Syl Flores Jr. and Heather Flores from Future Without Poverty (FWOP) have begun their work in helping to reduce poverty in the Eastern Kentucky Appalachia region. The duo moved into their new West Liberty, Kentucky home in late May and will live there until the end of June. Their early reports state that the region is full of nature’s beauty and welcoming people with a pride rarely found in many places. 

In an ABC 20/20 news special shown earlier this year titled Children of the Mountains Struggle to Survive, Diane Sawyer reported that roughly forty percent of Appalachia’s population still lives in poverty. Thus, like in many other places worldwide, the pains of poverty are still felt in places of spectacular natural beauty.

The purpose of Syl Jr.’s and Heather’s work in this region is to gain and build the community’s trust while receiving valuable input towards helping the proud people of Eastern Kentucky have a Future Without Poverty. FWOP is fortunate to be working closely with Morehead State University’s Regional Enterprise Center (MSUREC) and with Kentucky’s Majority Whip, State Representative John Will Stacy, in this initiative.

Upon reviewing Syl Jr.’s and Heather’s findings, FWOP’s grant writing team will work to submit joint proposals between FWOP and the MSUREC. The ultimate goal is to obtain funding to bring much needed economic development to the region. While the region is doing better than it was during Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 “poverty tour”, unfortunately, it still has a long way to go. FWOP hopes that with our combined efforts, the path out of poverty for some will be made easier. Updates will be posted to the FWOP website as developments occur.

In an interview with Maryanne Zeleznik on WVXU, Syl Flores discusses his experiences growing up in poverty as a migrant worker and how this inspired him to give people everywhere an opportunity to have a future without poverty. He also describes the Future Without Poverty conference on “Breaking the Myth of No Effect”.

Listen to this interview here.

Miguel Juanez and four other business students from the University of North Texas prepared a business plan for chicken and fish farm businesses in Mexico. Implementation of this plan may occur in 2009 as a continuations of a chicken and fish farm pilot project in Flor del Campo, Jalisco, Mexico started in 2007. Such businesses may be used as environmentally friendly and sustainable enterprises for remotely located impoversihed villages.

The University of North Texas and Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico) sponsored an International conference titled “Global Aspects of Aging Conference in Guadalajara”. Over 350 participants from around the world participated in this event and learned about Future Without Poverty. Plans for Future Without Poverty activities in 2009 were also discussed.

About 40 volunteers from the Methodist Church in Virginia worked with Future Without Poverty’s Tom Benjamin and Eduardo “Pato” Contreras to install a bath house in the village of San Martin. This bath house provides the village with two toilets , two showers, and a clothes wash room. A septic system will also be installed to receive the waste from the toilets. Eduardo Contrearas, working with Miguel Juanez (from the University of North Texas Future Without Poverty Student Group) and a group from San Martin, also installed a second Bath House in the village of Flor del Campo.

The Denton, TX Rotary Club, District Rotary, Rotary Clubs of Guadalajara – Pointe and Rotary International donated  $14,100 to make this project possible . The Methodist Church of Virginia donated $40,000 in supplies and travel costs to further expand the project. These expansions include a new room which was built onto one household and the installation of a solar panel system in San Martin to replace the aging gasoline generator Future Without Poverty installed in 2003. The eight households of people who had lived in San Martin for twenty five years as squatters have now have been given land rights to the land where they live by the landowners.

Nine students and three faculty from the Haskell Indian Nation University, along with six students from the University of North Texas, installed solar power systems in three rural schools in Zacatecas, Mexico. Each solar system made use of a 52W solar panel. One system was installed in a remote school with 12 students (aged six to fourteen) and a single teacher in Yerba Buena. This system is able to create enough power to run a new computer and a few lights. At a middle school, another system was installed that provides enough power to operate a television, two computers, and some lights. The third system was installed at a kindegarten and is used to power lights and a cassette player.

Field Schools from Northern Kentucky University (NKU) travelled to Zacatecas, Mexico March 2 – March 15. The focus of the field schools were on educational issues and poverty reduction. Future Without Poverty worked with NKU to coordinate lodging and transportation.

Thirty students and faculty from the University of North Texas, St. Louis Christian College, and Haskell Indian Nation spent two days discussing environmental, educational, empowerment, and new enterprise programs while sharing songs, stories, poetry, music, and future plans for making the world better.