COVID left work ‘scarce’ for Latinos in Charlotte. This job fair wants to change that.
Sometimes at job fairs, attendees are separated into English-speaking and Spanish-speaking categories.
According to Camino workforce development coordinator Noriela Maldonado, the “better” jobs are only available to the English-speaking population.
That won’t be the case at the Camino Health Center job fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Camino Health Center, formerly the Camino Community Center, is one of the region’s only bicultural and bilingual community centers. It was started in 2004 to serve the health care needs of the local Latino community, but has since expanded to include wraparound services, too, like the job fair.
“We talk the same language and people trust in us,” she said. “That’s why they come here.”
Workforce disparities
A study conducted by the Camino Center earlier this year showed that the local Latino community has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially financially.
Of the study’s more than 400 respondents, 64% reported that a member of their household lost their job during the pandemic, while 77% reported that their household income decreased.
Nearly 90% of respondents reported that the pandemic caused them financial stress, which in turn, affected their mental and physical health.
“Anecdotally, a lot of people we help here don’t work jobs that can be done from home and are easily transferable to online, like cleaning and construction,” said Lennin Caro, a Camino research assistant who helped conduct the study.
And more recently, the center has launched a survey in September about current needs of the Latino community — something that hasn’t been studied on the local level in years.
The survey is ongoing through next year, Caro said. The goal is to capture the experience of 5,000 Latinos locally.
Preliminary results already show almost a third of respondents felt a language was a barrier to finding a job. The second biggest concern was documentation. Many survey participants didn’t feel they had the necessary documents to be hired.
“Even though there’s a narrative of a worker shortage, there’s still a lot of anxiety about work in the Latino community, especially if they’re undocumented,” Caro said. “We asked about how worried they are about certain topics… most either worried somewhat or a lot about work.”
Of survey respondents who said they felt discriminated against in everyday situations, half said the discrimination they experienced took place in a work setting.
“We have this interesting relationship that Latino community has when it comes to work,” Caro said. “It’s still this scarce thing and it’s still hard to access.”
Camino job fair
The job fair is part of the Camino Center’s upward mobility program, which also offers resume help, interview training and professional clothes.
“This isn’t a one-off thing,” Maldonado said. She stressed economic stability is especially important to Latino families, who are sometimes not just taking care of their family in Charlotte, but in their home country, too.
There will be multiple companies attending the job fair, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Chick-Fil-A, Atrium Health, Compare Foods, Autobell and Sherwin-Williams.
Camino is providing volunteers to assist with application and translation needs, and attendees are not required to show any identification or present other documentation to participate in the event.
“This job fair was built from the ground-up with the Hispanic community in mind,” Caro said.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 2:34 PM.
