Next month will mark one year since the president of the Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was indicted for allegedly stealing more than $52,000 from the non-profit. The group now has a new president and its board is ready to move forward.
Since Paul Garza Jr., 31, was arrested Savannah Morales said the chamber has seen a dramatic decline in its membership numbers and lost some of its board members.
However, five new board members were inducted in November and she took on the title of chief executive officer after Garza’s successor, Benjamin Quiroz, moved to Houston.
The board is holding a Meet & Greet on Thursday, at La Margarita Restaurant. In addition to herself, the board is comprised of Lucy Herrera, Erica Belanger, Nataly Ortega, Jonathan Fuentes, Nadia Rivas, Esperanza Garcia, Rosario Sanchez and Mark Garcia.
Since taking her seat, Morales has spent much of her time visiting with local businesses and other area Chamber of Commerce board members. She realizes she and the rest of the board have a daunting task ahead of them.
In fact, unlike past years, the board has not sought funding from the City of Odessa. For now, they hope to run the organization with grants and membership fees, she said.
“We’re gonna have to prove ourselves to the community…where others see uncertainty, because there was uncertainty at one point in the chamber, us new board members that came in, we see an opportunity,” Morales said. ” We want to re-prioritize the things that are very important to the community and very important to the small businesses and to us as board members.”
She’s on the hunt for a grant writer right now because they realize just how deeply hurt the community was upon Garza’s arrest.
“We want to make it more accountable, transparent, and we have a vision where we want to go with it. We’re very blessed with the eight ambitious board members that we have. I love it. We have the same vision. We have the same passion and we want to see the community succeed,” Morales said.
The chamber wiped its membership slate clean, but now has three paid members, Morales said.
Hopefully that will change with Thursday’s Meet & Greet, she said. In addition to sending out invitations via email, the chamber has been promoting it on its Facebook page and handing out newly minted brochures.
The chamber is committed to helping businesses and individuals reach their goals by providing help with marketing, networking and educational opportunities, she said.
The chamber will be publishing a bi-weekly newsletter and provide monthly classes on such things as financial literacy, grant writing and bookkeeping, Morales said.
They’ve been working with the Ector County Independent School District to help newly arrived citizens enroll their children into school and have hopes of creating a mentorship program that would allow students to gain dual credits while working at local businesses, she said.
They’ve also been discussing joining up with Frost Bank to put together a family financial literacy class for parents and their children, she said.
She’s not yet reached out to America’s Small Business Development Center at UTPB, but that’ll happen soon, Morales said.
She’s also hopeful the chamber will be able to staff its office on Fourth Street, Morales said.
Morales, who unsuccessfully ran last November for the Ector County Commissioners Court, has worked off and on at Melody’s Bakery for roughly 15 years. In addition to helping her husband’s family with the baking, she’s handled book-keeping duties, payroll and advertising.
Morales met Quiroz thanks to her involvement with the Hispanic Heritage of Odessa and the League of United Latin American Citizens.
“He asked me if I wanted to join on the board and I was like, ‘I would love to I would love to be able to get in there and make a positive impact in our community,’” she said.
She thought she had something to offer.
“Being involved in a small business, I see a lot of opportunities…Not a lot of small businesses know about business credit, how to establish your business credit and not use your personal credit, how to separate your business income from your personal income..a lot of times they don’t even pay themselves an employee so it affects them when it comes time to retire.”
She’s optimistic about the future, Morales said.
“We’re just extremely excited. I love the leadership that we have in our board and I love the passion that each board member has. We are all on the same vision and we all want to see the community succeed,” she said.
Garza’s trial is pending.
If you go
What: Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Meet & Greet
Where: La Margarita, 1301 S. Grant Ave.
When: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday
Who’s invited: Businesses, students, individuals
Contact: 432-339-6422
