The Queens Courier’s sister publication El Correo de Queens joined forces with the 1,300 member strong Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Queens (HCCQ) to launch El Comercio, the borough’s first bilingual newspaper targeted to meet the needs of the Hispanic small business community in Queens.
“We wanted the Chamber to be the bridge between the small business community and the resources that could help them succeed,” said Patricia Mahecha, president of the HCCQ. “El Comercio will now be one of the vehicles to accomplish this goal.”
Community members and leaders attended a press conference at the headquarters of the HCCQ at 76-11 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights to support this new venture. El Comercio will be included as a special section in the last monthly edition of El Correo de Queens and also sent to HCCQ members.
Victoria Schneps-Yunis, publisher of El Correo de Queens, stressed the importance of El Comercio’s role to “bring news on how to do business in this community.”
Under this new partnership, El Correo de Queens will provide editorial and sales support for El Comercio, (which translates to, The Commerce), and HCCQ will provide content and exposure to its corporate and small business contacts.
Former HCCQ President, Vilma Vallejo, a vice president at TD Bank which sponsors El Comercio, expressed her happiness at the fruition of this goal.
“The Hispanic community needs a way to come together,” said Vallejo. “For TD Bank, a very successful community bank, we are proud to be supporting this venture.”
Both NYC Business Solutions Account Manager Katherine Tejada and Consuelo Piqueras, an independent make-up consultant, spoke about how the HCCQ has helped them.
“In seven months the Chamber has been very useful,” said Piqueras, who uses the Chamber’s headquarters to hold beauty seminars and grow her business. “I went from 10 women to 50.”
For Mahecha and all those involved, El Comercio will serve to communicate to their members about where they see the Chamber going, and growing, to help small businesses in Queens. Mahecha hopes one day to move out of an office into a building.
“I know it seems long but we can meet those goals,” she said. “Little by little it is possible to do it.”
