October 29, 2002 Meeting
Cooper/Howard Hispanic/Latino Group
Rankin Mill Community Center

Police: Chief Jim Gholson will be there to discuss police needs and be available for planning suggestions. He has mentioned language training for the officers. This may also be something that can be offered for fire and hospital personnel.

Economy--The economy certainly has affected the cultural mix in Central Missouri. At this time the number of Latinos in Marshall has declined significantly. The number of English as Second Language teachers has dropped considerably there.

Three months ago we had three Latino employees at Fuqua and two applicants at Nordyne.
Fuqua now has 11 Hispanic employees including two living in Boonville. Fuqua said several more are interested in living here. We have FAXed an invitation to the Latinos--in Spanish--inviting them to the meeting.

At this time Nordyne is in a hold on hiring. It probably will be starting anew I January or so. From the most current applicant pool, Charlie Melkersman said that the company does have six to nine applications that are current and by Latinos.

Riverdell has no Latino employees or applications there.

The Isle currently has just the two Latino employees it had earlier.

Chris Angelo is taking invitations (in Spanish) to Latinos who work at the new Spanish restaurant in town.

The Rural Sociology Department is issuing occasional papers on Latinos in Missouri. You can access the web site by going to:
http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/RuralSoc/Latinos/