The Hispanic community has notched robust growth in St. Louis in the last decade—a welcome change from population trends that are otherwise flat or even in decline. Martha Garcia Kampen is convinced that the federal immigration crackdown won’t change that.
“The vast majority of us are U.S. citizens,” she says. “This is our home, and we are here to succeed and to achieve and to contribute to the overall St. Louis economy.”
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The economy is always at the front of Garcia Kampen’s mind. She’s the president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro St. Louis, which seeks to connect local Latinos and power business growth. And she has numbers to back up her optimism on the community’s trendlines in the St. Louis region. According to Census data, 80 percent of the Hispanics in St. Louis were born in the U.S., while many others came here for college or because they work for one of the area’s large employers.
“We estimate somewhere between 5 and 8 percent of the [Latinos in St. Louis] are probably here in that temporary visa status, asylum seekers,” she notes. “It’s a very, very small group of people.”
Speaking on The 314 Podcast, Garcia Kampen stresses that local companies have good reason to cultivate a relationship with Latinos. As the Hispanic population in the region grew 48 percent between 2010 and 2020, its median age remains just 29 versus 43 for non-Hispanics. “If you think about it from a consumer standpoint, that’s 15 more years of a consumer that can build loyalty with your company,” she says.
The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Garcia Kampen grew up in Kansas City and moved to St. Louis in the late 1980s after getting engaged to a man who grew up here. ”We kind of made a challenge of, ‘OK, you look for a job in Kansas City. I’ll look for a job in St. Louis. Let’s see who wins,’” she recalls. “I found one here.” She’s remained ever since. Garcia Kampen and her husband are now empty nesters and are enjoying the Central West End.
When she first arrived in St. Louis, it had the smallest Latino population of any major U.S. city, which Garcia Kampen admits was a little jarring at first. ”I’d go to a grocery store and I’d be like, ‘Oh, that looks like a Hispanic person,’” she says. “‘Should I go over and talk to them?’” But growing numbers have made it easier for other transplants in her community—and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is a big part of that, she argues. It boasts more than 500 members and activities just about every week, with professional development programs and monthly networking after-hours events. More than 1,000 Hispanic job seekers have attended its annual job fairs over the last decade. During that same span, another 900 people have taken part in its Hispanic Women’s Event.
Garcia Kampen has been thrilled to see people build thriving businesses. “I’ve got several stories of members who have grown so much in just the last five years from just a sole proprietorship to 18 to 20 employees,” she says. “There’s a lot of that going on.”
Catch the full interview with Garcia Kampen on The 314 Podcast.
