[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 136 (Friday, September 14, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF PROJECT PPEP PROVIDING HELP FOR RURAL POOR IN 
                             THE SOUTHWEST

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 14, 2007

  Ms. GIFFORDS. Madam Speaker, I am both pleased and honored to share 
with my colleagues the work of a distinguished program that began in a 
converted 1956 school bus named ``La Tortuga'' or ``The Tortoise'' 
which became a portable classroom. This program on wheels was the dream 
of a young man that saw a need to serve and thereby improve the quality 
of life of the migrant and the rural poor of Arizona.
  Founded in August 24, 1967, through this young man's vision and 
tenacity, Project Portable Practical Education Preparation (PPEP) began 
serving the needs of migrant and the rural poor of Arizona to improve 
the quality of lives though self-help programs which became PPEP's 
fundamental mission. Today I wish to recognize their 40th anniversary.
  An article in The Arizona Daily Star, written in November 1967, had 
this to say about Project PPEP: ``Its goal is summed up in the title, a 
practical education which is brought almost to the doorstep of 
unskilled and poverty-stricken people in Southern Arizona. Its method 
involves the use of constant information; finding what kinds of 
education the people want and then providing it.''
  Since October 1967, slowly, laboriously, La Tortuga crawled back and 
forth along the hot dusty miles from Marana, Arizona to Tumacacori and 
Patagonia in southern Arizona. The old green bus stopped in poor 
Mexican-American, Bracero, Native American and Black communities, 
bringing Project PPEP and its belief in ``Si Se Puede'' (yes it can be 
done) to hundreds of low-income populations in rural Pima and Santa 
Cruz Counties.
  After gaining acceptance in the communities along the way, John David 
Arnold, the founder and CEO of PPEP and La Tortuga's driver, mechanic 
and teacher, used this circuit model for delivery of social and 
educational services--a model used some 300 years earlier by Father 
Eusebio Kino, the great mission builder of the southwest. Today PPEP is 
supporting the construction of twelve brick and mortar schoolhouses for 
at-risk students (graduating over 2,400) and La Tortuga's legacy is 
traveling down the information super highway as PPEP designs two 
virtual academies: the Arizona Virtual Academy (AZVA) and the Insight 
Virtual Academy of California (IVAC).
  The work of Project PPEP and the leadership of Dr. John David Arnold 
have been cited as national models eight times in the Congressional 
Record, including citations by Congressmen Morris K. Udall, Jim Kolbe, 
Ed Pastor, and Senators Dennis DeConcini, Mike Enzi, John McCain and 
Jon Kyl. Dr. Arnold was honored twice at the Clinton White House among 
numerous other recognitions nationally and internationally. Recently 
Dr. Arnold was appointed by the League of United Latin American 
Citizens (LULAC) as their National Education co-chair and International 
Relations co-chair. Furthermore Dr. Arnold was the Arizona LULAC Man of 
The Year in 2004 and 2006, and in 2004 was awarded the prestigious 
Cesar Chavez Award for Community Service and Leadership.

  I wish to commend and congratulate Project PPEP CEO Dr. John David 
Arnold, the Board of Directors, and the 476 staff on their 40th year of 
providing personal financial training and services which have enabled 
families to become self-sufficient, including over $19 million in loans 
through its micro-credit loan program.
  To list all of the good work Project PPEP has accomplished in the 
last 40 years would be a daunting task. Project PPEP has made it 
possible for many rural families to achieve the dignity they deserve. 
For all their good work they are much deserving of Congressional 
recognition.

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