The Johnson County Library will sign an agreement with the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) on Tuesday, June 16 at 10 a.m. at the Oak Park Neighborhood Library, 9500 Bluejacket, Overland Park, KS, to provide bilingual business services to current and aspiring entrepreneurs.

HEDC will have office hours two days a week at the Oak Park Neighborhood Library to assist clients. In August, HEDC will offer the Primo Paso FastTrac class and a small business workshop in coordination with Global Entrepreneurship Week in November.

From 2007 to June 1, 2009, HEDC served – IN JOHNSON COUNTY - 25 businesses and 84 aspiring entrepreneurs through 369 individual sessions covering 447 hours of professional time.

According to Richard Zarate, Director – Business and Economic Growth – HEDC values education and working with the library furthers this goal. Bernardo Ramirez, Executive Director states that in some parts of Johnson County the Hispanic population has realized triple-digit growth! The partnership between HEDC and the Johnson County Library further cements our strategic decision to focus on this critical area.

The latest Mid-America Research Council (MARC) population estimate reports that just over 8% of the Johnson County population under the age of 30 is Hispanic signaling growth in the years to come.

The Library views this collaboration as a deepening of an already established relationship with HEDC and also an opportunity to fulfill its current strategic goal of reaching out to the Hispanic community. County Library Donna Lauffer stated, “Oak Park Neighborhood Library is currently the site where the library is focusing its ability to provide services and collections to the growing Hispanic community, one of vital parts of the Johnson County landscape. This will be a great partnership and provide a wonderful service to the Hispanic community.”

For more information on the partnership and services to be provided, call (913) 752-8700.