1. Ricardo B. Contreras and David Griffith Department of Anthropology/ The Nuevo South Community Research Initiative East Carolina University Southern Anthropological Society Wilmington, March 14, 2009 Funded by the Center on Diversity and Inequality Research and the Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University. In partnership with the Association of Mexicans of North Carolina (AMEXCAN).

2. To identify the Latino small-businesses of Pitt County To characterize the social and cultural processes, including trust and social capital, involved in the establishment and development of these businesses To characterize the role Latino small- businesses play in their communities

4.  Purposive sample  15 stores in Pitt County  Tiendas  Carnicerias  Hair salons  Restaurants/taquerias  Tax services  Store owners:  Guanajuato  Nayarit  Veracruz  Michoacan  Guadalajara  Tamaulipas  Sinaloa

5.  The creation of spaces that are comforting and the development of loyalty and allegiances  Developing trust ultimately benefits businesses by securing a clientele that allows them to be competitive  Providing quality services and selling products that are valued by customers builds trust.  Trust: customers, community, other Latino business owners, suppliers

6. Compensate for lack of access to formal financial credit Trust is credit (crédito). “Construir crédito es que la gente crea”. Credit Vis-à-vis mainstream businesses such as Wal-Mart, Food Lion, Family Dollar Vis-à-vis other Latino businesses Competition Secure clientele. Clientele is the cultural capital. “La mayoría nos enfocamos en nuestra gente, nuestros clientes.” “Entendemos a la gente”. Recommendations: “Si hace uno un buen trabajo, solo se está recomendando.” The customer is a primo: “A todos les digo primo. Yo creo que lo principal es la atención al cliente, ponerse en el lugar de ellos…a tratar bien la gene, a ganarnos la confianza…” Clientele

7. Phone cards Products rooted in culture Money wiring Cashing checks Space for social interaction Information local resources Direct assistance Quality

8. Connect customers with services and local resources Bridge cultural gaps, translating and interpreting documents and information Gate keeper: access to organizations sympathetic to immigrants Culture brokerage role Business owners’ competence in developing trust with clientele reflects their shared life experiences. This common life experience is fundamental in providing quality services (service and products valued by people). “I know what they want because I am one of them.” Competence is based on common experience Generally, Latino small businesses start with the help of friends, relatives, or acquaintances. Lend money, make contacts, facilitate processes, provide social support. Although not always readily acknowledged, there seems to be a loose system of mutual support among Latino small business owners. They meet at church and help each other on some occasions. There is no formal organizational structure linking them. Trust is multidimen- sional- Trust as a web

9.  Further explore the multidimensionality of trust and examine relationships of reciprocity. Systemic view.  Customers  Community  Latino store owners  Suppliers  How are trust and reciprocity represented in these relationships?  In what ways these representations differ from actor to actor?  The web view: How do these different representations or expressions of trust and reciprocity help to sustain the system as a whole?  Applied: Translate findings into an implementation project.  Training?  Mutual aid associations?  Access to formal financial credit?  Stores as vehicles to disseminate health information and knowledge? A system