Cultural insight seminar for working with Latinos

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Department is hosting a virtual seminar about how to better embrace Latino culture in the workplace.

Cultural Competency: Working with Latinos is a two-hour presentation and part of the Know Your Neighbor workshop that will highlight terminology used to identify Spanish-speaking community members, how the community has grown over the years, conflicts second and third generations of Hispanics are facing and finally how to embrace Latino culture at work.

Participants will leave the workshop with a better understanding of a growing community that has a great influence on today’s society.

“Each Latino comes with (their) own unique history and traditions. Yes, there are some shared similarities such as the language and origins. However, the uniqueness comes from knowing the struggles and development of each country,”  said Maura E. Chavez, community coordinator for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations.

According to PEW Research Center, “Hispanics have played a major role in driving the U.S. population over the past decade.”

“It is important to understand the value and culture of the community to not only appreciate its beauty but the motivation of many of the decisions made by the community,” said Chavez.

Additionally, as the community’s population increases, some of its cultural roots are slowly evaporating.

One such cultural trait is language.

“The non-Latino community members need to be aware that although all Spanish-speaking community members are lump(ed) into one general classification – Latinos — there are 33 different countries within the grouping,”

Approximately 72% of Latinos are said to speak English proficiently while the use of Spanish at home is decreasing.

“As second and subsequent generations of Latinos are wanting to become more like their Caucasian friends and co-workers, traditions, values and customs are being lost,” Chavez said.

The outcome of the program is to help non-Latino community members be aware of the differences of Latino culture to help embrace the whole culture.

“Latinos are proud of their countries and will welcome a genuine discussion by anyone wanting to talk about their native country and to why they came to the United States,” she said.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR Cultural Competency: Working with Latinos.

If you have an inspiring story to share, email Kevin Campbell, public affairs manager at WSOC-TV/WAXN-TV/Telemundo Charlotte, at Kevin.Campbell@wsoctv.com.

©2021 Cox Media Group