Ferral Aims to Bridge Gaps and Break Down Barriers
business, community housing development corporation of mooresville/south iredell, mooresville, nydia ferral realty,
As a business owner and community leader, Nydia Ferral knows the importance of understanding what’s going on in the workplace. And as a native Puerto Rican, she also understands just how hard that can be when English isn’t your primary language.
In an effort to bridge that gap, Ferral ensures that the Community Housing Development Corporation of Mooresville/South Iredell, where she is the executive director, offers bilingual services whenever possible. That also goes for Nydia Ferral Realty, which she owns and operates with her husband, Charlie.
When she became the CHDCMSI’s executive director five years ago, operating in two languages was very much on her to-do list, Ferral says, if only because of her own experiences.
“Everybody speaks either Spanish or English, but usually not both,” she says. “Because I was born in Puerto Rico, Spanish is my first language. That makes it easy for me to offer services to the community, and we have a group of people here who really need our services.”
While many of the agency’s clients may be bilingual, their grasp of English is so tenuous that they don’t often pick up the finer points of housing issues, as well as their rights in some situations.
“Spanish is easier for them to speak, and they don’t get as confused,” Ferral says. “When you’re talking about money and contracts, investments, buying a home – that’s really important. I want to make sure that they understand everything that we are telling them, and that we understand everything they are telling us.”
The agency is seeing more Spanish-speaking clients than ever before, although its numbers haven’t risen to the level of larger cities like Charlotte just yet. Still, Ferral knows that’s coming, and she wants to be ready.
“The Spanish-speaking community is growing here, and there are some companies that are starting to offer bilingual services,” she says. “Not a lot yet, but the need is there and I think we’ll see that growing.”
View Related Video
Story by Joe Morris
