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Show Page 2 A New "Business" For The Disadvantaged by Tim Funk Poor people can mind their own business now if Ken Gary has anything to say about it. Ken is a westside resident who, along with several others, has set up the structure for a "business" corporation for the poor and disadvantaged. Proposed name of the corporation is "Progress Unlimited" working with the slogan, "The people who help people help themselves." At this time, Progress Unlimited simply a "shell," as Ken puts it, but is on the verge of is incorporating as a non-prof- it organization. The chief purpose for any Progress Unlimited venture will be to offer work for the "hard-cor- e unemployed and says Ken. All of the corporation's activity is intended to provide "jobs and an improved minorities standard of living" for low income people. The low income people Ken wants to help are those on the westside of Salt Lake City. He thinks the greatest concentration of people who might benefit from his plan are in that area. Building and remodeling houses is presently the heart of Progress Unlimited. Ken and his colleagues want to build low cost housing in the $1 4 1 5,000 range, a price Ken thinks is feasible if the prospective owner helps build the house himself. There is a two-folpurpose in getting the owner involved in building his own home. The new owner can learn a skill while he works on something in which he has a direct interest. Besides this he is paid while he works e with a qualified tradesman. This gives him money to help pay for the home and a skill at the same time. Even if a man doesn't want to learn the trade he can still keep costs down by contributing his labor on simple tasks that Ken says require little skill. Remodeling older houses and making them more liveable for area residents would also be part of the contracting business. When low cost housing or remodeling wasn't being done regular commercial contracting work would be sought. It has taken Ken about a year of hard work to bring the contracting phase of Progress Unlimited this far. Through his -- d side-by-sid- diligent efforts "willing" help has been found. Ken searched out qualified people who knew the contracting business, hunted down available financing, and struck up relationships with westside residents who can get things moving. He made contact with the business community to let them know what he was trying to do and solicit their support. Response in the beginning was spotty and Ken went through many disappointments. Promised support fell through or came up short and new sources had to be discovered. Ken has spent many late nights speaking to groups, buttonholing individuals, bending the ear of anyone who showed the slightest interest. "It's been rough, I've been discouraged, but I didn't quit," states Ken. He thinks it has paid off because "we're about to break through. Now we are ready to go." Ready to go are the people Ken has brought together as the core of Progress Unlimited. "There are seven or so of us," Ken explains. "We have a young architect, two contractors we can work through, a skilled electrician and carpenter who are both qualified by the Board of Education to teach their trade and we have someone who knows how to bid jobs." Ken's own experience in many aspects of the banking business is another plus for the corporation. Contracting is just one of the things Ken proposes for Progress Unlimited. There are plans for a '"'poor people's credit union" where those who have little or no capital or credit could get the money for things like starting a small business or getting a car to take them to a better job. Ken would also like to establish a "money brokerage" that he says would "put people with an idea to sell in touch with money people who had the means to put it to work." The brokerage "wouldn't take any capital to start." as Ken sees it A fund raising program is being arranged by Ken in conjunction with a westside citizens group. They hope to collect small amounts of money from people," the Ken and his group very people hope to help out. The money raised would go to training the hard core unemployed, perhaps on a Progress Unlimited project. "working-clas- s Still another possibility is a proposed training program for disabled people no one is willing to hire. Ken thinks his people could train them and find them work. "After we establish a track record, we'll get more support," states Ken. Ken Gary was on welfare and then in job training as a finish carpenter when the idea for the corporation formed. He thought and still does, that if more could be put into training programs there would be better results. He hopes to do that with Progress Unlimited. self-intere- st He is for the l assistance he has gotten from his fellow citizens and he wants to return it. "I owe a great deal to the working class of people. Their taxes paid for my program and the health care my wife and children received. I got off welfare and started again. That's why I'm interested in helping the people who helped Barry Lynn blends dance and ideas for benefit performance. me. if For more information, call Ken at 322-1786. use dance as a vehicle to communicate ideas to others." "I ' ' Dancers should be interested in what other dancers are doing," said Barry Lynn, a dynamic local dancer in a recent interview. The purpose for meeting this gifted man was to gather information on an upcoming benefit performance to assist the Salt Lake Inter- - tribal Dancers. Dancers are a The Inter-tribgroup of local Indians who have been holding monthly PowWows at the Northwest Center which have attracted Indians and from all over Utah and neighboring states. The Dancers are sponsoring a day long Pow Wow on April 21 and Barry is offering his support through a benefit performance which will hopefully raise enough money to help in defraying costs of the Pow Wow. But Barry views his effort as part of a learning experience. "I feel we can learn a great deal from Indians - how man relates to the world, how he fits into the plan of the universe. They are far ahead of us in having some of the answers," he said. Barry formerly taught at the al Multi-purpos- non-India- e American Institute of Indian Arts in Santa Fe and has deep respect for the beliefs, arts and culture of the Indian but this is only one facet of his many-side- d personality. His solo benefit performance to be held at 8:00 p.m., April 1 3 in Spalding Hall, St. Mark's Cathedral, will deal with ideas. Barry's technique of presenting ideas for examination by the audience through his dancing doesn't allow for passiveness on the part of the spectator. "I use dance as a ve hide to communicate ideas to others. I want to open up the thought processes," Barry said with a wave of his arms. One can't imagine this unique man not being able to communicate or about as he talks reacting to his listener, sharing his thoughts in rapid succession and it all carries over into his dancing. Here is a man who loves what he's doing but goes beyond simply entertaining an audience. He moves "I use dancing to visualize a thought, an idea . . to make it real," Barry said. And from a sewing room in the new Dance Building at the University of Utah he disappears in costume in the to dance theater and the preceeding -- conversation does, indeed, become visual. express his feelings. In his benefit performance one of Barry's dances will examine the idea of dying and time rushing by as we approach old age. "The older get the more I realize how fast time You can't crowd all you want to experience in one lifetime. It frustrates me," Barry said. I new way to communicate on April 13th when, for a little while, you can "clear out some of the junk cluttering your mind" and explore with Barry Lynn the world of ideas and dance. Experience a |