V.I.D.A., The Unresponsive, Unaccountable RGV Charity, With A Carlos Marin Connection

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE COMES FROM THE BROWNSVILLE BLOG CALLED "MEAN MISTER BROWNSVILLE" BY PUBLISHER JIM BARTON ( http://www.meanmisterbrownsville.blogspot.com )

What would you think if a former welfare/food stamp recipient in Brownsville, possessing merely a G.E.D.'s worth of education was now off welfare, gainfully employed at a salary of $35,000 per year? Impressive, huh? Well, are you sitting down? V.I.D.A, an acronym for Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, claims to have accomplished that feat with 43 Brownsville residents, who the group claims are not only employed in a "well-paying" job, at an "average" salary of $35,000 per year," but "on track" for an Associate Degree.

We were at a board meeting of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation a couple months ago when this claim was made. When a GBIC board member asked the V.I.D.A. representative what fields these jobs were in, the answer was "mainly technology, but also nursing." When pressed for specific companies hiring, the representative said he would have to get back to the board on that. That response may have satisfied the GBIC board, who authorized a $302,000 stipend to V.I.D.A. without a whimper, but it did not satisfy us. 

MYRA CARIDAD GARCIA

We wrote Myra Caridad Garcia, the Chief Executive Officer for V.I.D.A., seeking more information:

Dear Ms. Garcia,

The representative 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?

Jim Barton

We did not receive a response, but we did find more information about V.I.D.A. on our own. This MMB report published October 10, 2013 contained these findings:

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 . . . . is CEO of Su Clinica Familiar on Alton Gloor Blvd. in Brownsville.

CARLOS MARIN

If you think the mention of Carlos Marin on the V.I.D.A. board is merely conspiratorial thinking, consider the symbiotic relationship between the 4A and 4B tax receiving entities, the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation and the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation. Each 1/4 cent of each tax eligible retail dollar spent in Brownsville, millions of dollars. 4A goes for pure economic development projects, while 4B is allotted for "quality of life" concepts. Marin has a powerful influence on each board (Just last month, it was reported, Marin tried to infiltrate the GBIC with Oscar Garcia as a consultant with a view to his eventual ascendance to chairman), with BCIC Chair Rose Gowen, an employee of the Marin's Su Clinica Familiar. 

What intrigued us is that, despite the fact that V.I.D.A.'s report to the Harlingen Economic Development Corporation conveniently echoed the presentation made to the GBIC (Actually, V.I.D.A. claimed to have removed 93 off the welfare rolls in Harlingen, but to jobs paying, on average, the same $35,000 per year their efforts achieved in Brownsville.) Does it strike anyone else as odd that two very different cities with different groups of people involved achieve EXACTLY the same results?  Evidently, Harlingen's EDC and City Commission were not unduly impressed as they cancelled funding for the "charity."