El Pájaro Community Development Corporation Marks 40 years of Providing Equal access to Opportunities for Small business Owners In 1979, Watsonville became the epicenter of social change as the community rallied to support Latino and Spanish-speaking business owners.
Watsonville, CA, July 11, 2019 - In 1979, Watsonville became the epicenter of social change as the community rallied to support Latino and Spanish-speaking business owners. Protecting rights and providing equal access to business opportunities helped provide a voice to the voiceless, while giving rise to El Pájaro Community Development Corporation.
El Pájaro CDC celebrates 40 years of transforming people’s lives through entrepreneurship by taking the confusion, guesswork and complexity out of starting small businesses. By offering technical, legal, financial and managerial assistance, El Pájaro CDC has helped launch and nurture countless small businesses while bolstering economic development within the community. “If you give someone an opportunity in can change lives, and lead to generations of success,” said Carmel Hererra, executive director of El Pajaro CDC. “To see a journey from farmworker to entrepreneur — many started that way when they came to us — is so rewarding.” El Pájaro CDC also offers low-cost and free bilingual business education and training workshops to lowincome entrepreneurs. Workshops cover business plan preparation, marketing and sales, customer service, bookkeeping, computer basics, business management, and financial literacy. The growth of El Pájaro CDC has been monumental. In 1997, it created a retail business incubator at 23 Beach St. in downtown Watsonville to assist low- to moderate-income, Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs