Wichita Hispanic Chamber now housed in Chamber building

Chamber staff held a welcome reception for the Wichita Hispanic Chamber last week. Chairwoman Adrienne Foster is pictured on the right. The Wichita Hispanic Chamber has relocated from 1010 N. Main St. to the first floor of the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce building at 350 West Douglas. An open house will be held on Monday, November 9 from 4-6 p.m. to celebrate the organization’s new location. A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony begins at 4:45 p.m. and we hope you can join us. Formed in 2002, by local Hispanic business leaders, the Wichita Hispanic Chamber was formally established as Wichita’s first minority Chamber of Commerce. Adrienne Foster is the current chairwoman of the organization. She also serves as the executive director for Governor Sam Brownback’s Hispanic and Latino American Affairs Commission as well as the director of minority and women workforce development services at the Kansas Department of Commerce. The move to a new location is part of Foster’s plans to increase the visibility of her organization. “We’ve doubled our membership since May and we plan to continue growing our membership size and our influence in the business community. Being more closely located to the state’s largest Chamber is beneficial to both of our organizations.” “Hispanics are a critical component of the U.S. economy due to their greater propensity for starting and growing businesses,” according to Javier Palomarez, President & CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “Wichita is no different. This city has the largest number of Hispanic-owned businesses within the state of Kansas.” Gary Plummer, President & CEO of the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, agreed with Foster. “We’re looking forward to developing new ways our organizations can work together. We ultimately have the same goal and that is to help build a better business environment where our members can thrive. Adrienne has been involved in the Entrepreneurship Task Force (ETF) and this seemed like a natural extension of the relationship we’ve been building.”