By Todd Milbourn, The Modesto Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Dec. 10--When Francisco Chavez launched a company Web site three years ago, he was skeptical it would boost his wheel and tire business on Crows Landing Road.
Then customers started telling him they discovered Los Amigos Tires on the World Wide Web, and he became a believer.
"I honestly didn't think we were going to get any response. But it's amazing," said Chavez, who attributes a small but growing percentage of his business to the Internet.
Chavez is one of Stanislaus County's few Hispanic business owners with a Web site. With a grant awarded Tuesday, the county hopes to encourage more.
The Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance received $24,250 from telecommunications giant SBC Communications Inc. to provide Hispanic businesses with technology training, including help launching Web sites.
The grant will be used to buy Spanish-language software and set up one-on-one classes with Hispanic businesses.
Gene Carillo, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said the grant "fills a great need" and will help Hispanic businesses tap into new customers.
Chavez said the Web site helped him attract commuters who recently moved to Modesto.
"It's sometimes the first place they go," he said.
About 6 percent of Hispanic businesses nationwide with fewer than 10 employees had a Web site in 2001, according to a survey by Microsoft Corp.
That's compared with 30 percent for white businesses.
The gap stems from the lack of computer hardware and software, skepticism of the Internet, language barriers and a lack of Hispanic pages on the Web, according to a 2002 study by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute in Claremont.
"The biggest thing is getting us to believe in it," Chavez said.
The grant will be administered by the Alliance's business resource center, which offers research help for prospective and expanding businesses.
Randy Svedbeck, the resource center's manager, said about 20 percent of the center's inquiries are from Hispanic businesses.
To see more of The Modesto Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.modbee.com
(c) 2003, The Modesto Bee, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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