I am a proud resident of South Central Los Angeles, raised by two hard-working Mexican immigrants. From a very early age, I witnessed the daily grit and hard-work that my parents undertook to provide a better future for our family.
In 1997, my parents took their American dream to greater heights and started their own business, a food truck called TortaMovil that sells torta sandwiches commonly found on the streets of Mexico City.
But it wasn’t just my parent’s business to run. It was mine as well. At 13 years old, I began to help my parents with the food truck. I would take orders and sweep the streets in front of the truck to ensure great service for our customers. Through these experiences, I learned valuable lessons about running a business and what it meant to be a part of a larger community.
Earlier this month, I attended the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce Policy Summit. Not only did I become informed about the policies that impact small-businesses like my family’s, but I also learned about an important topic that should be on the mind of all small-business owners: the 2020 Census.
TortaMovil operates in a region in Los Angeles where poverty, inequities, and lack of resources is the norm. At the Policy Summit, I learned that getting counted in the census is the way that neighborhoods like mine can secure federal resources for items like schools and hospitals, but also guarantee that all of us can become politically represented at the highest levels of our government.
As we are a year away from the 2020 Census, I will leverage the power of my family’s food truck to ensure that Latinos get counted in the next census.
Why?
We are more than just a provider of tortas to customers. We are a small-business that cares deeply about our community and wishes to see it grow positively over the next decade.
Whether it’s by passing out information about the census with every torta order, or by helping families fill it out during peak census time, TortaMovil is committed to seeing its customers eat delicious food and having them grounded in a strong community where everyone is thriving.
Tortas and filling out the census is a winning and tasty strategy. We hope you will join us!
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