Hispanics' buying power: $1 trillion by 2010

Great Southern Bank started tapping into the rapidly growing Hispanic population in spring 2003.

Its Dreams Without Borders campaign has netted the Springfield bank about 300 new checking accounts totaling $1 million. Further, it’s led to the hiring of 12 bilingual associates, Spanish-language signage and special transfer accounts that allow family members in different countries to access funds through automated teller machines.

Brian Fogle, director of community development, estimates new savings accounts have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

Countless companies are courting the Springfield-area’s estimated 10,000 Hispanic residents – about triple the ethnic group’s population in 2000.

“It is the new consumer,” said local Hispanic advocate Yolanda Lorge.

“(It’s) one that has not been tapped.”

Lorge, president of downtown nonprofit agency Grupo LatinoAmericano, said a range of Springfield businesses have sought her advice for gaining Hispanic customers.

“You name it,” she said. “If they sell something, they call us.”

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce is developing a plan to assist member businesses in wooing Hispanic customers, according to Kristen Westerman, the chamber’s manager of work force and business development. Lorge is among the six area experts who have been invited to participate in a roundtable discussion at the chamber, tentatively scheduled for late June.

Plenty of spending money

Adolfo Castillo, president of Joplin-based Tri-State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said Hispanics nationally have more than $730 billion in purchasing power and are expected to hit the $1 trillion mark as soon as 2008. Hispanics in Missouri currently have $3 billion in spending power, he said.

Frank Soriano gives local businesses a way of reaching the Spanish-speaking segment of that market.

Soriano operates an Aurora-based Spanish radio station, La M Grande 97.7 FM, and a Joplin-based 20-page monthly Spanish magazine, Enfoque.

The Joplin Globe prints and distributes Enfoque.

Soriano estimates as many as 40,000 people listen to his radio station during peak times, which are weekends, and that each of those listeners earns an average annual income of $30,000, he said.

His audience’s $1.2 billion estimated combined income has been enough to entice Springfield companies Reliable Imports & RVs, Central Dodge, Familia Real Estate, and Baird, Lightner, Millsap & Harpool PC to advertise on La M Grande and in Enfoque, which has a circulation of about 7,000.

“Most everybody that I approach is pretty excited about the idea of reaching this market,” Soriano said.

“They realize that they need to reach the Hispanics because we’ve got money to spend, just like everybody else.”

Even more potential

There are an estimated 4,000 illegal immigrants in the Springfield community alone. Those people aren’t taking out loans for cars and houses because they lack documentation and fear deportation.

If the national immigration debate ever gets resolved in a way that illegal immigrants feel safe from arrest, Soriano said, demand for those big-ticket items will skyrocket. There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants nationally.

Brad Beattie, director of procurement for Ramey/Price Cutter/Smitty’s Supermarkets, said his 32-store chain makes an effort to carry brands and types of food desired by immigrants.

While the stores carry items for Asian and European immigrants, Beattie said Hispanic products are most prominent, sometimes occupying entire aisles.

Total sales to Ramey/Price Cutter/Smitty’s Supermarkets’ 26,000 Hispanic customers topped $64.5 million last year.

Sales to other minority groups were lower for the grocery chain. Asian customers bought $17 million and black customers bought $31 million, Beattie said.

Springfield’s second language

Mexico natives Felipe and Maria Tano don’t speak much English.

That’s not a problem where the Tanos attend church.

Pastor Don Blansit and crew at Nixa First Assembly of God, 113 W. Mount Vernon St. in Nixa, started teaching Sunday school in Spanish and offering Spanish translation via headphones during their worship services eight months ago. About 25 Spanish-speaking immigrants have taken advantage of the service, Blansit said.

“It’s really going well,” he said. “We’re touching a lot of people from Mexico, Honduras – many of them have come.”

Nixa First Assembly of God isn’t the only Springfield-area organization reaching out to Hispanics in their native tongue.

Spanish is the only language taught during the Springfield Police Department’s academy, said spokesman Matt Brown.

St. John’s Health System prints consent forms, educational documents, job applications and patient surveys in Spanish.

It also sent 24 employees through an interpretation course last August, according to Cora Scott, media relations director.

Polly Van Doren-Orr, news director for KOLR and KSFX, oversees a three-minute Spanish-language newscast on Saturday nights following KSFX’s regular 9 p.m. newscast.

The broadcast is called Enfoque Latino, and Spanish-speaking reporter Carlos Correa relays the news.

“We wanted to capture an audience that we know will only continue to grow,” Van Doren-Orr said.

Alvaro C. Acosta is a Springfield-based diversity representative for the American Red Cross.

His job is to get Spanish-speaking immigrants in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas to donate blood.

Acosta is Panama native who has lived in Springfield for 10 years.

“The Hispanic population, without any question, is changing the demographic of the country,” Acosta said.