Intersection: The little acronym that's big for small businesses

DELIVERING ON DIVERSITY, GENDER EQUALITY, AND INCLUSION

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In this issue, we look at a lifeline for small-business owners in the US, and why Univision anchor Jorge Ramos prefers the term “Latinx.”

THE FACTS

Taking care of business

Four million—that’s about how many Hispanic- and Latinx-owned businesses there are in the United States, according to data from the US Census Bureau. Together, these businesses employ nearly three million workers (in addition to their owners) and contribute more than $585 billion to the American economy each year (including receipts for businesses without employees; other estimates are even higher). Like other minority-owned businesses, they have faced outsize challenges since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One key acronym to keep in mind when it comes to efforts to support these businesses: CDFI. Community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, focus on serving underserved communities—and these institutions are working to promote an equitable recovery from the pandemic. Most CDFIs primarily serve communities of color, and one in five serves mostly Hispanic and Latinx clients.

Despite the challenges of the past year and a half, Hispanic and Latinx Americans say that they are optimistic about economic opportunity. Those who own businesses are boosting opportunity in their communities—and CDFIs are helping them do it.

THE VIEW

“Es importante que ellos sepan—que sepamos—que este también es nuestro país.”
— Jorge Ramos

Some Americans may remember this moment: in September 2019, less than one minute into the Democratic presidential debate in Houston, Texas, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos switched from speaking English to Spanish. Ramos, who was one of the debate’s moderators, noted that the debate was taking place at a difficult time for Hispanic and Latinx Americans in Texas and across the United States. He had a message for those watching (translated from above): “It is important that they know—that we know—that this is also our country.”

It was just before the start of National Hispanic Heritage Month, and Ramos offered the debate viewers a reminder: “En este país también se habla español.” (“In this country, we also speak Spanish.”) The Mexican American news anchor announced that he would ask the candidates about “Latinx issues”; he later reflected that this may have been the first time the word “Latinx” was used during an American presidential debate. In Ramos’s view, the term “brings together a wide range of communities with a shared history of oppression—Indigenous groups, people of African descent, and the LGBTQ+ community—as well as people from Brazil and the Caribbean.” As he points out, Hispanic and Latinx Americans (who speak a variety of languages) together make up nearly one-fifth of the US population, and their numbers are growing rapidly. Ramos told McKinsey that he also switches between English and Spanish books when he’s reading—and he noted an issue that he thinks should be discussed in every school in America.

— Edited by Julia Arnous, an editor in McKinsey’s Boston office

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