Soapblogger Jason Riveiro is an activist and volunteer in the Hispanic community. This week Riveiro shares how everyone can celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), and recollects how Cincinnati used a grassroots effort to beat out cities with larger Hispanic populations to host the LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) national convention - bringing over 15,000 attendees in 2011. He also sets the record straight on responsible media and how each of us can continue making Cincinnati a welcoming city for everyone.
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Soapblog 3: The Formula to Compete With Larger Cities
Posted By: Jason Riveiro
9/24/2009
A little interesting fact - since 2001, Cincinnati has hosted over 15 large multicultural groups for their national conventions including Las Amigas, NAACP, National Society of Hispanic MBA's and the National Baptist Convention. Thanks to the stellar team at the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau this list is growing and attracting larger conventions like the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers in 2010, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in 2011 and the World Choir Games in 2012.
My small involvement came as a result of our organization's desire to add LULAC to this prestigious list of conventions. LULAC which is the oldest and largest Hispanic organization in the country would draw close to 15,000 members and expose Cincinnati to our country's rich Hispanic heritage. The 2011 LULAC Convention would also be a critical aspect in keeping thousands of local hospitality professionals employed and local businesses operating.
We faced many obstacles, but looking back, the Cincinnati CVB formula made all the difference in beating larger cities including our competition of Dallas and Orlando - Disney to be exact. Though both cities were familiar names to Latinos and both had larger Latino populations, neither city was able to demonstrate the collective grassroots effort of Cincinnati. LULAC members saw support from our city officials, corporations like P&G and Macys, and influential Latino leaders.
In the end, Cincinnati was able to do what larger cities only dream about - bringing together individuals and groups from across the spectrum for one cause.