State gives $100,000 grant to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

MILWAUKEE (WITI)--- Building on the $100,000 grant that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) gave to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin in 2012, the WEDC is doubling down by giving another $100,000 to the chamber's revolving loan fund.

Governor Scott Walker made the announcement Saturday January 19, 2013 at the chamber's annual gala.

"A little bit of capital investment allows them (businesses) to maybe double their size to go from 10 to 20, 20 to 40, Those are the sorts of jobs that we think really fuel the economy," Walker told Fox 6.

Walker says that one way to fuel the economy is to help out businesses during their early development.

"These are companies that usually take several years before they get a tax liability because of the early cost of leasing and hiring employees. And so for them, they have cash to start their companies off, to make those lease payments as they start up a company`s tremendously important," Walker said.

The reason, according to Walker, that the WEDC gave the grant was because of the chamber's proven track record of success as they doubled last year's grant.

"They've shown the last year that the money we granted last year they've been able to leverage that to twice as much. And with this next investment we're going to be making they'll be able to go, ultimately the goal is  to raise 5 million which would be tremendous," Walker said.

The chamber's is hoping to get help from the private sector in reaching their goal of raising $5 million for its community development fund.

The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin creates, expands, and diversifies small and Hispanic-owned businesses in Wisconsin with a strong focus in the Milwaukee Metro area.