Expanded Language Services for Sheboygan County Community and Entrepreneurs
SHEBOYGAN, WI — The Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC) and Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UW-Green Bay aim to provide a wide variety of services, resources, and expertise to help encourage entrepreneurial opportunities in Sheboygan County, including the expansion and promotion of language-based resources for local entrepreneurs such as services of Partners for Community Development and the hiring of a Spanish-speaking consultant at the SBDC.
The SBDC is thrilled to announce the hiring of Jesus Nañez, Program Outreach Manager for the Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship. Jesus is a new consultant in the SBDC that can assist entrepreneurs in Sheboygan County and throughout the state of WI, especially as a new resource for Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs.
As a Spanish-speaking entrepreneur himself, Jesus enjoys sharing his knowledge with new and existing business owners and providing Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs access to all the SBDC's resources.
"I am passionate about the services I provide because I am a business owner and wish there would have been someone there to guide me when I first started," said Jesus. "I am also a people person and love getting to know other entrepreneurs and hearing about their amazing journeys."
"It's the first time SBDC has a Spanish-speaking business consulting on the team, and now we can better serve the growing Hispanic population," said Nañez. Jesus has a wide range of specialties, including business development, sales and marketing, branding, strategy, licensing, permits, restaurant management, social media management, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, website development, employee retention, and hiring.
Partners for Community Development, a Sheboygan-based nonprofit, has also been working on expanding its language resources to better serve Sheboygan County.
"Partners for Community Development, Inc. has been offering Spanish interpretations and translations to the Sheboygan community since 2006 through its Community Services program," said Karin Kirchmeier, Executive Director. Partners for Community Development, Inc. was founded in 1975 with the original program, Community Services. The organization aimed to help migrant workers in Sheboygan, WI, with childcare, doctor visits, transportation, and other daily activities. Today, it continues to serve Latinx and Hmong community members in interpretation, translation, and referral services.
"After recognizing a larger language need, Partners has expanded its interpretation and translation services to include Hmong language services, as well as services to include Manitowoc County," said Kirchmeier.
In addition to translation, interpretation, and referral services, Partners also offers housing affordability. Such as low-income housing, critical housing repairs, home buyers’ assistance, as well as their home efficiency programs that include weatherization, emergency furnace, and lead remediation.
“We are incredibly excited about our language services because it creates inclusive access to all of our services offered within Partners and the community as a whole,” said Karin Kirchmeier, Executive Director. “Access to language services creates equal access to health and educational services that are not always readily available.”
Partners for Community Development offers walk-in, interpretation, translation, and referral services. Spanish and Hmong interpreters can be made available virtually or on-site for companies, businesses, or individual needs. Please contact Karina at karina.aguirre@partners4cd.com for more information.
For more information or to get in contact with Jesus Nañez at the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center, email jesus.nanez@business.wisconsin.edu or call 414-419-2420.
The Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC) is a public-private partnership leading economic, community, and workforce development efforts in Sheboygan County to improve the well-being and long-term prosperity of businesses, residents, and communities. Through technical assistance, the SCEDC leverages a variety of tools to encourage business growth, startups, investment, skill development, and talent attraction. By applying the appropriate resources, the SCEDC helps fulfill Sheboygan County's growing economic and business needs.
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