By 2050, it’s projected all minorities combined will represent more than 50 percent of the U.S. population, and as the United States moves closer to becoming a minority-majority nation, the growing Hispanic population is increasingly becoming a major power player in the new economy.

The nation is currently in the midst of a Hispanic population boom. According to census data, more than half the country’s population growth between 2000 and 2010 resulted from an increase in the Hispanic population, which grew 43 percent over the last decade. The non-Hispanic population, meanwhile, continues to grow at a much slower rate.

And while major corporations expand their markets to accommodate that shift, municipalities are busy realigning their economic development strategies, and Memphis and its surrounding cities are no exception.

Lisa Maples, executive chair of the Memphis chapter of the National Hispanic Professionals Organization, said about 40 percent of her organization’s membership – which includes Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, as well as several legislators – is non-Hispanic.

“There are non-Hispanics who want to get involved because they’re looking for that cultural training and involvement,” said Maples, a native Texan whose mother emigrated from Mexico.

Founded in 2009, NHPO Memphis is a nonprofit, membership-based organization offering networking events, educational seminars and professional development training to foster and promote self-improvement, professional advancement and personal achievement. Its membership base includes everyone from accountants and attorneys to physicians and engineers.

“You don’t have to be of a certain discipline to belong,” Maples said. “If you want to improve yourself and be a better community leader, better spouse, better friend or better employee – that’s our mission. That’s what makes us different than any other organization because everything we offer is for the improvement of an individual. If you can improve yourself, you’re going to be an overall better contributor to the community as a whole.”

Member Gilda Bollwerk, a native of Argentina who works as a paralegal with Memphis immigration law firm Siskind Susser, where she focuses on naturalization and family immigration issues, said she’s proud not only to be part of the NHPO, but of the way the organization has been received by the larger Memphis community.

“It’s surprising how many Americans are members of this organization,” said Bollwerk, who’s licensed as an attorney in Argentina and contributes regularly to a column in La Prensa Latina, a popular, weekly Spanish-language newspaper distributed in Memphis.

“They really embrace us and I think they appreciate hard work, honesty and persistence. It’s not easy to come to the U.S. or to be born here when your family is from far away. The American business community has really embraced us and supported our goals and our personal and professional achievements and what we contribute to the Memphis community.”

NHPO is currently gearing up for its Second Annual Memphis Latino Leadership Awards, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Hilton Memphis. In addition to Hilton, the event has attracted such big name sponsors as FedEx, State Farm Insurance and the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Middle Tennessee-based organization dedicated to creating business opportunities for Hispanics while opening new markets for non-Hispanic businesses to engage with the Hispanic community.

NHPO’s inaugural awards last year included a keynote address delivered by Anna Escobedo Cabral, the 42nd treasurer of the United States and a second-generation Mexican-American, who at one time was the highest-ranking Latina in George W. Bush’s administration.

Last year’s award recipients included Diana Villa of the Binghampton Development Corp., Rebekah Ray and Jennifer Pike of the Exchange Club Family Center, and Espi Ralston, a medical interpreter at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital who teaches at the University of Memphis School of Public Health. In addition to honoring outstanding professional Hispanic role models in the community, the awards gala raised funds to establish the NHPO Future Latino Leaders Scholarship Fund, whose cash awards will be distributed this month to local students.

“Many of us who are Latino professionals have had the opportunity to network and have a mentor to help us get to where we are,” Maples said. “Part of our self-improvement is to mentor these up-and-coming leaders.”

NHPO Memphis members participate in paired mentoring with local Hispanic high school and college students. On the day before this year’s Memphis Latino Leadership Awards gala, the organization will host 100 students to pair them with NHPO members involved in sectors in which the students have expressed interest.

“Their role is going to be to shape tomorrow,” Maples said. “That’s powerful, when you see how many Latinos we have and how many of them are in the 18 to 24 age group here in Memphis and in the U.S. as a whole. These kids are going to be voting, and we want to make sure they’re educated. And this is the job pool we’re going to be choosing from, so we want to make sure we have good quality candidates here.”

Maples also said that the Memphis Metropolitan area may have the upper hand when it comes to Latinos with greater economic power and stronger social influence.

“When you consider Memphis and Nashville, most people think Latinos are doing a little bit better in Nashville,” she said. “But our numbers here, according to the latest census, show that the Latinos here are more highly educated and more likely to be in a professional arena than in Nashville or other areas of Tennessee.”

She said she believes the main reason for the difference is that Hispanics in other parts of Tennessee are more likely to be new immigrants, whereas many in Shelby County are second and third generation, and thus more established.

Anna Kelly, executive chair of the Memphis Hispanic Chamber, is a California native and second-generation Mexican-American who’s lived in Memphis for 10 years.

Kelly, a real estate investor who owns a property management company, said Memphis is a thriving city for Hispanic business owners.

“As a Hispanic, I don’t see any challenges; it’s actually a benefit,” Kelly said. “I myself am a Hispanic business owner, a Mexican-American, and I can tell you personally that doing business here in Memphis has been phenomenal for me and for my company. They’re embracing Hispanic businesses. The door is wide open. There are a lot of people who are willing to help, from the mayor down.”

Kelly’s organization deals mostly with small-business owners such as contractors, painters, restaurateurs and salon owners.

“Our main goal, like any other chamber, is to help Hispanic businesses grow in any way we can,” she said. “We help them get their business plans together and help them network with other individuals through luncheons, seminars and mixers.”

MHC works with everyone from the Memphis Minority Business Council to the Greater Memphis Chamber to Latino Memphis, a nonprofit advocacy organization and probably the city’s most well-known Hispanic organization.

Latino Memphis executive director Mauricio Calvo said estimates of the Memphis Metropolitan area’s Hispanic population range from 50,000 conservatively to well over 100,000 – which he believes is a more realistic number.

And many Memphis-area Hispanics, he said, are small-business owners.

“Immigrants in general, and Latinos are no exception, tend to be very entrepreneurial,” he said. “That’s just what we do – start small businesses.”

Calvo said 20 years ago, landscaping and construction were the main industries in which local Hispanic business owners were involved, but that has changed dramatically.

“As the community has grown, you’ll see that if you pick up a copy of one of the Spanish language newspapers, you’re going to find beauty salons, insurance agents, attorneys and all these things that are not only Latino-owned, but non-Latino businesses targeting Latinos because we are here contributing to the economy, creating jobs and spending money,” said Calvo, a native of Mexico City who came to Memphis in 1993 to study at Christian Brothers University.

He said that while it’s important to recognize the growing numbers of Hispanic professionals who work at companies such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, International Paper Co., FedEx Corp. and Medtronic Inc., Memphians should also be aware of the numerous Hispanic restaurants and other small businesses that have moved into formerly vacant spaces, helping breathe life into once-deteriorating neighborhoods.

“There are buildings that, maybe years ago, had a major retailer and now they’re sitting empty, and now you may see a taqueria there,” he said, adding that he believes Mexican restaurants now outnumber barbecue joints in the city. “And that tends to bring neighborhoods back, and I think that’s wonderful in this economy.”

Like Maples, Calvo said local government leaders recognize the growing influence as well as the economic and cultural value associated with engaging the Hispanic community.

“Mayor Wharton and Mayor Luttrell always want to reach out and include us,” Calvo said. “Both mayors have made every effort to bring Latinos to the table every time there’s something going on.”

The Greater Memphis Chamber is also working to engage Latino talent, something that could play a vital role in the city’s continued trading relationship with Mexico, which is Memphis’ second largest trading partner.

According to the Chamber, in 2008, Memphis exported $1.1 billion worth of goods to Mexico, everything from medical devices and biomedical equipment to telecommunications equipment, paper and agricultural crops. And last summer, Wharton traveled to Mexico with a group of local business executives to begin talks on broadening the economic development partnership.

“We want to support the Hispanic community in any way we can because the more cultural diversity you have, the more attractive it is to businesses,” said Mike Demster, vice president of International Business Development for the Greater Memphis Chamber. “Your ability to have a work force that speaks the language and understands the cultural difference – which we have here – is a real positive.”