Still "Livin' La V.I.D.A. Loca" with the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation

From the Editor:  Since our article below dated November 29, 2013, requesting documentation for the grandiose, but unsupported claims of V.I.D.A, the acronym for Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, there have been several developments with V.I.D.A.  

No, they haven't come forward to prove their unsubstantiated claims used to siphon monies from numerous RGV entities including Brownsville's GBIC.  

First, their Director, Myra Caridad Garcia, quit the job.  

A month or so later the Harlingen Econonomic Development Corporation decided to stop funding V.I.D.A. despite claims that nearly twice as many had been removed from the welfare rolls into jobs "averaging $35,000 per year" as in Brownsville.  

Now, we learn, that at their August 21, 2014 meeting, the San Benito Economic Development Corporation has declined to fund V.I.D.A.  

At least those two EDC's in Northern Cameron County are protecting taxpayer assets.  

At this very moment, at their August 28, 2014 meeting, the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation is rubberstamping approval for a portion of the $300,000 committed annually to V.I.D.A., money down the proverbial rat hole.

Carlos Marin

There is a very simple reason why the GBIC is so irresponsible with taxpayer dollars:  Carlos Marin.

Marin is on the Board of Directors of V.I.D.A. Marin in on the Board of Directors of the Brownsville Economic Development Council. Marin controls the GBIC.

(Below is our article from November 29, 2013)

We know what job training is. We know what assistance includes, especially so-called public assistance as in welfare, food stamps and other

Former V.I.D.A. Director
Myra Caridad Garcia

help given to the needy, aged and homeless.

What V.I.D.A (an acronym for Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement) offers, according to the I.R.S. Form 990(Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax) is to provide "job training assistance." Job training assistance is neither job training, that is teaching the skills that make a person hireable, or any form of tangible assistance.

It involves, according to information provided by V.I.D.A., one hour of consultation per month with a V.I.D.A. counselor and a once a week group session with other V.I.D.A. trainees about what they're doing to find work and get off welfare.

One might assume that most of those bases were already covered by the Texas Workforce, our public schools and universities and the welfare system, but clever people find little niches where a charity can fit and promote itself and V.I.D.A. has done a great job doing just that. The first two GBIC meetings we attended, V.I.D.A. reps were there, either to kindly thank the Brownsville taxpayer entity for their generous stipend to their work or express in economic development code language how well their work was going. The GBIC gave the group $302,000 this year. To justify that kind of money, the V.I.D.A rep claimed more than once that, during the past calendar year, the group had assisted 43 Brownsville residents, who had been on welfare, into jobs paying "on average $35,000 per year. There was no documentation of this claim. One GBIC board member was curious as to what companies or types of companies were hiring these people at that rate. The answer was extremely vague, as in "mostly technology, but sometimes nursing."

The Harlingen City Commission chose to no longer fund V.I.D.A., based on a recommendation of the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation, despite the fact that V.I.D.A.'s claim of success in Harlingen was even grander than Brownsville's, 93 off welfare in one year, but at the same "average salary of $35,000." My email to Harlingen Mayor Tom Boswell for more detail was returned "undeliverable," so I was not able to get more detail on their reasoning.

Someone sent me a link to V.I.D.A.'s I.R.S. 990, which has some interesting numbers. V.I.D.A. received $4,175,516 in grants and contributions from cities in the Rio Grande Valley during 2011, $913,907 of which was spent on salaries, $124, 467 to Myra Caridad Garcia, the Executive Director. Despite the economic hard times and all the work V.I.D.A. does for us, they had $731,300 in the bank at the end of the year.

Eleven officers are listed including Carlos Marin as a director, which may explain the GBIC's unquestioned participation. In addition to nearly $1 million in salaries, $89,565 was spent on "management and expenses," $57,070 on "occupancy," $17,879 on "travel," $13,675 on "conferences, conventions and meetings," $40,207 on "in-kind expenses," and $10,961 spent on "non-cash raffle prizes."

While we wish to thank the anonymous commenter who sent us a copy of V.I.D.A.'s Form 990 return, we never got a response from Executive Director Myra Garcia with out request for more information about the program. Below is our request sent 10/9/13:

More detail on V.I.D.A.‏
Actions

Jim Barton

10/09/13
To: mgarcia@vidacareers.org




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