Ben Figueroa is the director of the Institute of Rural Development Inc. (Photo by Gloria Bigger-Cantu) His friends have described Ben Figueroa as a versatile person involved with many projects that help people.

Figueroa possesses and shares knowledge in all areas such as behavioral sciences, counseling, history, politics and genealogy research.

And yes, Figueroa is also known to speak his political mind, advocating causes that reflect his beliefs.

Figueroa, a Kingsville native, has been involved in service orientated positions, and for the past 30 years, Figueroa has been providing free counseling services to people of all ages.

“It’s all been pro-bono,” he said.

Currently, he maintains one of the few transitional living facilities for foster children who “age out” of the system at 18.

So far, Figueroa has assisted about 30 foster children since he began the program. He provides housing, food, activities, counseling and encourages them to obtain educational and employment opportunities.

Ben Figueroa is pictured with Dr. Albert Ellis, psychologist, founder of the Rational Emotive Therapy, at a San Antonio conference. Figueroa has been counseling for 30 years. Often the foster children are invited to spend holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, with the Figueroa family.

The state does not provide funding for these foster children. Private donors pay expenses.

“For every year that a child stays with me, I save the state $80,000 to $90,000 that would be diverted from the criminal justice ” he said.

“Thank God we have a lot of benevolent people,” Figueroa said.

He noted success stories with some of the foster children.

One young man found a job here and later decided to join the Marine Corp. Another young man graduated from Coastal Bend College. Figueroa has helped some of the children reunite with family members.

He has also counseled numerous chemicallydependent young people.

“You have to explore their belief systems, where they are in education, their cognitive areas and conflict resolutions,” Figueroa said.

“Statistics reveal that over 50 percent of high school students have done drugs,” he said.

Children learn from their parents, and Figueroa referred to the “practice what you preach” cliché.

He continues to write grants of people and organizations in Kleberg County as well as other area counties. Some of the grants that he develops include working with chemicallydependent children.

“Underage drinking leads to drugs,” he said. He would also like to work with school districts in this area.

He also revealed one of his major goals that he anticipates to complete within the next five years is the construction of efficiency apartments for low-income elderly people at the site of the Institute of Rural Development Inc., where he serves as director.

He established the Institute of Rural Development Inc., a nonprofit organization, in 1986 and expanded it in 1999.

Prominent physician and civic leader, the late Dr. L.E. Ramey, who owned the old Kleberg County Hospital, noted the modern north wing of the facility, to the institute for its headquarter, located at 915 S., Ninth St.

During an interview last week, Figueroa discussed his current work and future plans.

“Really, my passion is history and behavioral sciences,” he said.

He learned about helping the less fortunate from his paternal grandmother, Benita Figueroa, who gave poor people food and clothing. His grandfather operated a store locally.

His mother, Alicia Figueroa, who served as an educator for 43 years, also taught him to seek an education and to help others.

“She took me to Hebbronville and showed me her home with a dirt floor where she lived. My mother told me ‘I do not want you to forget where I came from,” Figueroa recalled.

“This led me to want to help people who lived in those kind of environments,” he said.

His interest in history peaked when he was a graduate student at Texas A&I University in 1978.

He began reading books by Carlos E. Castaneda, a scholarly historian. Texas A&I professors Ward Albro, Leslie Hunter, Billy chandler and Stanley Bittinger influenced his studies and interest in history.

Figueroa has bachelor and masters degrees in psychology from Texas A&I, now Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

He is a licensed counselor, a licensed chemical dependency counselor, a certified prevention specialist and a certified public manager.

Among his religious community work, Figueroa has been instrumental in obtaining some of the funding for the Mother Julia Navarette Solemn House of Prayer. Rev. Paul Puthanangady, the pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel, praises Figueroa for his willingness to help the church and the community.

“Ben is always helpful,” Puthanangady said, citing Figueroa’s work with the foster children.

“Helping these children is his mission, and he has patience and dedication to them,” the priest added.

For the past year, Figueroa has conducted “Healthy Marriage Classes” for engaged couples. The eight-hour class waives the $60 marriage fee. Now, he is teaching others on how to conduct the classes. Figueroa said the program needs more volunteer teachers.

Figueroa has taught these marriage classes to ministerial alliances in Ingleside, Beeville and other church congregations.

He said a healthy marriage must have communication and conflict resolution.

“My way or no way ends up in divorces,” said Figueroa, who has been married to Edna, his high school sweetheart, for 42 years. The couple has two grown children and two grandchildren. Edna Figueroa is a retired teacher and education administrator.

“She is a great wife, a great mom and a great grandmother,” he said.

A 1965 H.M. King High School graduate, Figueroa served in the Navy aboard a destroyer and saw duty in the Tonkin Gulf, and Vietnam. He points proudly to a large photograph in his office that he took showing the USS Oriskany, and at that time Senator John McCain had been transferred to the Oriskany from the USS Forrestal.

“It was during the same time that he (McCain) bailed out of his jet over Vietnam and was captured by the North Vietnamese and consequently did time in the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison camp,” Figueroa said.

He later worked as a manager with the Woolworth stores for 10 years. He has lived in Houston, Lake Jackson and Kansas City, Kan.

“It taught me a lot about the corporate world,” he said.

Figueroa returned to Texas in 1979 and worked at the LULAC Education Service Center in Corpus Christi. He wrote his first grant project that summer.

He later worked as the Kleberg county Human Service Director for about 24 years.

“(Commissioner) Romeo Lomas asked me to do more for the elderly and one way to do it was to sponsor human services,” Figueroa said.

Eventually, the Senior Citizens Center was established. Much of funding to provide services such as meals, transportation and case work was through grants.

Figueroa was also instrumental in establishing housing, Onos de Oro, a lowincome residence for the elderly in 1985. A federal Housing and Urban Development grant funded the project.

He stopped working for the county in 1996. He then worked with Rene Rodriguez, a Corpus Christi attorney, with the Fighting to Rid Gangs in America program.

Although Figueroa served as a Kingsville city commissioner for two terms in the 1980s, he has no desire to run for any kind of office again.

However, he does share information with candidates who seek his advice, and he supports those who ask for his vote if he agrees with their platform.

“I have supported some people in office, and they have been gracious with me,” he said. However, some of the people he supported in the past eventually turned against him.

“To be a politician you have to deal with rhetoric, innuendos, and what will get you elected rather than what is good for the people,” Figueroa said.

“I consider myself an independent; I vote for the person, not necessarily the party,” he said.

Figueroa has pictures of himself with former presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, but his favorite picture is one with him and singersongwriter Paul Anka that was taken at the Opera House in Galveston.

Anka walked out into the audience and asked who knew one of his songs, which Figueroa knew and sang with him.

Figueroa said he plays the guitar to relieve stress.

Figueroa remains vocal on local, state, and national issues and works for causes that he believes will provide a better quality of life for people.

Figueroa has become involved in what he calls maintaining a healthy environment, whether it is through economic development or championing protection of the underground aquifer from pollution.

He was one of the first to speak out against uranium mining in Kleberg County because he said he believes the process of in-situ mining is not full proof in returning the ground water to its original base values before mining.

Figueroa also believes senior citizens 65 and over and young people 18 should have some kind of comprehensive insurance that does not tax those on fixed incomes.

Figueroa believes the City of Kingsville and Kleberg County could improve immensely.

“I believe improvements to the Kingsville and the county must include a broad spectrum of issues such as equal representation of people regarding economic development, emergency management, law enforcement, health care and prevention, education, drug abuse, and family assistance and development.

Figueroa said he would also like to see more done for youth life skills development, improvement of per capita income by improving the job market, vocational training opportunities, more attention to city and county infrastructure, and the development of natural resources, as well as, creating resources that are part of the South Texas cultural and historic heritage,” he said.

“Too many times we get bogged down with the political agendas running rampant in our community,” Figueroa said.

“There are also too many hidden agendas by politicians and their interest groups that have a particular monetary stake in those agendas. Sometimes we put development aside because of pride or simply because of our bias,” he said.

He recalled that he was contacted by an agency to develop the old railroad depot and after doing considerable research and work, he was stopped cold simply because of the status quo attitude at the time.

“So, the loser at the time was the community,” Figueroa said, noting that those who opposed him were thinking “my way or no way” over progress.

Figueroa and his supporters had envisioned the depot as a museum and transportation hub that offered transportation to among others, dorm-bound students at the university who were otherwise unable to take advantage of Kingsville shopping and health services from the local medical community.

The Texas Department of Transportation was ready to award a grant for the project, pending an endorsement from city and county officials and community leaders and grant paperwork.

State transportations officials were dumbfounded when community leaders rejected the idea.

Although Figueroa’s push to develop the old railroad depot was ridiculed by many at the time, Figueroa was ultimately vindicated when another civic group stepped forwarded The railroad depot was restored and developed into a museum as part of the Kingsville’s 100th birthday celebration in 2004.

He recalled another occasion he conducted some research that could have led to interest by the Department of the Interior in developing a historical park here. After he conducted extensive research, Figueroa said he was ready to apply for some grants.

“Again the status quo rejected the project and sabotaged my funding source. I found out a couple of years later who the culprits were and realized that some people here care about their ego, power politics, and plain selfishness based on a belief system that reigns supreme in their own minds as the only way to do things,” Figueroa said.,

“Alonso de Leon remains part of our cultural and historical heritage and powerful resource as a subject of tourism,” he stated.

“There is work to be done in improving Kingsville, and it could have started with the development of the J.K. Northway Exposition Center when George Strait asked for improvements,” he said.

“It did not happen and we lost George as a major event here and have lost a considerable amount of sales taxes over these years because of this blunder,” Figueroa observed.

“To date, the powers that be would rather invest in renovating the old Exxon building at a cost of over $2 million with no economic return for the citizens,” Figueroa said.

He stated that a better decision would be to invest in $2 million dollars in our park system to attract shows like George strait and build the sales tax base.

“But again, there may be a hidden agenda involved in developing the Exxon building that is nothing more than a white elephant,” Figueroa observed.

“On the national spectrum, he believes the current economic situation was triggered by the de-regulation of the mortgage industry, as well as, other industries, such as energy, that supply the utilities.

Figueroa criticizes lobbyists whom he refers to as “shysters.”

According to Figueroa, lobbyists do nothing more than exploit legislators and the public with little concern for the working people of Texas and America.

Recently, Figueroa, along with millions of others, received a letter from the Democratic National Committee after President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. President Obama wrote the letter.

The letter, written buy the president, stated that “throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.”

“That’s why I’ve said that I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations and all peoples to confront the common challenges of the 21st century,” the letter stated.

“So far, President Obama has done well; he is a great communicator and he is a global partner,” Figueroa said.

He praises President Obama’s choice of appointees, such as new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

“I believe there is a relationship in President Obama receiving the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Prize awarded to Gunnar Mydral in 1974 for his work on ‘The American Dilemma,’ first published in 1944, that had to do with Blacks in America,” Figueroa explained.

He cited the Dred Scott decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857 that clearly stated that American Negroes were not considered citizens in America. Later in the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision in 1896, the Supreme Court supported racial segregation.

“It wasn’t until 1954 that the Supreme Court struck down the separate but equal doctrine in Brown versus the Board of Education that the tide began to turn for equality in America,” he said.

Figueroa believes that of all the Nobel Prize winners, Gunnar Myrdal, is the most significant. Myrdal’s study of discrimination in America was a topic in the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education.

“In essence, Myrdal made a point of an irony facing the American way of life, and that was a contradiction of equality for all when in fact slavery was the norm in the antebellum south,” Figueroa said.

“The final test of Myrdal’s work is the election of President Obama, and now his work for the future of America is being recognized by the Norwegian Nobel Society,” he stated.

“Whether political or not, the Norwegians have made the statement by selecting President Obama as a Nobel Prize recipient,” Figueroa said.

Meanwhile, Figueroa will continue busying himself with his work with foster children, writing grants, counseling, presenting healthy marriage and genealogy workshops, voicing his opinions and reading several newspapers online daily.

“Basically, I am a happy man,” he said, smiling.