The four Hispanic chambers: a February roundup

There are four Hispanic chambers of commerce in Middle Tennessee: the first three are the Franklin Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The Tennessean profiled these three chambers in this article in June 2006. A fourth chamber, the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, was incorporated in 2006. Middle Tennessee's Hispanic chambers closely track the geographic distribution of non-Hispanic business groups such as the Nashville, Tennessee, and Williamson County-Franklin chambers, as pointed out by the Hispanic Nashville Notebook in this recent article.

The latest on these four chambers is below.

Nashville Area Chamber membership meeting February 21

NAHCC Annual Membership Meeting
February 21st 2007
5:30 pm-7:00 pm

Every year the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosts this meeting at the beginning of the year as stipulated in Article XIII Section 1 of our bylaws to offer members an opportunity to learn about the work of our organization, upcoming projects and about opportunities for volunteer participation.

This year the NAHCC will introduce its newly elected Board of Directors for the 2007-2009 period. We are proud to announce that the following members have been elected to serve as officers:

Marc Walwyn, Chairman
Luis Bustillos, Vice-Chairman
Chalene Helmuth, Secretary
Loraine Segovia, Treasurer

Please confirm your attendance via this RSVP link or e-mail us at RSVP@nashvillehispanicchamber.com

Franklin Chamber networking night February 27

The Franklin Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce invites you to a Chamber networking night on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 at 5:30PM at TORTILLAS MEXICAN BUFFET AND GRILL, 1401 Liberty Pike Suite 400 Franklin, TN 37067-8648. Bring your business cards and make some new friends who share a passion for diversity. Nashville and other area businesses welcome. All meetings are in English. Cost is $5. If you would like to host a meeting call 615-599-0045.

Tennessee Chamber President under fire

The Nashville Scene dedicated last week's cover to Ismael "Robert" Chavez, the President of the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The piece focuses mostly on Chavez's alleged personal and business affairs outside the Chamber, and how he is viewed among Hispanics locally and at the national level. Where the article addresses the Chamber directly is to allege that the Chamber is out of compliance with state tax laws governing non-profits. Furthermore, according to the article, the Chamber's board of directors recently proposed audits "to keep our finances clean and our affairs transparent" and called for elections in which past presidents would be excluded from running.

The next event on the Tennessee Chamber's web site is a June 25 golf tournament.

Middle Tennessee Chamber establishes web presence

The Middle Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is online (here) and has attracted at least one major sponsor (AIG), but the Hispanic Nashville Notebook is not aware of any Middle Tennesee Chamber events since its 2006 incorporation.