Off to Eastern WA

Hello, All - I'm off to Eastern Washington this weekend. Spokane, to be specific.

There are lots of people right now thinking, "Ah, so devoted to her work!" You know, because Eastern Washington in itself is a Hispanic market.

Not so fast. Yes, there are several very concentrated groups of Latinos throughout Eastern WA - namely in Yakima and the Tri-Cities - but Spokane is like an oasis in that landscape. It's very white. Or as they say in Censusese, "white non-Hispanic."

Also, this might be an opportune time to point out that there are actually MORE LATINOS IN WESTERN WA than east of the mountains. This is true! The difference is, they're less concentrated, more integrated in the Puget Sound region.

For example, Census figures from 2006 show 285,600 Hispanics (with buying power of $3.7 Billion) in the Seattle-Tacoma market. At the same time, they show 168,000 (with buying power of $2.3 Billion) for the Yakima-Tricities market. While we know the Census doesn't get a complete count, not here nor in eastern Washington, we have enough evidence to say that the Puget Sound Hispanic market is simply bigger,

This might also be a good time to mention that the markets east vs. west are entirely different. As examples, generally Latinos in the Seattle area are better educated, have smaller households, and be more likely to be bilingual. They are also more likely to be from South America or Spain their their east-of-the-mountains counterparts, who are mostly Mexican, with some Central Americans.

We'll talk about Central WA some other time.

Enough preaching! Enjoy the weekend. The CASA Latina Gala. The Latino Entrepreneur Fair. The Two Vaults Gallery exhibit. etc. etc.

Or maybe just a nice relaxing weekend at home.

More Media Updates!

I failed to mention another interesting update in Washington state Hispanic media, which was just announced in the current issue of Tú Decides, the bilingual newspaper that earlier this year made its way over the mountains to Western WA.

Several big-name businesspeople have invested in the paper. They are:

• Edgar Martinez, CEO of Branded Solutions by Edgar Martinez.
  
• Dr. Pedro Celis, Distinguished Engineer and CTO in the SQL Server group at Microsoft
  
• Frank Armijo, Program Director and General Manager for Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services
  
• Diehl R. Rettig, Senior Partner of the law firm Rettig, Osborne, Forgette, O’Donnell, Iller & Adamson LLP
  
• Michael E. Sotelo, President of Approach Management Services (Approach) and W.G. Clark Construction Co. and Chairman of the Washington State Association of Hispanic Chambers
  
• William N. Lampson, President of Neil F. Lampson, Inc., one of the largest crane and heavy rigging organizations in the United States
  
• Todd Halterman, President & CEO of Pacific Crest Planning, Inc., a financial planning firm
  
• Craig Gaylord, founder and owner of Fiesta Foods in Eastern Washington.
  
• Dr. Robert Rettig, founder of Back to Basics Chiropractic in Kennewick
  
• Fran Forgette, partner in the Tri-City law firm of Rettig Osborne Forgette, LLP
  
• Albert Torres, founder and CEO/Publisher of Tú Decides Media, Inc.
  
• Blanca Torres, founder of Tú Decides Media, Inc. and President/CEO of EXPO NW LLC
  
• Ismael Campos, founder and Vice-Chairman of tú Decides Media, Inc.
  
• Gracie Campos, founder of tú Decides Media, Inc. and Vice-President of EXPO NW LLC

So it appears that this relatively new publication is stronger than ever. What impressed me was the involvement of non-Latinos in the future of Tú Decides.

The company's deal with The Seattle Times, to include Tú Decides in Times issues going to Newspapers in Education, should take effect in the coming months.

More to come...