The importance of impact: Celebrating National Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month with Blendísimo

Employee resource groups (ERGs) are critical to helping employees foster a strong sense of community in the workplace while also facilitating personal and professional growth. ERGs at Blend are constantly working to nurture connection and foster collaboration. Let’s take a look at what Blendísimo  — Blend’s Hispanic and Latinx ERG — has in store for Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month. 

In addition to ensuring that members of Blendísimo have a presence and voice within Blend’s company culture, investing in ERG-sponsored events like Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month facilitates company-wide learning about the Hispanic and Latinx experience and diversity within Hispanic and Latinx culture. 

This year, for Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month, members of the Blendísimo ERG committee worked with ERG leaders to create a month of planned programming around the theme of “Impact,” with a particular focus on exploring the effect each person can have on their community. Some highlights include:

• Lotería: A traditional game of chance that originated in 15th century Italy, and was brought to modern Mexico in 1769. Lotería is quickly becoming a Blendísimo tradition that all are welcome to attend.
• Lunch & Learn: Unlearning and Centering. This session will present strategies and opportunities to create spaces and systems where Black and Brown Hispanic and Latinx team members feel safe, seen, heard, and valued year-round, emphasizing that the work happens inward before it can show up outwardly.  
• Q&A Panel: The Impact of the HR and Employment Law from the Perspective of Hispanic & Latina Legal Professionals. We will be exploring work being done by our panelists focused on legal issues in intersectionality, advocacy work related to underrepresented minorities (especially LGBTQ+), and information accessibility for employers about what state laws exist to ensure that employees are protected in practice as much as in the law.
• Día de los Muertos: An event hosted with the Asian@Blend and Believe@Blend ERGs that will provide a community space to come together and share cultural stories and ideas around the holiday.

Are you a member of Blendkind interested in joining any of these events?

Visit #erg-blendisimo on Slack for more information

Integral to 2022’s Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month theme at Blend is highlighting inspiring folks at Blend and beyond. Brandon Malara is a sales development representative and a very active member of Blendísimo and his local community. He has been integral to the Blend ERG community through event planning and supporting the ERG committee. 

He recently shared an experience he had in his western Colorado town of Montrose, with the Mexican American Development Association (MADA):

“MADA has been around for 50 years and is one of the oldest nonprofits in Montrose. It basically serves as a hub for the Mexican American community in Western Colorado. And since the pandemic, it’s been shifting its focus to provide a wider range of support for the community.

MADA celebrated its 50th anniversary in August with a fiesta in Montrose’s La Raza park. I got to meet some folks from MADA, and from another organization called the Hispanic Affairs Project, which helps support immigrants in western Colorado. 

I was also able to see some fun Ballet Folklorio, a classic car show, a slideshow about MADA community involvement through the decades, and a new painting that was made for the MADA building. 

I just wanted to share that, even in small localities all over the United States, there are opportunities to serve and support the Latinx community.”

We believe in making an impact at Blend. As part of our larger Blend Impact initiative, and in partnership with Goodworld, each Blend ERG has selected a cause for 2022 that aligns with their respective ERG’s mission and vision. 

Each ERG has a fundraising goal of $1,000, to be raised by members, allies, and any other people who would like to support the cause.

Blendísimo’s chosen cause is the Jolt Initiative — a non-profit organization that increases the civic participation of Latinos in Texas communities to build a stronger democracy and ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.

Giving back to the communities in which we live is just as important as fostering a sense of internal workplace community. When asked what Hispanic/Latinx members can do to give back Malara, said: “Register to vote, and vote! Also, connect with the people making an impact in your local area. It can make a big difference.”