Connecting Our Latino Communities
Learn how one UScellular store manager is connecting the Latino community to what matters most
UScellular store manager Roy Badillo is passionate about creating connections for the underserved Latino community in Wilmington, North Carolina. He networks with local nonprofits, business owners and individuals to help Latinos build relationships with each other, share resources and, most importantly, feel welcome and included.
Roy’s passion for helping others stems from his experience as an exchange student who moved to the United States at the age of 15. He credits his host family, the Dawsons, for welcoming him with care and treating him like one of their own while he pursued his studies. “I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given, and I feel like I’m in a great place to give back,” Roy shared. “I feel very blessed to work for a company that really cares about its local communities.”
Wilmington has a growing Latino population, many of whom own businesses and work in construction, manufacturing, and food service industries. Just outside the city, Latino seasonal farmworkers tend to the local crops throughout the year. The farmworkers rarely visit town and often need help obtaining essential goods and services, which is where Roy’s efforts have proved invaluable.
Roy supports local nonprofit Salud Sin Fronteras (Health Without Borders), an organization dedicated to providing health screenings, hygiene kits, mental health support, referrals, and legal aid to the Latino community. He volunteers with the organization to support their wireless connectivity needs while also activating prepaid wireless service for seasonal farmworkers.
Salud Sin Fronteras participates in UScellular’s After School Access Project, which helps bring access to reliable internet through the donation of hotspots and service to youth-serving nonprofits in the company’s markets. To date, Salud Sin Fronteras has received 375 hotspots, providing much needed connectivity to youth in the underserved Latino community in Wilmington.
Roy also dedicates his time to supporting the Latino Alliance at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and the Latin American Business Council in the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, while offering translation services at church to help Latinos feel included in the community. “We all want to be helped by someone who can relate to us. It feels nice to be understood,” Roy added. “At the end of the day, it’s about opening a door and welcoming people so we can connect them to what matters most.”