Well-off U.S. migrants asked to assist in poor areas' development

BY ALFREDO CORCHADO and RICARDO SANDOVAL / The Dallas Morning News

Eduardo Nájera, a selfless scrambler on the basketball court, is an emerging hero for Dallas Mavericks fans.

Back home, a frayed neighborhood in the Mexican city of Chihuahua, Mr. Nájera is already a big-time hero. But it is not for his rebounding ability. Mr. Nájera is
among the high-profile Mexicans living in the United States involved in a program that's donated millions of dollars for small-scale development projects for poor
Mexicans.

Mr. Nájera has promised to raise at least $500,000 through a series of celebrity basketball games and then monitor construction of recreation centers and the
distribution of school scholarships.

It's part of an ambitious plan by Mexican President Vicente Fox to spark economic development programs in the poorest of Mexican communities. His goal is to tap
the growing wealth of Mexicans who've achieved financial success in the United States.

"Eduardo is conscious about doing something to help his homeland, even from Dallas, to help create opportunities for kids here in Mexico," said Roberto González
Narozny, Mr. Nájera's business manager.

The so-called Padrino – godfather – project, also called "Adopt a Community," has captured the attention of U.S. officials and development officials from other
countries. They see the program as an alternative to the traditional and, often unsuccessful, approach of pouring money into central governments and banks in poor
countries with the hope that some jobs might result.

"Mexicans living in the United States are turning the opportunities to invest the money they send home into long-term economic development projects," said Alan
Larson, U.S. undersecretary of state for economic, business and agricultural affairs. "These projects could be strengthened by technical assistance, small business
loans and an expansion of government grants to match migrant remittances."

U.S.-Mexican agreement

Economics adviser Eduardo Sojo and Juan Hernández, director of the Presidential Office for Mexicans Abroad, designed Mr. Fox's plan. It has proven so popular
in its early stages that the United States and Mexico have signed an agreement – "Partners in Prosperity" – modeled on the idea of direct aid to local development
projects.

The plan is getting attention this week in Monterrey, Mexico, where hundreds of government and development officials are gathered for an international forum on aid
to developing nations.

Expanding the development project – which some proponents have described as every bit as important as the migration talks between Mexico and the United States
– is also on the agenda of talks this week between Mr. Fox and President Bush.

Mr. Fox is attempting to build on a successful program he backed while governor of the central Mexican state of Guanajuato. Under that program, migrants' money
was pooled and invested, along with matching funds from the state, to establish small businesses. The jobs created by new businesses were intended in large part to
keep young people and women from migrating.

Each year Mexican migrants in the United States send home billions of dollars.

The 2001 total was at least $9.3 billion, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. Remittances are the third-most important source of foreign income in
Mexico, behind exports of manufactured goods and oil.

In nudging Mexicans in the United States to invest in poor communities, Mr. Fox is also mining a long-dormant desire by well-heeled migrants to help their native
country.

"It's still about that special feeling you have for your homeland. It's about giving back and showing we believe in a better Mexico," said Iris Corral. Ms. Corral
migrated from Michoacán in western Mexico and is now spokeswoman for Promotores Unidos, a Los Angeles-based group of entertainment industry promoters
who represent some of the top names in norteño music.

Led by Los Tigres del Norte, perhaps the most popular of Mexican norteño groups, Promotores Unidos has adopted the destitute village of Ichique Balleza in
Mexico's southern state of Chiapas. It is the country's poorest region and increasingly a producer of northbound migrants. The first project is a series of new schools.

$50 million pledged

So far, 114 people and companies, which include large U.S. corporations, have signed on as Padrinos, said Mr. Hernández, a former professor at the University of
Texas at Dallas. They've pledged almost $50 million for job projects and community development. The Mexican government will match some of that money.

Eventually that money will be funneled to some 90 regions identified as the poorest and the heaviest exporters of U.S.-bound workers.

The typical projects fall into two categories: direct aid to communities for infrastructure, and grants or in-kind services for specific economic development plans.

Juan Francisco Ochoa falls into the first group. The founder of the El Pollo Loco fast-food chain said that for years he's been eager to help poor Mexicans but could
find no government official able to tell him how to invest.

"Everywhere I go in the United States, I find people like Mr. Ochoa who were ready to help, but didn't know how, or never felt appreciated by the Mexican
government," Mr. Hernández said.

Mr. Ochoa has put up $50,000 to bring electricity to the small town of Juxtlahuaca, high in the mountains of Oaxaca state. He's never been there, but thought it was a
good place to start what he hopes will be a long-term plan of finding needy Mexican communities to assist.

"My goal is then to find migrants in the United States from the towns I help, and push them toward taking more responsibility for creating jobs back home, so fewer
of their families will try to make the dangerous migration journey," Mr. Ochoa said.

Carlos Olamendi, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur, fits in the second category. He used his marketing skills to help a coffee growers' cooperative in Chiapas state
overcome a disastrous world coffee market. Prices for the cooperative's organic coffee had fallen from $1.20 a bag to as low as 60 cents in recent years.

But through an aggressive marketing campaign in the United States designed by Mr. Olamendi, the cooperative's "Mayan Magic" brand has taken off and now
commands about $2.50 a bag.

"They had no idea how to increase the value of the fine coffee they were growing. All it took was some marketing," said Mr. Olamendi, a native of Mexico City.
"This is the best way I can help. Instead of money, I've put my valuable time and experience to work helping my native country. I hope it is an example for others."

The adopt-a-community project is attractive, supporters say, because it offers an alternative way of using aid money, which was often squandered in the past by
corrupt and inefficient governments.

That's the nub of the emerging debate among representatives of developed nations. Many have argued for increases in direct financial aid to developing nations, while
others, like the Bush administration, are looking for alternatives.

Effect on migration

In Mexico, targeting poor villages may someday slow migration to the United States, officials say.

But some migration experts say that U.S. and Mexican officials are overly optimistic. They doubt that Partners in Prosperity will add enough jobs to stem the massive
annual flow of migrants in search of work north of the border.

"If they believe we can stop migration by creating a few low-paying jobs in small towns, they will be disappointed," said Primitivo Rodríguez, a migration expert with
the government of Mexico City. "The wage gap between the United States and Mexico is too great. That's why people migrate. Until the wage gap is narrowed,
people who want to go will go, regardless of the number of low-paying factory jobs in their hometown."

Despite his doubts, Mr. Rodríguez is sure that plans like Mr. Fox's are headed in the right direction.

Ultimately, the efforts will be considered successful, Mr. Rodríguez said, even if they simply provide jobs to the wives and children of migrants – people who can be
kept from attempting to join their spouses in the United States.

"As a first step it is a good one, and it is a good way of channeling the billions of dollars that today are underutilized as a source of investment for economic
development," Mr. Rodríguez said.

Alfredo Corchado reported from Dallas and Washington, and Ricardo Sandoval reported from Mexico City and Tijuana, Mexico.