Progress 02/15/17 to 02/14/18

Outputs
Target Audience:The overall project's target audience iscounty and city officials, community leaders, entrepreneurs, and scholars in rural economic development. Changes/Problems:Due to the immigration political climate created by the new Trump administration, it has been difficult to secure Hispanic women entrepreneur (or aspiring entrepreneur) participants. Some potential participants have expressed they are distrustful and unwilling to congregate because they are afraid of ICE. Therefore, we are offering most of extension training online. Also,we areconducting all individual interviews instead of collecting some of the data for our analyses through group interviews as we had originally planned. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Dr. Fisher and Dr. Lewin presented the paper "Push and Pull Factors and Hispanic Self-Employment in the US" at the Small Business Institute Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, February 16-18, 2017. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated to communities of interest through presentations at academic conferences (Small Business Institute and Western Regional Science Association) and submission of papers for journal publication. One of the two papers described earlier has been accepted for publication in Small Business Economics. The other paper will be shortly submitted to the journal Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For the next reporting period, the Socioeconomics team will focus on Objective 3. Specifically, we will use data from the American Community Survey and regression analysis to examine the influence of spouses and children on Latina participation in self-employment in the US. Planned outputs of this activity are a manuscript to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal and presentation of the paper at an international/national conference. We also plan to produce one Extension bulletin on Hispanic entrepreneurship in the US and Idaho that synthesizes the main findings of our research for policymaker and practitioner audiences.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Research: For this reporting period, the Socioeconomics team worked on Objectives 1, 2, and 3. In the previous reporting period we had worked on two papers and submitted them to journals. In this reporting period we continued working on the earlier two papers and started on a third paper. Paper One is titled "Push and Pull Factors and Hispanic Self-Employment in the US" and was submitted to Small Business Economics. We received a revise and resubmit from the journal and devoted about one month to revising the paper based on extensive suggestions of the journal editor and reviewers. The paper has now been accepted for publication in Small Business Economics (forthcoming in 2018). Paper Two, "Profitable Entrepreneurship or Marginal Self-Employment: The Bimodality of Latina Self-Employment in the US" is under review inthe journal Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. Below we briefly summarize the results of these three studies in relation to Objectives 1, 2, and 3. Objective 1: Key research findings of the paper "Push and Pull Factors and Hispanic Self-Employment in the US" Hispanic entrepreneurship has grown tremendously in recent years and has far outpaced entrepreneurial growth among non-Hispanic whites. For example, between 2007 and 2012 the growth rate of Hispanic-owned businesses was 46.3%, while the corresponding figure for non-Hispanics was -0.2% (according to data from the Survey of Business Owners). Using data for 2015 from the American Community Survey, we identify some of the main pull, push, and other factors associated with self-employment participation among Hispanics in the US. Key research findings of the paper "Profitable Entrepreneurship or Marginal Self-Employment: The Bimodality of Latina Self-Employment in the US" This study uses data for 2010-2014 from the American Community Survey to examine the participation and success of Hispanic women in non-professional and professional self-employment. Professional businesswomen accounted for 19% of the Latina self-employed over the study period and had average annual earnings of $53,127. The corresponding figure for Latina non-professional businesswomen was $18,822. Regression results reveal that, compared with non-professional businesswomen, the professional self-employed are more likely to be married, non-immigrants, fluent in English, and homeowners. Professional businesswomen have fewer children, higher educational attainment, and live in neighborhoods with lower ratios of Hispanics to non-Hispanic whites. Objective 2: Identify opportunities and constraints to Hispanic entrepreneurism that can be addressed through youth and adult programs. The research results described above suggest that some of the main barriers to Hispanic entrepreneurism (i.e. low human and financial capital, lack of English proficiency, and immigrant status) can be addressed through the following programs: First, a variety of educational programs may be warranted: youth programs that work closely with Hispanic students, parents, teachers, and school administrators to reduce the Hispanic high-school dropout rate; programs focused on increasing Hispanic college graduation rates; and programs improving access to post-graduate business management and leadership programs at universities and community colleges. For Hispanic immigrants, in particular, English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, particularly those integrated with business skills development, should help foster business success. A second set of policies focus on financial capital. Hispanic-serving organizations engaged in micro-credit, financial outreach education, and business planning have important roles to play. Specific start-up programs targeted to Hispanics, especially those with limited human and financial resources, could increase Hispanic participation in self-employment and their success as entrepreneurs. Furthermore, raising awareness about non-traditional lenders is important since many Hispanic entrepreneurs do not know they exist. A third set of policies is based on our findings related to citizenship status. Self-employed Hispanic immigrants should benefit greatly from citizenship classes and legal assistance with the naturalization process and employment discrimination. Objective 3: Identify the role of family and gender in enabling or constraining Hispanic women's entrepreneurial success. The research results for Papers One and Two provide some insights in this regard: Gender: Results of Paper One reveal gender-based earnings gaps, which are considerably higher in self-employment than wage work: Hispanic women earn 29% and 18% less than Hispanic men in self-employment and wage work, respectively. Mexican-origin females have 9% lower self-employment probability than their male counterparts, whereas females of South American origin are 15% more likely to be self-employed than their male counterparts. Marriage: The self-employment of Hispanic men and women is positively associated with being married. However, marital status is found to differentially affect participation in self-employment depending on a Hispanic woman's occupational class. Specifically, Latinas in non-professional occupations are more likely to be self-employed if they have never been married or are separated (vs. married). By contrast, marriage increases the probability of self-employment for Latinas in professional occupations. Children: The presence of children increases the probability of self-employment for both Hispanic men and women. Among the non-professionals in our sample, there is no association between number of children and self-employment earnings. For professional Hispanic businesswomen, however, the presence of children aged less than 5 years is associated with higher earnings. Extension: In November 2017, we started working on objective 4 to deliver DreamBuilder, an adult program that promote entrepreneurism, in areas of southern Idaho with concentrated Hispanic populations. We contacted DreamBuilder and request administration rights for the program and the site switch from the Women Center to UI Extension. Also, we are creating a flyer and an advertising video to promote the program. We expect start delivering the program in early 2018.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Fisher, F. & Lewin, P. 2018. Push and pull factors and Hispanic self-employment in the USA. Small Business Economics. p. 1-16
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Fisher, F. & Lewin, P. 2018. Profitable Entrepreneurship or Marginal Self-Employment: The Bimodality of Latina Self-Employment in the US. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development

Progress 02/15/16 to 02/14/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of this project will be county and city officials, community leaders, and scholars in rural economic development. Changes/Problems:During the time between submitting the proposal and receiving the award, one of our partners, the Women's Small Business Center at META in Boise, shut down. Their role was to deliver the Dreambuilder course to Latina women. Based on their recommendations and recommendations from project advisors, we approached the Idaho Small Business Development Center at Boise State University. After several months of trying, they were unable to recruit the staffing needed and referred us to the Twin Falls Small Business Development Center. Over a period of several months, they also were unable to located the necessary bilingual staff recruited for the project. We are currently reshaping this piece to be delivered by Extension staff coordinating the youth entrepreneurism portion of this project. Additional support will be provided by project co-PIs and the law school team. This portion is about one year behind its original timeline, but since it was originally envisioned as an 18 month activity, there is still plenty of time to successfully implement it. We anticipate that this final adjustment to this activity will work fine and that this activity will be completed successfully. Due to the immigration political climate creted by the new Trump administrtion, it has been difficult to secure Hispanic women entrepreneur (or aspiring entrepreneur) focus group participants. Some potential participants has expressed they are distrustful and unwilling to congregate because they are afraid of ICE. Therefore, we will adapt by conducing all individual interviews instead of collecting some of the data for our analyses through group interviews as we had originally planned. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Monica Fisher presented the paper "Push and Pull Factors and Hispanic Self-Employment in the US" at the Small Business Institute Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, February 16-18, 2017. The sociological research team has been mentoring an undergraduate student (Cordova), who has been accepted to complete a Master's degree under this project contingent on her graduation in May 2017. Cordova's training has involved group team and one-on-one meetings with the co-PIs, development of interview and focus group guides, and experience organizing and facilitating focus groups and interviews. The sociological research team has also developed an interviewer training to ensure inter-interviewer reliability during data collection Summer 2017, train the student (Cordova), and train a member of the economic research team (Fisher) in qualitative methodology. Fisher, an economist, will participate in interview data collection as professional development to enhance collaboration and multi-disciplinary value and integration across the two research components of the project. Lyle Hansen trained Liliana Vega and Surine Greenway to use and teach the Northwest Youth Financial Education Program. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated to communities of interest through presentations at academic conferences (Small Business Institute and Western Regional Science Association) and submission of papers for journal publication. The two papers described earlier are currently in review at the journals Economic Development Quarterly and Small Business Economics. The extension team attended multiple meetings to identify and build relationships with potential partners to better reach Latino teens in Southern Idaho with our programs. Theypartnered with local schools and non-profit organizations to deliver youth financial literacy programs.Building these relationships and partnerships allowed themto reach a larger Latino teen audience.During this reporting period, they conducted 9 youth financial literacy educational programs and reached 180 Latino youth. Also, research teams presented their research objectives, progress, and planned activities to the project advisory board, many of whose members have substantial connections to Hispanic adults in rural communities,and asked for suggestions. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?For the next reporting period, the economics team (Fisher & Lewin) will focus on Objective 3. Specifically, we will use data from the American Community Survey and regression analysis to examine the influence of spouses and children on Latina participation in self-employment in the US. Planned outputs of this activity are a manuscript to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal and presentation of the paper at an international/national conference. Theyalso plan to produce one Extension bulletin on Hispanic entrepreneurship in the US and Idaho that synthesizes the main findings of our research for policymaker and practitioner audiences. The sociological research team (Newman, Deringer, Tsao, and Schmiege)will collect qualitative data to address project objectives 1, 2 and3 through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Theywill analyze results and collaborate with the economic research team to begin writing publications. We will also continue training student Cordova, who will progress into graduate-level work during the next reporting period. Cordova will present the results of the pilot at the University of Idaho Innovation Showcase, which is a student research competition held each year to provide presentation practice opportunity. Rumel will advance objetive 4 and 5. Hewill communicate with individuals administering other aspects of the grant (and, if appropriate, members of the grant advisory board) to identify training topics and communities that would be candidates for delivery of the training. Once that work has been completed, College of Law students will research the topic(s), prepare materials on it/them, and deliver the training in the communities identified. The extension team (Lindstrom, Greenway, Hansen, and Vega)plan on conducting multiple events both in youth financial literacy and entrepreneurship that will focus on reaching Latino teens in Southern Idaho. Theyplan on continuing and making multiple connections with local organizations and non-profits to help themreach a larger audience. Theyare planning on hiring a program coordinator to help them broaden theirreach and teach programs. Theycurrently have youth entrepreneurship and financial literacy day camps scheduled with the UI Ada County 4-H program in June. Specifically, theywill be offering a six hour in-depth youth entrepreneurship and financial literacy program during the 2017 Idaho 4-H State Teen Association Convention in Moscow, Idaho June 27-28th. This year's Idaho 4-H State Teen Association Convention is anticipating a large underserved audience.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The economic reserach team (Lewin and Fisher) worked on objectives 1 and 2. Towards these objectives, the following four activities were undertaken. First, literature reviews were conducted to identify existing research on Hispanic entrepreneurship in the US. Second, we obtained secondary data from the American Community Survey (ACS). Third, the ACS data were analyzed using regression analysis. Fourth, two research papers were written based on the statistical results. The two papers have been submitted to peer-reviewed journals. Below we briefly summarize the results of these two studies in relation to Objective 1 and Objective 2. Objective 1: Key research findings of the paper "Push and Pull Factors and Hispanic Self-Employment in the US" Hispanic entrepreneurship has grown tremendously in recent years and has far outpaced entrepreneurial growth among non-Hispanic whites. For example, between 2007 and 2012 the growth rate of Hispanic-owned businesses was 46.3%, while the corresponding figure for non-Hispanics was -0.2% (according to data from the Survey of Business Owners). Using data for 2015 from the American Community Survey, we identify some of the main pull, push, and other factors associated with self-employment participation among Hispanics in the US. One reason some Latinos are pulled into self-employment because they can earn more working for themselves than in wage/salary work. Latinos with higher education and English language proficiency are also "pulled" into self-employment. The main factors that push Latinos into self-employment are immigrant status (i.e. compared with non-immigrants, immigrants earn less in wage/salary work and are more likely to be self-employed), residence in an area with a high unemployment rate, and residence in an area with a high concentration of workers in the Other Services sector. Other key findings are that workers of Mexican origin earn less in both the wage sector and in self-employment and are less likely to be self-employed and financial capital increases self-employment probability. Key research findings of the paper "Profitable Entrepreneurship or Marginal Self-Employment: The Bimodality of Latina Self-Employment in the US" This study uses data for 2010-2014 from the American Community Survey to examine the participation and success of Hispanic women in non-professional and professional self-employment. Professional businesswomen accounted for 19% of the Latina self-employed over the study period and had average annual earnings of $53,127. The corresponding figure for Latina non-professional businesswomen was $18,822. Regression results reveal that, compared with non-professional businesswomen, the professional self-employed are more likely to be married, non-immigrants, fluent in English, and homeowners. Professional businesswomen have fewer children, higher educational attainment, and live in neighborhoods with lower ratios of Hispanics to non-Hispanic whites. Objective 2: The research results described above suggest that some of the main barriers to Hispanic entrepreneurism (i.e. low human and financial capital, lack of English proficiency, and non-citizen status) can be addressed through the following programs: First, a variety of educational programs may be warranted: youth programs that work closely with Hispanic students, parents, teachers, and school administrators to reduce the Hispanic high-school dropout rate; programs focused on increasing Hispanic college graduation rates; and programs improving access to post-graduate business management and leadership programs at universities and community colleges. For Hispanic immigrants, in particular, English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, particularly those integrated with business skills development, should help foster business success. A second set of policies focus on financial capital. Hispanic-serving organizations engaged in micro-credit, financial outreach education, and business planning have important roles to play. Specific start-up programs targeted to Hispanics, especially those with limited human and financial resources, could increase Hispanic participation in self-employment and their success as entrepreneurs. Furthermore, raising awareness about non-traditional lenders is important since many Hispanic entrepreneurs do not know they exist. A third set of policies is based on our findings related to citizenship status. Self-employed Hispanic immigrants should benefit greatly from citizenship classes and legal assistance with the naturalization process and employment discrimination. The sociological research team (Newman, Deringer, Tsao, and Schmiege) started working on objectives 1, 2 and 3. They conducted a pilot study in Fall 2016 in preparation for the in-depth, intensive data collection that will begin Summer 2017. The pilot study also provided training and research experience for the undergraduate student (Cordova) who will work on this project as part of her Master's thesis. The pilot involved two focus groups involving Hispanic University of Idaho students with experience in family businesses and four semi-structured interviews with Hispanic women business owners based in southern Idaho. Preliminary results suggest traditional gender roles have a significant influence on the success and experience of Hispanic women business owners. The results of the pilot have informed the development of the interview guides we will use in upcoming data collection, for example, we have expanded our guides to explore the role of social networks and the different experiences of women with professional and non-professional type businesses. Regarding objective 4 and 6, College of Law students, under the supervision of Rumel, delivered a "Know Your Rights" training to Hispanic adults in Aberdeen, Idaho in late-February 2016 outside the auspices of this grant. They have taken the experience and materials from that training and intend to deliver trainings to Hispanic adults in other Idaho rural communities with content and materials concerning civic involvement and entrepreneurism. The extension team (Lindstrom, Greenway, Hansen, and Vega) started working on objective 5. During this reporting period, they adapted the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's youth entrepreneurial curriculum (Discover the E-Scene) to fit the needs of Idaho's Latino youth population. This included beginning to connect the Northwest Youth Financial Education Program to the entrepreneurism curriculum.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Fisher, M. & Lewin, P. Push and Pull Factors and Hispanic Self-Employment in the US
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Fisher, M. & Lewin, P. Profitable Entrepreneurship or Marginal Self-Employment: The Bimodality of Latina Self-Employment in the US