, with $20,000 grant from Perdue

MILFORD, Del.- La Plaza Delaware aims to bridge the gap for Latino Delawareeans looking to expand their business, leadership, and networking opportunities by offering classes to business leaders and students to increase Latino representation in leadership roles across the first state.

The program will be run through a curriculum developed by Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), making Delaware the 37th state in the program that covers soft skills, hard skills, networking, and management has been launched in.

“It is phenomenal that we are able to now empower so many in the Latino community up and down the state of Delaware,” said  Community Outreach and Relations Chief for the Office of Lt. Governor Edwin Herandez-Vargas speaking at the program unveiling. 

The leadership classes will be free for students to enroll in, thanks to a 20,000 dollar donation from Perdue Farms, as well as a matching 10,000 dollar contribution from additional groups.

“Having this program exclusively for Latinos and focusing on some of the barriers they have the root causes of why they aren’t in leadership and will have a holistic approach,” said Delaware Hispanic Commission Vice Chair Rony Baltazar-Lopez. 

He says the program will take into effect the community it serves, and break down language and cultural barriers that similar programs in the state face.

He says as a School Board member and community leader, he is often one of few Latinos in the room and says that is a dynamic that needs to shift, by giving younger people the chance to get leadership skills earlier, in a more culturally matched way, and for free thanks to Purdue.

“Younger people like myself have traditionally gained these skills through work but now through formal classes and this program, plus the grant subsidizing the cost, the money will be used to alleviate tuition for young individuals,” he said.

But it’s not just for young people, according to La Plaza Director Mary Dupont. She says many businesses in Sussex County are run by immigrants and their first-generation children, and with classes like these, the owners can further grow their businesses, work together and foster growth in the state.

“It is creating that environment where people can come and learn these skills for themselves and for the businesses they have already grown, to make them stronger to partner with the communities, and to get them into these roles that there is sometimes an apprehension or lack of understanding,” Dupont said.

She tells 47ABC the program was a year in the making, and that the curriculum was specifically chosen to best address the needs of the county.

The first classes are expected to begin this winter.