KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City has been a voice and resource for small businesses across the metro since 1977.
Kansas City was also the birthplace of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Kansas City set the foundation for the national chamber, which now operates in Washington, D.C.
In 1977, 25 Hispanic businessmen in Kansas City saw the need for an organization that would represent them and their businesses.
“I think that they wanted kind of a fair shot at some of the contracts that were going around, and it’s not that people were intentionally keeping them out. But they found that they had to have an advocacy group that specifically knows how to work with Hispanic businesses,” said Mike Barrera, the district director for the Kansas City Small Business Administration.
That vision led to the founding the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City.
One of the KC Chamber founders was the father of Mike Barrera, Richard Barrera.
Mike later served as president of the National Hispanic Chamber.
“My father, him, and many other businessmen locally got the local Hispanic Chamber started. Then there was a big meeting among other local chambers that started in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and that’s where they formed and did their initial bylaws and the formation papers,” Barrera explained. “Then they ended up moving the chamber here to Kansas Cty.”
That framework for the KC Chamber made a national impact. Two years later, in 1979, under the leadership of Kansas City businessman Hector Barreto Sr., the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was born. Its original headquarters were right here in Kansas City.
“I know Hector at that time, I think, had a building, so at that time, they needed a place to go, and they were able to go to the building on Southwest Boulevard, so that’s where they put the first corporate offices for it,” Barrera said.
Later down the road, the interest grew, so the national Hispanic Chamber offices moved from Kansas City to Washington, D.C.
Edward Reyes, the president of Reyes Media, says when his parents started Dos Mundos in 1981, they moved into an office on Southwest Boulevard and quickly met the business leaders setting the foundation for the Hispanic chamber.
“So this resonated with my mom and her goals with the newspaper. So she was very much involved. At the time, I was 15 or so, but I was helping out as much as possible,” Reyes said. “So I got to see a lot of it, kind of like the fly on the wall. I got to see a lot of what was going on and hear what their vision was and some of the obstacles they were running into.”
Reyes landed a job at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce after graduating from college and worked as the administrative assistant to Hector Bartto.
“We were doing trade missions. We were looking at expanding opportunities through the I-35 corridor. There was talk of free trade zones,” Reyes explained. “There was talk of all kinds of new business opportunities, not just locally, but nationally and internationally, and it was a great learning experience.”
The KC Hispanic Chamber continues to positively impact business leaders locally and nationally.
“I know for hundreds of businesses here locally, the chamber has been a resource for them in starting up and getting the right foundation set, networking with other like-minded individuals, and finding opportunities for the businesses in their given industry,” Reyes said.
