ESCONDIDO - Recruiting Latino business owners has long been a struggle for the Escondido Chamber of Commerce, but chamber officials expressed optimism Tuesday about a new effort to attract skeptical Latino merchants to the chamber.

Because of cultural differences, Latino merchants can feel intimidated or marginalized at traditional chamber events, chamber officials said. So they decided this fall to establish a special Latino Business Committee, which brings together prospective Latino members with Latino merchants who are already chamber members.

"There are a lot of Latino businessmen and women who are just waiting to get involved in the local business community," said Alfredo Velasco, executive director of the Palomar Family YMCA. "This is really an awareness campaign aimed at them. Latino businesses are a large part of our community, but they are not a big part of the chamber."

The chamber has about 850 member businesses, but only 50 to 60 of those are Latino-owned, Velasco said.

Chamber officials said they are unsure how many local businesses are Latino-owned. But with Escondido's population being nearly 45 percent Latino, they said, it is safe to say that only a small percentage of Latino-owned business are chamber members.

"We've tried for years to get more Latino businesses into the chamber, but when they come to our mixers they don't know anybody there," said Harvey Mitchell, chief executive of the chamber. "We want to help them grow their businesses and form partnerships with all of the chamber's members."

More than a dozen Latino merchants, including some current members of the chamber and some prospective members, expressed enthusiasm about the potential of the committee during its third official meeting on Tuesday morning. But they stressed that the committee should not be viewed as something separate from the chamber.

"We are trying to integrate Latino businesses into the chamber, not create a separate group," said Rosa Ruiz, a local real estate agent. "The goal is to get everyone involved in the business community, regardless of ethnicity. The Latino businesses can't survive by ourselves."

Bill de la Fuente, the leader of a Spanish-language business association in Escondido, said Tuesday that he has no problem with the chamber's new Latino merchant committee.

"I like to think of our group as a grass-roots effort that is more proactive in the community than the chamber," said de la Fuente, who created Comerciantes Latinos Asociados eight years ago. "We have different roles, so what they are doing is fine."

For example, he said his group plans fundraisers that provide computers for poor youngsters, and works closely with local public school programs aimed at increasing the number of students who attend college.

The main reason the Escondido chamber has struggled to recruit Latinos is the chamber's track record of endorsing political candidates who have alienated the Latino community, said de la Fuente. The chamber endorsed incumbents on the Escondido City Council in 2006, even though they approved a ban on rentals to illegal immigrants, he said.

Mitchell said the chamber focuses on helping businesses make as much money as possible and endorses candidates based on that criterion, not social issues.

Tuesday's meeting included a brainstorming session on recruiting, during which merchants urged each other to bring at least one other business owner to the next meeting.

"If we don't grow, there really isn't any point," said Deanna Smith, who owns a direct marketing business.

Smith served as Tuesday's inspirational speaker, describing her struggles as a third-generation Latino businesswoman. She credited the chamber with part of her success, and encouraged her fellow Latino merchants to become members.

"When you first go to chamber events, you feel like you don't even exist," said Smith. "But be patient and it will come. And membership in the chamber has led me to other groups, such as Rotary and the Children's Museum."

The new committee is modeled after a similar group created by the Vista Chamber of Commerce last year.

"Latinos make up 40 percent of Vista's population, so we thought we couldn't ignore that portion of our population," said Jim Baumann, chief executive of the Vista chamber.

Baumann said he hasn't seen a huge surge in Latino membership so far. But he said the committee has been recruiting at community events, such as street fairs, where they hand out bilingual materials.

- Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 740-5468 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.