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| Image by: Petite Wanderer Photography |
For me, developing a career as a Latina nonprofit leader has always been my dream. I've benefited from using my bilingual and bicultural skills to serve the Latino community and assist nonprofit organizations in marketing their services to said community.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage month that started September 15 until October 15, I want to feature my monthly blog post on the benefits of being bicultural and bilingual (English + Spanish) in the nonprofit workforce.
As a bicultural and bilingual Latina myself, I realize how vital my skillsets are to landing positions in the nonprofit sector.
Many nonprofit organizations are looking for more employees that can speak both English and Spanish because they are interested in serving the Latino community. If they aren't, then they could have an interest given the recent Census 2020 data. According to Gamboa from NBC news, "Latinos account for over half of the country's population growth."
What does this mean for the nonprofit workforce? There will be greater interest as well as demand for nonprofits to hire bicultural and bilingual employees. Great news!
Now, before I provide a list of benefits to being bicultural and bilingual in the workforce, I want to pause to define the difference between the two terms:
1) Bicultural means you can integrate your Hispanic and American customs or values when interacting with clients or program participants.
2) Bilingual is the ability to speak two languages ( English + Spanish) even at a conversational level.
Therefore, if you are of Hispanic or Latino descent, are bicultural, and bilingual, there are numerous benefits to applying your skills in a role at a nonprofit organization. For instance, you can:
- Help a nonprofit attract more monolingual Spanish-speaking clients and program participants into services.
- Increase a nonprofit organization's ability to be more culturally competent and sensitive when creating materials or events to outreach to the community.
- Better understand a client or program participant's issues to connect them with appropriate services.
- Become part of a nonprofit's diversity and inclusion efforts to recruit and retain diverse staff and volunteers.
- Make a positive contribution in supporting the Latino community.
- Add value to the nonprofit workforce and, in return, become more marketable in future hiring.
As you can see, there are many benefits to choosing a career rooted in serving the Latino community. I understand that just because you identify as Hispanic or Latino, you may not be bicultural, bilingual, or both. On the flip side, you may have these skills and no interest in using them in a nonprofit role. That's okay. Ultimately, the decision is yours.
Please join me next month for another blog post to close the honoring of Hispanic Heritage Month.