Recently I received one of the best emails from an old friend . It came from Marco Davis. We hadn't connected in a bit. We ran into national conferences and conventions here and there but it was a hit and miss. Mostly because we were both very busy in our own organizations. Marco and I first met on my very first visit to Washington, D.C. in 1996. I was in town for the National Youth Leadership Forum on Law & the Constitution and I reached out to him and we ended up connecting at a local DC coffee shop. I reached out to Marco because he worked at the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino civic organizations fighting on behalf of the Latino community. We talked at length about community building, community organizing, working in non-profit, building leadership, strategies on closing the Latino high school drop-out (push out) rate, and entrepreneurship. It was one of the coolest meetings I ever had when I was in high school with a bilingual professional that in my … [Read more...]

Not too long ago I received a call on my cell from a 503 area code. It was a close friend in Oregon heavily involved in politics. I was informed that both Ben Unger and Adriana Cañas had just announced their candidacy for public office. Now Ben and I first met in '09 when I was Committee Administrator of the House Committee on Veterans' & Emergency Services in the Oregon Legislature. A very cool, hip and engaged man that knows the issues. He was with his boss at the time, Oregon's Attorney General, John Kroger in the capitol building. I had invited him and Kroger for a forum I was organizing for the Oregon Commission on Hispanic Affairs in Cornelius. The 45-second conversation ended with a, "Yes, I want to do it. Ben, get it on my calendar." The AG, our Chair Jose Ibarra and I ended up doing it and Ben and I kept in touch--mostly on Facebook. Adriana and I on the other hand have also done a few cool things together. We met at one of Hillsboro's largest Latino cultural … [Read more...]

Over the weekend I was reading through Jon Bischke's, "What Really Keeps Poor People Poor." In it he argues that people from lower-income families aren’t able to gain access to the same networks that higher-income families have access to. The money line: poverty is not deprivation. It is isolation. When you don't expand your network in high school or college, what happens? If you didn't take that class would you have met those folks? If you had not joined that club, fraternity, sorority, ROTC, do you think you would have expanded your network? What if you weren't active on campus? What if everyone you knew were just from your coursework? How far would your network be? Networks are meant to coordinate communication and sync opportunities Is there a difference between networks from Ivy League and public land-grant institutions? Absolutely. Often the opportunities that will come your way will be due to people who know you. Networks at this level coordinate communication within … [Read more...]

When determining whether or not investing your resources on a direct hire through BilingualHire or internally first consider your organization's brand and readily accessible bilingual talent pool around. Is your organization well known? Does everyone know what you do and how you do it? What about your organization's reputation? If your organization is well know, and has a great reputation and there's a ton of bilingual talent capable of performing this senior role perhaps a direct hire might not be the best investment of your resources. Especially, if your board of directors and human resource staff has been doing the due diligence in identifying talent, networking w/ other organization's and businesses and generating outside interest. In many cases, if your a groom from within organization then developing talent is organic. If on the case you don't, generous advertising announcements on your sites homepage coupled w/ ads in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and eNewsletters might … [Read more...]

A couple days ago I stumbled across the census website and decided to look into the growth of the Hispanic population in the state of Oregon. Below are some of the figures I found interesting. According to the 2010 US Census, from the year 2000 to 2010 Oregon’s population had a growth of 12%. Within the same timeframe, the Hispanic population grew 63%. The Portland Metropolitan area’s Hispanic population grew fairly paralleled to the state with a growth of 64% including Multnomah and Washington Counties. Three counties saw triple digits growth: Deschutes (172%) Gilliam (151%) and Linn County (102%). Not being satisfied I looked into other sites to find out how Hispanics are shaping Oregon culturally and financially. According to the Pew Hispanic Center’s website 45% or Hispanics in Oregon are homeowners and 72% speak other languages than English at home including Spanish and regional dialects. Spanish is the second most spoken language in Oregon with 6.8% of the … [Read more...]

You have to admire people w/ tenacity, a fearless attitude, an passionate infusion into everything they do, and a cunning ability to see it through. Look around. They are all around if we just look and focus. That's how I felt when an old time friend, Francisco Mireles opened The Booth, a vocal music studio for artists and musicians based in Skagit County, Washington. I grew up in the Skagit County along with his sister DD, and primo, Esmael Lopez. We worked la fresa, el pepino, la papa, you name it--we probably picked and harvested it. Recently, Frank launched his latest single, Fail and its available on iTunes, and Zune. Yes, that iTunes and Zune. The three infuse their collective personal experience, artistic talents and passion, comprising TLS (Truth, Loyalty, Sacrifice) in motivating us through their words to keep pressing forward. As Lopez recently put it, "TLS, coming to a barrio near you." That's powerful. Through their videos they raise awareness of the still dire and … [Read more...]

We've been getting a ton of interest for our recent post on Hispanic Marketing Manager since it posted on February 23 and that's great news. Our team is actively pre-screening and interviewing potential BilingualHire Associates to fill this role. While we have many on board we take our time and ensure proper fit. It's what we, our clients and each of our associates expect of BilingualHire. We are excited about the possibility because ultimately -=our intent and the clients intent is to bring our Associate on-board full-time and as part of their management team. We're talking about someone's potential career trajectory. So without further ado, here's a quick response I emailed out on the question of, "any particular skills the employer is seeking in the BilingualHire Associate?" A: Aside from what's already been written what we are looking for is: -someone to quickly develop a calendar of events the client will be present at, i.e. area Hispanic events; -a quarterback of … [Read more...]

This past week, I stopped by a local business in Maryland and over small talk I learned that this individual was discriminated based on age. This operation where this person used to work at employed folks twice the age and continually mocked, intimidated and made negative age references that downright is wrong and eventually pushed out. At BilingualHire our youngest Associate is still in college. At our partner staffing members with the Oregon Staffing Association and American Staffing Association same thing. Young workers does not mean inexperienced, they are there to enthusiastically learn and apply their knowledge, skills and abilities w/ speed and accuracy. Often without fear, remorse and are your biggest risk takers and innovators. Do they need some guidance? Yes. Do they need effective mentoring and coaching. It depends. It depends on their level of will and experience. Test their abilities. Find out where they need stand and where you should focus your attention. But … [Read more...]

Every organization rises or falls with its team and a contingency plan in place. While military orders are orders, we have a very strong and capable team in place in Portland, Oregon to take care of you. An account manager, and an intern that will ensure all our clients bilingual staffing and associate needs are met. We'll use email, Skype, Twitter, Facebook and phone to stay connected.  As our workload grows so does the team. If for whatever reason you have a question that can't be answered by our local team please contact me directly and I'll be happy to help you get where you need to go. Thanks again for your support. At your service, --David … [Read more...]

These past few weeks the BilingualHire team has been working diligently with The Wallace Medical Concern leadership team on helping ramp up their bilingual staff. Wallace is a volunteer organization providing neighborhood-based, urgent health care services and referral assistance to Portland and Gresham residents who face barriers to care. Mission: Founded in 1984 by Dr. James Reuler, a physician with the Veteran's Administration, and made possible by a bequest from local businessman, Edwin B. Wallace, the organization believes that no one should be excluded from quality health care. The Patient Relations Representative: The Patient Relations Representative works directly with the public and community welcoming them and processing their information. While the position announcement goes into more detail I want to highlight a few that should be mentioned: someone who understands the safety net clinic model--its importance--but, can easily grasp big concepts like FHQC … [Read more...]