News

By: Israel Balderas - KFOX Morning News Anchor/Reporter

The news coming out of Washington, D.C., this weekend indicate President Barack Obama's plan to jump start the economy has a long way to go. Today's unemployment report indicates more people continue to lose their jobs. Jobless claims hit 670,000 for the last full week of February, bringing the unemployment rate to 8.1 percent. That is the highest level since October 1982, when the economy was emerging from a severe downturn.

But if you ask entrepreneurs and the organizations that support them such as the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, they feel optimistic about how they can help the economy grow. Here in El Paso, the city's Hispanic chamber chapter and some of its small business member plan to travel to the nation's capital next week to make a sales pitch. They believe El Paso businesses could make the federal government their best customer and that in turns means thousands of jobs for the area.

"We're going to Washington, D.C., to help market the types of companies we have here who can perform the work from those dollars coming down," said Cindy Ramos-Davidson who is the CEO of the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. By dollars, Ramos-Davidson refers to the billions of dollars that the federal government plans to spend in order to help create jobs and restart the economy. "What better customer for a small business person to have than the government," said Ramos-Davidson.

That's why the Hispanic Chamber's offices in Central El Paso will be busy over the weekend making final preparations for their trip. All next week, some of its members have lined up sales meetings spread throughout their personal calendars. Their target will be Washington bureaucrats who will make decisions on who will meet the federal government's needs for their hundreds of projects planned over the next few years. "You have dollars that are coming down to do 'X' amount of things and we have companies in our market that can do that and here they are," said Ramos-Davidson.

The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce says that when it comes to helping the U.S. economy recover from its downturn, it will be small businesses owners leading the way. ESEI, located in West El Paso, is just one example of a Sun City business hoping to land government contracts. The professional telecommunications and IT services company has weathered the ups and downs of the economy. "We strive to have steady years but the economy plays an important role, said Antonio Rico, the company's president and owner.  "However, what we do and how we go about it," says Rico, "will eventually result in success or failure."

Rico remains optimistic about the opportunities that are out there for small businesses, regardless of the economic situation facing Americans. "That's the neat thing about being a small business person, that you can readjust your company, your people and your service offering with the economy." And that's the sales pitch everyone hopes the government buys next week.