Month: February 2022

Recap: Cheers! with Business Alianzas, Chelas con Contratistas and 1 Year Anniversary

February 18, 2022

So far we’ve had two big events this year, Cheers with Business Alianzas and Chelas con Contratistas which took place on January 18th at La Posada restaurant. During both events, besides networking with everyone present, our priority was to register as many contractors as possible for Lead Abatement, a course that explains how to safely work with lead and asbestos. There’s still availability for those interested in this free program.

By the end of the event we registered approximately 10 contractors! Additionally, they were able to exchange contact information between each other. Huge thank you to La Posada Restaurant for allowing us to host this event at their business and to their employees for their attention with us. 

Lastly, we want to thank each and every member of the 150 small businesses that form part of Business Alianzas. Our 1 year celebration would not have been possible without all of you! Thank you for allowing us to help you every step of the way. We look forward to continuing working with all of you this year. We enjoyed celebrating with all those who joined us at Los Altos Restaurant, via zoom, and in Puerto Morelos. Thank you to Los Altos for hosting this afternoon with many shared conversations and laughs. Here’s to many more years of assisting entrepreneurs.

Visit our Business Alianzas website to stay up to date with our upcoming events. We hope to see you at our next event!

10 Ways to Support Immigrants and Refugees #10: Educate Yourself

February 11, 2022

Welcome to the first post in the “10 Ways to Support Immigrants and Refugees” series!

“Give to every human being every right that you claim for yourself.”

– Robert Green Ingersoll

#10: Educate Yourself

Although immigration and refugee crises do not directly affect all of us, they impact the people in our neighborhoods and our communities as a whole. Immigrants and refugees contribute greatly to the U.S. economy, and they account for 13.7% of the U.S. population, as of 2020.

In order to address issues that impact immigrants in our communities and worldwide, we must educate ourselves. This can be a challenge with all of the information that is constantly thrown at us through social media. It can feel overwhelming to stay informed of all the issues facing our communities in this day and age. We can make it easier on ourselves by choosing to incorporate reliable sources into our social media feeds and media consumption.

The following are examples of ways to stay informed that can be incorporated into the media that you already consume:

How do you stay updated on issues affecting immigrants and refugees in your community and across the globe? Let us know on our social media!

Instagram: @puente.ci

Facebook: @PuenteCulturalIntegration

– Annaliese Fowler, Puente CI Data Analyst

Business Alianzas – Celebrating One Year!

February 7, 2022

We are thrilled that Business Alianzas has had such a successful first year! We launched on February 7th, 2021 and we currently have 150 members of Business Alianzas as we head into renewals. If you are not a current member, you can register on our membership page.
www.businessalianzas.org/membership

Continued from a previous post: Reflection 2021: Changes & Challenges

Our clients kept calling. On day 2 and 3, we had six clients needing long-term consulting for growth. We let them know that we were still figuring it out and that our services were no longer pro bono. Every one of our clients supported us and let us know that we were worth whatever we needed to charge – they needed our help. That Friday I met with two colleagues/ mentors to brainstorm next steps. It was agreed that for now I would not fight to keep the MI Hispanic Contractors Association, but the need for an organization for ALL entrepreneurs was needed.

Business Alianzas was branded that Friday afternoon sitting at El Salpicón over a couple rounds of Modelo Especial. I bought the domains, registered the Facebook page, and registered with the State of Michigan. Lots of brainstorming, dozens of text messages over the weekend with my staff and partners led to the first iteration of what is now BusinessAlianzas.org – a small business membership organization and referral network that specializes in connecting Latinx businesses to resources and opportunities. Puente Cultural Integration, LLC is the umbrella company and continues to provide direct connections, consulting, coaching, and technical assistance to small businesses, nonprofits, banks, and governmental agencies. We relaunched multiple events and workshops series that had been halted including morning networking (Cafecito with Business Alianzas), Happy Hours (Cheers! with Business Alianzas), and reconnected with past partner sponsors such as Alliance Catholic Credit Union, Comerica Bank, Flagstar Bank, and Fifth Third Bank all of whom we hope to work with again in 2022.

We are proud of all we accomplished in 2021. Below you will find our Annual Report for Puente Cultural Integration and Business Alianzas.

annual-report-2021Download