Goodwill’s Hispanic outreach bolstered by SWU graduate
According to Elsa Bustamante, a 2009 SWU MSM graduate, Hispanics, even when they are fully bilingual, highly value the personal relationships and mutual respect essential to building trust.
It is difficult to make an impact without gaining someone’s trust.
According to Elsa Bustamante, a 2009 Southern Wesleyan University graduate with a master of science in management degree, Hispanics, even when they are fully bilingual, highly value the personal relationships and mutual respect essential to building trust. She adds that the language barrier makes it difficult for Hispanics to navigate through community services. That said, any individual or organization wishing to reach out to the Hispanic community must be a part of that community to earn their trust.
“For many Hispanics who speak little to no English, arriving into a new culture and environment can create an overwhelming sensation of fear and confusion – they don’t know the language nor do they know the name ‘Goodwill,’” Bustamante said. “Hispanics aren’t going to walk into a service they don’t know about. We have been able to remove much of the language barrier because our Goodwill Job Connections offer bilingual services to the Hispanic community including English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.”
A native of Ecuador and 24-year resident of the U.S., Bustamante is the Hispanic services manager at Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia and the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA), which include the cities of Macon and Augusta.
In 2010 she was tasked with engaging members of the Hispanic community in 35 Georgia counties who knew little about Goodwill and their services. Since then, Goodwill has gone from serving a handful of Hispanics in Middle Georgia and the CSRA to 1,800 in 2012.
For her efforts, Goodwill recognized Bustamante with the Edgar J. Helms Award for Staff during their international annual delegate assembly meeting recently. Goodwill Industries International President and CEO Jim Gibbons praised Bustamante as someone who “has worked tirelessly to earn the trust of the Hispanic community and to spread the word about Goodwill’s mission.”
Goodwill works with a network of 165 independent, community-based locations in the U.S. and Canada, offering customized job training, employment placement and other services to people who have disabilities, lack education or job experience, or face employment challenges.
Bustamante said that the Hispanic community is the fastest growing population in the U.S. She adds that companies and organizations should first begin the process of creating an outreach initiative for Hispanics internally.
“To intentionally engage Hispanics, it is important to begin at the top level of an organization. When management fully understands the positive impact of serving the Hispanic population and supports an outreach model, then collaboration across all levels of the organization helps make the model successful,” she said.
Bustamante began working for Goodwill in 1997, and then in 2000, she was recruited by a textile company into a management position. When her company went out of business in 2006, Goodwill invited her to return to work as a member of their Job Connection staff. She feels blessed that, while in this position, she has been able to help many of her former co-workers at that textile company who were laid off to find work.
When Bustamante was seeking to further her education, she was impressed by Southern Wesleyan University because she knew many of the graduates personally who were employed by large well-known companies.
“Accredited, flexible and affordable – your school was on the top of my list,” Bustamante said, adding that her professors brought into the classroom knowledge that, in many cases, came from their experience in high-level professions.
Bustamante added that her classes at Southern Wesleyan helped her as she developed strategic plans, such as the bilingual-bicultural service model for Goodwill. She also enjoyed interacting with her classmates who came from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
During her studies at Southern Wesleyan, Bustamante found Southern Wesleyan’s staff to be helpful. “I didn’t have to worry about anything – even my books were handed to me on my first day of class,” she said.
With regional education centers conveniently located across South Carolina, as well as fully online programs for select degrees, Southern Wesleyan University is a Christ-centered, student-focused learning community devoted to transforming lives by challenging students to be dedicated scholars and servant-leaders who impact the world for Christ. For details about degree programs, visit swu.edu.