VIDA Executive Director Ignores Our Request for Detail on the Program Results in Brownsville

On the streets and sidewalks of Nuevo Progreso are runners who represent businesses offering various services. Do you need your teeth cleaned or a cavity filled? They know a dentist who is the

"best" and "cheapest" and will lead you to his door. Do you need a prescription refilled? They will walk you past a dozen farmacias to the "Number One" in town. Do you NEED the runner? Not really. You could find your own dentist, druggist or other entrepreneur. The runner merely links the potential customer with a service provider.

Charities like V.I.D.A.(an acronym for Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement) do not so much fill a need as create a niche for themselves.  Everything V.I.D.A. does simply duplicates what public assistance, the Texas Workforce and educational institutions should be doing.  Helping people on welfare or other programs get jobs is what the aforementioned institutions SHOULD be doing.  

If V.I.D.A. does what they claim to do they are likely a bargain.  While the organization is asking

Myra Caridad Garcia

Brownsville taxpayers for just $302,000 this year to facilitate Brownsville welfare recipients to get jobs, they claim in the last year to have moved 43 off of welfare  into jobs with an average salary of $35,000 per year.  That income level exceeds the average wage in the City of Brownsville and money earned by many UTB graduates, let alone GED recipients just off public assistance working their way toward an Associate Degree.  We emailed Executive Director Myra Caridad Garcia for more details, but she chose not to respond.  Here is our request:

Ms. Garcia,

The rep for V.I.D.A. shared some of your group's successes at the recent GBIC board meeting. He mentioned 43 graduates from the Brownsville program in the fiscal year, now finding jobs with income averaging $35,000 per year. 
Would it be possible to get more detail on this? What companies in Brownsville are employing these people? What is the salary range for low to high? How many salaried personnel does V.I.D.A. employ? How many volunteers, if any?

Thanks,

Jim Barton

Executive Director Myra Caridad Garcia did not respond to our request via email and, of course she has no obligation to do so. According to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot, Texas law does not require most charities to respond to our requests for information or even to register:
"Under Texas law, most charities or non-profit organizations are not required to register with the State. Exceptions exist, however, for organizations that solicit for law enforcement, public safety or veterans causes. . . . . . . "
The information V.I.D.A provides about its successes does not face the requirements of an independent audit or verification. Notice, the explanation from the AG website:
"The financial information presented in this list has been compiled from the registration statements and attachments filed by the organizations. This information has not been independently verified or audited by the Office of the Attorney General, but rather represents self-reported figures by the organization."

V.I.D.A. staff after receiving grant

What V.I.D.A. does extremely well is market itself. There has been a V.I.D.A. presence at every meeting of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation we have monitored, either requesting funds or thanking the Brownsville taxpayer supported entities for their financial report. Questions from board members are answered in a general way, parroting the kind of economic development lingo the board favors, but specifics are few are far between.

The City of Harlingen chose not to fund V.I.D.A. this year despite the group's claim that they had taken 93 Harlingen residents off public assistance and into jobs averaging, yes, $35,000 per year.

Brownsville Godfather Carlos Marin

According to a Better Business Bureau report V.I.D.A.'s total income for 2012 was $4,175,516.  Executive Director Myra Caridad Garcia's salary was $124,467.  Prominent on the Board of Director's is Matamoros millionaire Carlos Marin, who doubles as Brownsville's godfather and Mayor Tony Martinez's mentor and overseer.  Marin's engineering company Ambiotec produced the million dollar handbook for the United Brownsville scam taxpayers pay dearly for each year.  Carlos Marin's wife, Dr. Elena L. Marin, reported to be tiring of her husband's obsession with Brownsville politics, is CEO of Su Clinica Familiar on Alton Gloor Blvd. in Brownsville.