Altruism, Business Joined at Facility
The man on the phone sounded desperate. He had been working at a factory for 13 years but had not been promoted--because he is Latino, he suspected. What should he do?
Moments before, an exasperated woman called seeking help in collecting $1,000 that her former landlord had borrowed more than a year ago. Neither caller spoke English.
The director of Centro de Proteccion Familiar (Center for Family Protection) set up appointments to help solve the problems.
Director Ana Rosa Rodriguez told the man that the center’s staff could write letters to his supervisor and to the company president explaining the situation. She would also refer him to the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
Rodriguez assigned one of her mediators to work with the other caller and the former landlord.
Charged No Fee
There was no charge to either client.
The same services could be provided by a number of publicly funded, nonprofit social service agencies, but Centro de Proteccion Familiar has a distinguishing characteristic: It is a business run by executives who mix altruism with profit.
The center is the brainchild of Spanish Research & Marketing, a South Pasadena-based advertising and marketing firm that specializes in the Latino market. It sees itself as a way to help first- and second-generation Latinos adjust to life here, while generating business for doctors and other professionals.
It tries to build good will in the Latino community by providing free services such as translation of rental agreements and other legal documents, mediation services for tenants and consumers and information on immigration questions, among other things.
In the process, counselors come across people who need medical, legal and insurance services. Dennis Delmonte, one of three principals of Spanish Research & Marketing, says the center has generated hundreds of referrals for doctors and other health professionals, who pay from $3,000 to $5,000 a month to be part of the cooperative marketing campaign. More than 60 professional health offices and an insurance company participate.
Giving Something Back
“Fortunately we’ve done very well,” Delmonte said. “We had a sense we owed something and wanted to give something back. . . . “
The center’s first office was opened in the Pico-Union district of Los Angeles in 1986. A second office was established in Montebello last July, and a third was opened in Santa Ana last month. Rodriguez said a fourth office will be opened in San Bernardino within two months.
Spanish Research & Marketing was established in 1978 by Jorge Azpiazu, who was born in Argentina, and Tito Alvarez, a native of Puerto Rico. Delmonte, who said his parents are from Puerto Rico and Chile, became a partner later.
The cooperative marketing campaign for lawyers they opened in 1978 became Centro de Proteccion Legal, a subsidiary. Delmonte said lawyers from about 350 offices in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties pay from $1,500 to $9,600 a month to participate in that campaign.
The monthly fee buys them a marketing program, which includes group advertising in Spanish-language media, instruction in how to treat Latino clients and other assistance.
