Has SVREP Managed Itself Into Insolvency?

It pains me to revisit the subject of Southwest Voter Registration Project (SVREP) but much remains in limbo and questions are being raised as to its viability. Many who have worked hard and supported SVREP these past months want to continue believing in the legacy of this iconoclastic institution but its silence breeds doubts and suspicion. SVREP continues to claim they are unable to pay some of its workers due to having insufficient funds.

When will SVREP President Antonio Gonzalez address the doubts and speculation? When can unpaid workers and supporters expect to hear from him as to why they haven't been paid for their work done in January? Better yet, when can these unpaid folks expect to hear as to WHEN they'll get paid?

As a close observer of SVREP, it doesn't look good. Its easy to look the other way and hope that the current administration will figure a way out. The question is, how? This isn't the first time either.

The last voter registration drive ended in early February along with its much touted Latino Congreso convention in El Paso and it seems this is when the folks at SVREP went immediately underground and reduced all communication to text messages and canned email responses. In hindsight, this may have been a bellwether as to where they are today - silent.

What happened to the 36th Annual Banquet - 2010 Latino Vote Banquet scheduled for earlier this month? This lavish banquet at a posh hotel is organized yearly in an effort to raise funds to keep SVREP afloat but June's event was unceremoniously postponed to sometime in August. Perhaps the SVREP websites conflicting event dates mirrored its shortcomings. The SVEP website reads the event was to be held "Thursday, June 11th" while the website to purchase tickets offered "June 10th" as the event date.

Will the July fund raising evert "Sabor Latino" actually take place and if so, will the fund raising be enough to bring SVREP out of its red sea of debt?

For the unpaid folks in El Paso, Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, hope for SVREP's solvency and their own is dimming fast.

I would think the legacy of Willie Velaquez and SVREP deserves much better.

The Envelope Please! Is SVREP Owing Up?

SVREP Mantra "Your Vote Is Your Voice"

On Saturday, my wife and I received our checks - cashier checks from Southwest Voter Education and Education Project - aka SVREP. We worked hard and fast during the January new voter registration drive. The goal was to get five hundred newly registered voters to sign up in time for them to participate in the March 2nd Texas primaries. That was the goal for over eighty folks across the state as well.

After the passing of the February 2nd registration deadline, communication out of SVREP went practically silent while everyone was expecting payment and closure. Eventually within a few weeks, a fury of emails by Lydia Camarillo Cohen offering to extend the services of most teams in lieu of payment for their continued hard work. The carrot in front of the donkey type business proposal masked to lower your expectations for compensation and have you feeling lucky when and if you ever you receive an arbitrary amount. It was the devil of caveats, the details and terms SVREP held close to their vest only to reveal them after the fact. And after logging hundreds of hours of time and tirelessly canvassing schools, churches, marches, public events and everyone you know. When the shock wore, electronic messaged distain was zapped back to SVREP following all these canned and impersonal terms that no one ever knew about.

Cashier's checks are slowly being released. A few in each community that hosts waiting teams of participants, where news travels fast that someone close to them just got paid and each think, pray, hope they will be next. Some have received their white double window envelope with a fleeting exuberance only to find out they were shorted by $300 with no explanation. "Register another 500 and we'll pay you for another team," said Lydia. "No, no, wrong" she later said. "We can't pay you twice, but we can offer you all a bonus...". In the end, the El Paso team were still short $300, short their promised bonus and left longing for a sense of gratitude and appreciation. To college students, $300 bucks is like winning lotteria. It's like three weeks pay from part-time work if you can find it and if you afford to deviate from the demands of a university and a full load.

What do you tell a team member who was laid off a month ago who anxiously stands by the mailman as he sorts the mail for her complex hoping, praying that she'll find some relief from mounting commitments? Who can understand that you're still waiting to be paid in May for work you did in January? Months of anxiety add years to the soul.

Were we lucky? We were shorted just $188. We assume we received less because we were 20 new voters short according to SVREP's adjusted and disqualifying process of counting. The logically and pragmatic guess is that SVREP pays for every newly registered voter signed up or who checked the NEW box on the state issued registration cards. Photocopies, we're told are closely scrutinized by the SVREP Field Administrator and thus a scorecard is issued using a formula challenged spreadsheet where the columns and the math make as much sense as a two-day training session with Lydia. If you were in South Texas, they were luck and only attended a training session that lasted an hour or two.

The press releases sent out touting 14,000 newly registered voters was never adjusted, at least not adjusted to reflect the scorecards bounced back at the teams. Some still got paid in full despite of being knocked down to 394 while others did reach their 500 goal but were shorted. One team turned in 32 new voter cards and were paid $31.25 per card. Average is $7 each. You do the math. A team in the same area in Austin has turned over 100 but has yet to see a penny - not even the promised advances - so I'm told. None of this makes any sense to me how and why they pay what they pay.

Among the obvious lessons, get all the details of any participation up front - in writing. Civic participation and especially registering new voters is extremely hard work and time consuming, so what ever the pay might be, it will never compensate for the hours and expenses devoted to each new registered voter you might sign up.

Perhaps other organizations are better organized. We know SVREP is not but thats a reflection from the top down and it affects all of us including the community. Just one major point too, we are called "Staff" but treated as "Contract" labor - independents. Which ever is correct, the difference is huge.

If you happened to visit the SVREP website this past week, you might notice a change in their Board of Directors. Not sure when this change became official but the board that had Gloria Molina as Vice-Chair was removed to include an Andrew Hernandez. There was no listing of their functions nor an explanation. The two principally in-charge of SVREP, The William C Velasquez Institute and The Latino Congreso remains with Antonio Gonzalez as President and Lydia Cammarillo-Cohen as Vice President.

Will it remain business as usual? That remains to be seen. Personally, I don't expect an organization that I believe to be that far in the woods to find its way back under the same stewardship.

The road back starts with a little humility and appreciation for the thirty-five years it has been supported by la gente!

Arizona Immigration Bill Awakens Sleeping Giant. Can SVREP Respond?

Arizona Immigration Bill SB1070 has stirred a sleeping giant across the country. This could be the “big one” within the Latino community - a defining era, the paradigm shift and the golden opportunity to lay to rest all the misrepresentations of a fractured and maligned community. Who was better qualified to lead its gente than the legendary William C Velasquez of Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project (SVREP).

Until his untimely death in 1988, Willie championed the Latino cause by empowering his community with a simple mantra “Su Voto es SuVoz”. It took one phone book, a borrowed desk, a single rotary dial telephone to began convincing his gente that their single vote really did matter - he made them feel important. His bigger than Tejas vision transcended through the ignorant walls of the status quo establishment.

What SB1070 seems to have done is to give a rise to community institutions like NALEO, MALDEF, NCLR and the ACLU just to name a few that have tirelessly worked on its mission statement for decades, fighting injustices on all fronts and fighting for equal representation. It’s the Hispanic community that is unfairly portrayed and sadly under represented. How do you counter this under representation? Willie believed it was at the ballot box.

So wouldn’t it be a “no brainer” that SVREP would seize this opportunity to mobilize its volunteer force to canvas the entire southwest of the country? New voter registration cards should be flooding and overwhelming county election offices. If they are, it’s not by the likes of SVREP. The current administrations organizational skill set rank as amateurish and for an institution that has been around for thirty-five years this distinction is rather embarrassing. I was there and witnessed some of it – more than I care to openly admit.

Throughout this immigration reform crisis, I wouldn’t look to SVREP to be nothing more than a press release opportunist who will likely jam the media facsimile with its transparent mandates.

Currently, SVREP is embattled with its seasonal “staff” and has no one really ready to go out, organize and register voters. Don’t look for President Antonio Gonzalez or VP Lydia Camrillo Cohen to break into much of a sweat either unless they stumble into the presence of a philanthropist.

For all those who will rightfully defend SVREP, I ask the following rhetorical questions; How can a pair of individuals in a matter of a few years undo the lifetime of commitment, dedication and hard work by William Velasquez? How did a jewel of an institution within the Hispanic community get so tarnished? Is it possible that SVREP has been taken over by a couple of misguided and irreverent “leaders” who has turned everything Willie stands for on its head? Where’s the board of directors? Is there really a board of directors?

If William Velasquez was alive today, I wonder what he would do about the institution he gave his life for. I think most of us know the answer.

Unpaid SVREP Workers. Is This Business As Usual For SVREP? A Commentary.

Many of us who were recruited by Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP) for their latest voter registration drive expected to work hard, work fast and get paid quickly while participating in an import democratic process.  Instead, many are feeling hoodwinked by an organization that is quick to promote the legacy of William C. Velasquez and SVREP.  The reality is a cold shower of indifference to a community that it touts as defending.  But why?

My wife and I were part of the roughly eighty workers representing approximately forty projects (teams of two) promoted in SVREP's Press Releases touting a state-wide canvassing of new voter registration drive effort allegedly funded by politicians like Bill White, Farouk Shami, Honorable State Representatives like Joe Farias, Ruth McClendon, Mike Villarreal, Joe Straus, along with many LULAC Chapters, law firms, judges and passionate private citizens.  At some point, each of sponsor or donor attended a pitch and request for donation from President Antonio Gonzalez or Vice President Lydia Camarillo-Cohen.  Many are so moved by the presentation that generous checks are handed over immediately.  These checks, it is assumed are to cover the cost of "training sessions", travel, and a promised salary of $3,500 per team for a long list of duties. Roughly fifty folks are still waiting to be paid and for the resource challenged workers who do not fight for their pay, SVREP stands to pocket their share in the hopes for maintaining its public facade.  At  stake here is close to $60-70,ooo and several months salary equivalent to many left waiting since early February.

There's no doubt that the essence of SVREP and the legacy of William C. Velasquez tugs at the heart-strings of community that has struggled at being unified and equally represented.  While we all admire this romantic essence, this iconic belief is converted to an outrageous disdain resulting from what many of us see as planned incompetence.  Instead of being proud at being involved with an organization that promotes itself as being a jewel within the Hispanic community, many are left feeling abused, taken advantage of and exploited.

Is SVREP a modern-day sweatshop?  Is SVREP exploiting and using labor tactics that many great Hispanic leaders championed against for the past decades?  Are sponsors and donors aware of such management practices and if so, are they condoning such alleged abuses with every dollar donated?  Did recent donations also include the funding of William C Velasquez and The Latino Congreso functions as well?

Are donors and sponsors aware of SVREP's practices - both good and the questionable?  Or is it easier to continue drinking the Legacy flavored tea of the past?

I've met with the Chief of Staff for a State Representative who grew concerned after making personal inquires and calls to SVREP.  He was trying to find out why workers - people his office recommended to SVREP were not being paid and found his questions were met with canned responses and a deflection of responsibility.  I showed him the facts, correspondences and communications.  Where has this concern gone?  Not sure, but it seems like business as usual at SVREP.

According to their website, there is a fund-raising golf tournament scheduled in California for this weekend and there's a Banquet celebrating SVREP's 35th year at one of the fanciest hotels in San Antonio in early June.  It was first labeled as a Gala but it's now a banquet, however, each table hopes to draw $25,000 in sponsorships so that they can continue with their recruiting and program practices until the next election season.

Maybe they'll use these new donations to pay for services rendered in January - who knows.  Or maybe they will pay the Camino Real the close to $1,800 owed there for the Latino Congreso convention that was held in late January.  Maybe they'll use the new donations to travel across the country to solicit more donations.

While your donation and support may bring a sense of pride, let it be know that students, single mothers, families are waiting for payment for their hard work and dedication to a legacy of the past.  Even if we are all paid tomorrow, the irreparable damage has been done and there will be colorful adjectives forever associated with any conversation that includes SVREP if a public limpia isn't done immediately.

So now what?  What is the leadership and community willing to do?  Many will defend SVREP for the slightest of slights, but let it be clear, no one is attacking the essence of this iconic institution but the current policies of it management that I allege have gone unchecked for many years.

As San Antonio's Fiesta celebration wraps up, who has the casorones to hold over the heads of SVREP and its management before it becomes headline news and we end up pointing fingers?

Is the Legacy of SVREP Waning?

It's the Spring season in San Antonio and the end of Easter brings the city its pride and joy celebration of Fiesta. This trademarked event that spans almost two weeks has always been a golden opportunity since 1959 to showcase not only the city but its reveled corporate culture - both the non-profit and for-profit sectors. There are literally thousands of white tent booths all over the city representing thousands of causes, hoping to bring awareness to the millions of people who come from all over to participate and celebrate. However, one that is no where to be found is Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project (SVREP), a non-profit that is known to seize huge opportunities like this event to register new voters and service its community.

Where is SVREP?

If William Velasquez, the founder of SVREP in 1974, were alive today, he would see a whole new political landscape brought about in part by his vision. And I for one would certainly taken advantage of any opportunity that would have allowed me to come up to his booth to shake his hand and thank his entire selfless organization. It was Mr Velasquez who understood the importance of community - the Hispanic community and how vital it was to register communities as a whole so that they would be fairly represented in the democratic process. Back then, it was a organization run on a shoestring budget and it had to persevere many serious external obstacles and challenges.

This year, SVREP celebrates its 35th Anniversary. What a milestone in survival. Its an election year and SVREP should be in full force and it is. Currently, SVREP is planning a huge Banquet in June at the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio. Each table hopes to raise $25,ooo. An election year is SVREP's moment to capture the attention of deep pockets and politicians who are all courting the Latino vote. Should be an easy mark for an institution that prides itself with having the inside track with the Hispanic community and its leaders. Politicians and dignitaries come to very early breakfast meeting, lunches, events to hear to hear an impressive fundraising pitch and call to action by Vice President Lydia Camarillo-Cohen. Many are so impressed they immediately write out checks on the spot and before leaving.

Unfortunately, what SVREP is allegedly selling is the legacy of SVREP and not the reality. It's the reality that has Mr Velasquez rolling in his grave. Its the reality of a non-profit organization that has a spoke and hub of other non-profits that includes The William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI), and National Latino Congreso and that are leaving its workers and bills unpaid.

After gathering enough donations from politicians for the lure and promise of registering Hispanic voters, Lydia and a very small paid staff that includes her niece from California, set out across the state to start up teams of Coordinators and Co-Coordinators. Each team or project will be responsible for seeking out and registering new voters in their home areas. This was done in about a half dozen Texas cities. Since registering voters is hard work, SVREP promises to pay. In late December, Lydia set out to conduct two-day seminars aimed at getting new Coordinators and Co-Coordinators up to speed on how to register voters. The promised pay is $3,500 per team/project and there's generally a deadline. The first deadline this year was February 1st, the cut-off for registering new voters to participate in the March 2nd Primary Election. Some forty projects were initiated across the state according to the SVREP's press releases. Approximately, eighty money orders of $500 each were immediately distributed to all who were participating as an "advance" - roughly $40,ooo paid out. This excited many as they assumed and in many instances were told they would be paid the remaining balance immediately after the deadline for their hard work and effort.

One might think that an organization that has been in existence for thirty-five years would have battalions or legions of workers at the ready to go out and just register countless new voters, but they seemly do not. Few if any are repeat workers.

Currently, many have not been paid and continue to seek out reasons why they have not been paid. There seems to be a lack of consistency for those who have been paid versus for those still waiting. For the impatient, the SVREP office has been slow to reply or respond to what I believe are counterintuitive practices. A local single mother of three worked by herself to begin registering voters by borrowing money so that she could have someone watch her children during late night drive or early cold, wet morning opportunities like the Cowboy Breakfast event. She figured it would be a nice pay check after an intense month or so of registering voters. There were no set hours either and this was perfect. There are students in El Paso, Houston, Corpus, San Antonio who dropped what they were doing to participate as well. This money for a student on a limited budget was ideal and again, there were no set hours - just the loss of sleeping late on weekends. In Dallas, there were area advocates who also joined in at the promise to get paid for work they normally do year round - work with the Hispanic community. Entire families participated too. LULAC local organizations signed up as well and their members canvassed the state.

So far, almost three months later, many are still waiting for their checks. Calls to SVREP - if answered - speak to the Field Administrator Veronica Hawkins. Workers across the state complain that Ms Hawkins seems indifferent to their pleas for payment. One worker was told, "we didn't know that SVREP had a deadline to pay...". On other occasions, workers were told that SVREP made significant donations to the Haitian Relief Fund and the Chilean Relief Fund. Meaning SVREP gave away monies that were donated to them to help out another emergency relief fund!!!

This isn't the first time either. KFOX14 Tv El Paso News Report: Employee Upset Over Lack Of Pay

I think its incumbent upon the politicians and citizens that have donated to any non-profit that the funds are being used accordingly. There's a short list of current political candidates, Texas legislators, citizens that graciously donated to SVREP. But, who's to say they are properly spending donated monies? Is there an oversight committee besides the Board of Directors that audits the management practices?

I think it's time for SVREP to come under proper scrutiny by a non-partisan committee that will review its policies and practices so that it can be given a proper seal-of-approval. Only this will insure that future donations and pitches for new voter registration drives will indeed be for that purpose. This is what my wife and I understood and expected as well.

The Hispanic community needs institutions that properly represent their entire best interests and who are held accountable to the promises made.

Lets stop and contribute to the proper resting of a true Hispanic Visionary - William C. Velaquez - and bring any necessary order to an allegedly unkept house so that his legacy and the true legacy of SVREP continues on for another thirty-five years.

I welcome your comments and participation in sharing your experiences.

T-Mobile Provides Safe Haven for Stolen Phones & Their Users

Have you ever wondered what happens to stolen cell phones after they have been reported stolen or lost to the authorities? Makes sense to think that once a cell phone has been reported lost or stolen and a insurance claim filed, the mobile phone companies would or could essentially render the handset useless should anyone attempt to use it or profit from someones loss. After all, every cell phone has a unique number called the IMEI or International Mobile Equipment Identity. So logically, mobile phone companies can easily trace the phone and see if it's currently being used along with who is actually using it. Well, guess what? They can!

But why won't T-Mobile take the appropriate actions?

In the past, I've hesitated in buying a cell phone on eBay or Craigslist or off the street "used" or "new" because I was concerned that the cell phone could be stolen and worse, I could be accused of buying stolen goods or support the crime of fencing stolen property. However, after some research on-line, it's amazing how easy it is to circumvent this concern. From what I read and from speaking to T-Mobile customer service, just play stupid and do not ask if the cell phone is stolen. It that simple. Even if you know the cell phone is stolen and use it with your SIM card, T-Mobile will protect you and your privacy. And even if Asurion (largest cell phone insurance company) has paid a claim on the stolen phone, they will allow you to use the alleged stolen cell phone it as well. Therefore, buying a cell phone online or via Craigslist is virtually risk-free.

I have always wondered why the black market of stolen phone exists. Well, it exists because it can - the black market is allowed to flourish without consequence or recourse. No one will come after you because you got big bro, T-Mo - providing safe harbor for the tempted, the brash and the daring.

Since T-Mobile and other mobile phone operators have access and control a short-list of stolen cell phones equipment, why are they and other companies not held legally responsible under the criminal fencing laws? Pawn shops are governed by strict laws, so why don't these same laws extend to the cell phone carriers like T-Mobile and every mobile phone company across the board?

In my case, my T-Mobile phone was stolen and I immediately reported the theft incident to local police. After providing a serial/IMEI number and a list of other items taken, a case number was immediately issued. I then reported the stolen phone to T-Mobile before proceeding to make an online replacement claim with Asurion Insurance - a mega insurance company that insures handsets for many of the mobile phone companies. During the claims process, which is laced with warning notices that Asurion will prosecute for filing false claims and takes insurance fraud seriously, Asurion denied and instantly canceled my insurance claim. After several phone calls between Asurion and T-Mobile, I was told that the stolen phone was currently being used and because it was being used by another T-Mobile customer phone number appears on our call list. It sounded - they said - like someone we know or knows us has our stolen phone. Asurion had initially denied our claim while acknowledging that the stolen phone is currently being used and they are not willing to take any further action. With a snap of a finger, they could either shut-off the stolen phone, go after the stolen unit and the alleged thief. Asurion said this was an issue I had to discuss with T-Mobile and only T-Mobile could assist me in finding out who has my stolen cell phone.

In calling T-Mobile, they confirmed that the stolen cell phone was indeed being used by another T-Mobile customer but according to the T-Mobile customer service representative I spoke to, they would not take any action. It was T-Mobile's company policy to respect the account holders privacy and told me I had to contact the local police and speak to officer assigned to the theft case. I did. The investigating officer contacted T-Mobile's Law Enforcement Division but he was told he had to get a subpoena from the district attorney to legally force T-Mobile to comply. After a subpoena is issued, it would take T-Mobile around three weeks or more to send over the account information of the individual currently using the stolen phone. We believe the same individual using the stolen phone was also likely to be responsible for the theft of the other goods.

How can T-Mobile corporate policy to impede and stonewall a criminal investigation? Or is this a case for planned incompetence by the mobile phone carrier?

Of course, T-Mobile must know that District Attorney's will not bother in most cases with subpoena's for crimes less than a felony or $1,500 and I would guess most mobile phone companies know this.

So here we stand, T-Mobile is openly admitting that they allow the use of stolen phones on their networks. Asurion is openly admitting that they would not pursue thieves or persons who are using stolen cell phones. Both companies admit that I could buy a stolen cell phone and easily use it without any consequence and they would insure the device as well and take the monthly $7.00 premiums without hesitation.

Since I have the IMEI number, I thought I would call the store where the MyTouch was purchased. I spoke to the manager - Cynthia, but she said T-Mobile recently removed the option to search or cross reference using an IMEI number. Cynthia did call the regional Asurion representative who went out of her way to investigate the police report and over-rode the claim denial. I am currently processing the insurance claim and paying the outrageous deductible of $130. I have spent too much time on this and sorely disgusted at a company that I have been loyal corporate customer since 2004.

In the meantime, while T-Mobile drags its feet on providing the name of their customer who is using the stolen phone, that person continues to use a $400 phone without interruption and T-Mobile continues to collect premium fees for using the Android/Google platform services.

It seems it's all about the self-serving fee driven motivation at T-Mobile & Asurion that trumps over loyal customers who are trying to do the right thing.

In my opinion and in my case, T-Mobile and Asurion's corporate citizenship is in question. T-Mobile should seriously examine their role in providing a safe and protected haven to undeserving individuals at the expense of honest, hardworking and law abiding folks.

We deserve much better from T-Mobile and other mobile operators that share the same shameless practice.

LiveU Comes To Portal Near You

What do you do when LiveU comes to town? I found a host for a presentation on the latest LIVE streaming technology. Eric Hanken of Bauhaus Media Group agreed to have some of San Antonio's media professionals come over to hear directly from Ariel Galinsky, VP for Corporate & Business Development for LiveU.

While the field of stream box's seems crowded, it's easy to see why the LiveU units have caught the attention of the network news organizations and the corporate world. There are two units and without getting too technical, one is more dedicated to broadcast television needs and the other unit is more for direct to internet/portal applications. All the top name streaming boxes offer a very nice encoding/decoding solution, but few if any have both the software encoding and the LIVE wireless capability such as the LiveU units. Essentially, the difference in these two units - other than cost - is that the broadcast model has an impressive bandwidth upload capability of 2mbps while the internet model is around 1mbps upload ready. The units have up to six internal wireless air cards that transmits a video and audio signal efficiently via 3G, Wi-Fi and soon to come Wi-Max technology. This broadcast quality wireless signal allows you to also be mobile while doing LIVE shots. If you prefer, you can plug in a LAN connections as well and over-ride the air cards.

The various news networks are using the LiveU units to transmit LIVE shots and send back edited stories from events like the Pope's visit to Israel, sporting events, breaking news, etc. You can easily attach external storage devices and do large file transfers - aka FTP back your b-roll before or between LIVE hits. Also, you do not have to be an engineer to use these stream boxes, its touch screen layout is very simple and easy to get up and running in less than ten minutes.

This instant LIVE technology is very affordable too and the LiveU applications are not merely designed for news organizations but for any event or organization interested in a high-quality and reliable broadcast via the web or closed circuit in-house viewing. The LiveU HD model will be released very soon.

As LIVE event coverage is more becoming the norm rather than the exception, get a jump and visit the LiveU website http://www.liveu.tv or contact me and I'll forward you all of Ariel's information.