St. Louis’ Hispanic community is here to stay—and build businesses, chamber CEO says

By St. Louis Magazine

The Hispanic community has notched robust growth in St. Louis in the last decade—a welcome change from population trends that are otherwise flat or even in decline. Martha Garcia Kampen is convinced that the federal immigration crackdown won’t change that.

“The vast majority of us are U.S. citizens,” she says. “This is our home, and we are here to succeed and to achieve and to contribute to the overall St. Louis economy.”

The economy is always at the front of Garcia Kampen’s mind. She’s the president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro St. Louis, which seeks to connect local Latinos and power business growth. And she has numbers to back up her optimism on the community’s trendlines in the St. Louis region. According to Census data, 80 percent of the Hispanics in St. Louis were born in the U.S., while many others came here for college or because they work for one of the area’s large employers.

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