Springdale City Council member Kevin Flores was not born an American. But the way Flores became a naturalized citizen of this country could not have been more patriotic: Standing in the desert in Iraq in his Marine uniform, rifle slung over his shoulder, the El Salvador-born Flores somberly recited the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America.
For Flores, it was but a formality: He had felt like an American for most of his life and had pledged to protect the country as a Marine when he was fresh out of high school. Flores was only 3 when he and his family fled El Salvador, a country embroiled in a violent 12-year civil war that would kill more than 75,000 of its citizens.
“Our families were really just farmers, and the civil war engulfed everyone,” says Flores. “It came to the point where families and individuals who didn’t want to participate were forced onto the side of the government or the side of the guerrillas. I’m 33 now, so I’ve been here 30 years. Growing up with my mom and the elders of the family, they just really stressed the privilege of living here, in what we call a ‘free society,’ where you don’t have to worry about bombings or the government or guerrillas coming into your village and controlling your life.”
Flores, his parents and two of his three siblings first came to Reno, Nev., as refugees, later relocating to Springdale — where his third sibling would be born — when Flores was just 6 years old. The family traveled cross country on a Greyhound bus, bringing with them only the belongings that could fit in a suitcase.
“I walked into [Springdale’s] Lee Elementary School with a mullet,” says Flores with a laugh. “The one thing I noticed, coming from Reno, was that there weren’t many other Hispanic kids or people of color. At that time, we didn’t even have an ESL teacher at Lee Elementary.”
Flores didn’t waste much time being the shy new kid, and his outgoing personality made him an asset to school staff.
“I remember getting pulled out of class from third grade to fifth grade and going to translate for a family in the [main] office,” he says. “I was this kid, dealing with secretaries and the principal, helping engage with an outside family to get their kids enrolled and to give them information. I think that’s helped me develop an ability to really break down barriers in communication, just find common ground and be able to talk to anybody.”
Flores’ helpful, outgoing personality persisted throughout his school days in Springdale.
“Due to our mother being a divorced, single parent of four who worked hard to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads, we learned early on to take on responsibilities to help her out at home,” says sister Marta Flores. “One of those responsibilities was looking out for each other, especially our baby brother. Another major responsibility Kevin had to learn while growing up was keeping up with academics since our mom could not help us out with homework.”
Jody Marsh worked in the Springdale High School counseling office, where Flores served as an aide.
“When he was a teenager in high school, he was always willing to help someone who needed it and would go the extra mile to make sure they were getting the help that they needed,” she notes. “Even as a teenager, Kevin was honest, responsible, dependable and tried to make good decisions.”
By high school, Flores was an avid sportsman and was part of one of the most notable football teams in Springdale High School history. The 2005 Springdale Bulldogs, coached by Gus Malzahn, were the 2005 Arkansas state champions, outscored their opponents by an average of 39 points per game and saw five players sign with Division 1 football programs.
“That 2005 team, it was quite the ride, just traveling the country and playing on national television,” says Flores. “Every game we played was sold out. That was the peak of high school sports for anybody, and I just happened to experience it.”
Marine duty
While his fellow team members were contemplating college football opportunities, Flores had already decided he would join the Marines upon graduation.
“I think it was a mix of a challenge, financial stability, being able to provide for myself and alleviate the burden for my mother, and I think, as an immigrant, it really was a way for me to prove myself as an American,” says Flores. “It was a desire to serve this country that adopted me, which is my country now.”
Flores joined the Marines and headed off to boot camp shortly after graduation. As an athlete in excellent shape, boot camp went smoothly for him. Fellow Marine Chris Martinez says Flores was more than up for the challenge.
“Kevin was the poster child of how a Marine should look and act,” notes Martinez. “He was physically fit, highly competitive and — the one quality that all Marines should have but typically discarded as fast as a 5.56 bullet down range — he was highly disciplined. When he set his mind to do something, he did it — without question. For example, after Iraq, he wanted to compete in a body building contest. The rest of us wanted to enjoy life and drink, given the prohibition during the deployment. Sure enough, Kevin was highly disciplined even after our ridicule and massive peer pressure. He ate his six meals a day, went to the gym, like, six times a day, competed in the body building event and did not give a hoot about what the other Marines thought of him. When he is determined, he is determined and will not give in to any sort of intimidation or pressure from outside variables.”
By spring of 2007, Flores was stationed in Okinawa when he was unexpectedly ordered to Iraq.
“I was there for seven months doing convoys, security patrols, just a lot of different things,” he says. “And I found myself being this liaison of sorts to other units. It kind of goes back to that conversation about me being pulled out of class to go talk to different groups of adults in elementary school. ‘You can talk to people’ is what it boiled down to.”
Once back in Japan, his performance in Iraq had made an impression, and he was recommended for embassy Marine security.
“There are three special duty assignments in the Marine Corps,” Flores explains. “Drill instructor, recruiter, and Marine security guard. The Marine security guard program falls under the State Department, and they’re the Marines that guard embassies and consulates throughout the world. There are a lot of qualifications for it, and it’s a difficult position to get. You need a top secret clearance for that position, and you’ve got to meet fitness requirements and character requirements and budget recommendations.”
After an eight-week training period at Quantico, Flores received his marching orders to the embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“I had an awesome time,” he says. “[Kuala Lumpur is] probably one of the best hidden gems in the world.”
Pakistan was next, a fraught but exciting station in the year before Osama Bin Laden was killed in the country.
“Every agency, every branch of the military, was sending the cream of the crop there,” he says.
While he was in Pakistan, he got word that he was going to be assigned to President Barack Obama’s South American tour security detail. In a wild coincidence, the country he was assigned to was El Salvador — the birthplace that he had last seen two decades before.
“On his last day there, we got to meet and hang out with the president and take photos,” he remembers. “I think there were six Marines on that detail. And he’s walking up and down, talking to all of us, ‘Where are you guys from?’ and so on. By the time he gets to me, I said, ‘Oh, well, Mr. President, I was born here, but I was raised in Arkansas.'”
The two men chatted about the coincidence, and then the subject of March Madness brackets came up.
“I actually, by chance, knew what his bracket looked like,” he says. “I had one. And so we talked about our brackets and compared it, and I pissed him off. He had Kansas winning, and I said, ‘With all due respect, let me tell you why I don’t think Kansas is gonna win.’ And jokingly, he gets in my face, and he says, ‘You understand that I’m the President of the United States, and I have all these aides assisting me in all these matters, and you’re telling me that we’re wrong.’ And, of course, he’s joking, but I’m sitting there sweating bullets. And the Secret Service is laughing, his aides are laughing, my fellow Marines are laughing. I said, ‘I didn’t mean any disrespect, sir.'”
Obama asked Flores who was going to win, if it wasn’t Kansas. Flores’ confident answer was, “Duke.”
“And then everyone else starts laughing — his personal assistant actually played basketball at Duke, and he came over and just broke the ice, and he said, ‘Mr. President, leave this guy alone. He knows exactly what he’s talking about.'”
After the mock argument, says Flores, the President turned somber.
“He said, ‘In all seriousness, I appreciate what you guys do,'” says Flores. “‘Michelle and I pray for you guys every night. I want you guys to tell your parents that I’m proud of you, and that they should be proud of you, as well, for everything you do for our country.’ So, you know, it was just this roller coaster interaction that went from pleasantries to sweating bullets to pleasantries again.”
American dream
“I say this to show the American journey I’ve had,” he continues. “The place where my family and I fled due to civil war is the place I come to 20 years later as a U.S. Marine, as a U.S. citizen with a top secret clearance, working for the President of the United States. So, tell me, in which other country is that possible? Because I don’t think it’s possible anywhere outside of the United States.”
Reflecting on his time in the Marines, Flores says he never doubted joining up was the right thing to do.
“As far as the Marine Corps goes, that’s the greatest decision I’ve made in my life,” he says. “It has set me up for so much. It really helped me hone the skills that I had prior to joining and helped me to be versatile and successful in the things that I’ve done.”
In total, Flores served six years with the Marine Corps. Once out, Flores set his sights on school, attending Fordham University in New York City. His future plans had crystallized into a law degree, and he took advantage of the big city living to work as an intern in the New York District Attorney’s office while he was there. Other internships while in school included work on Immigration Affairs for the United States Senate in 2013 and, the next year, work as a legislative intern for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institution. Following graduation, his D.C. experience coupled with his experience in the Marines landed him a position as a Senior Administrative Specialist in Foreign Policy for The Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank. When he applied for law school, he was offered a deal too good to pass up at the University of Arkansas, so he came home. And, he says, as soon as he returned to Springdale, he found himself feeling just as rooted as when he first walked into Lee Elementary, some 25 years before.
“When I came back I became very involved in the city of Springdale, my hometown,” he says. “I was mostly involved at Lee Elementary, doing mentorships with the kids. I had a mentorship program that I set up with Springdale High School.”
“Kevin was always really involved in a lot of different activities that would encompass him giving back to the community,” says law school colleague Kameron Richards. “Probably one of the most notable things he did when he was there was work at the Immigration Law Clinic that we provided. When there were folks going through immigration issues who couldn’t afford legal counsel, they could come to our Law Clinic, and Kevin was involved in that.”
That experience left an impression when it came time to make a post-law school plan, and he decided to stick around his hometown.
“I realized that, when I left in 2006, there were probably a couple of Hispanic attorneys in Northwest Arkansas,” says Flores. “By the time I came back in 2016, there weren’t very many more. I saw the need for someone with my skills and my experience.”
“He has lived all over the globe but always wanted to return to Springdale and help it achieve its fullest potential as a community,” says Marta.
After Flores settled into a position as an attorney with the Herrera Law Group, he started hearing another call: politics.
“I firmly believe that much more change can happen at the local level than it can nationally — and that’s especially true now, with the hyper-partisanship that’s going on,” he says. “I’m probably the most nonpartisan person you’ll ever meet. It may go back to what we talked about — me having to go into a room and find common ground with everybody. So I started looking at City Council, started taking it seriously, and realized, this is what I want to do.”
It wouldn’t be an easy task: Flores ran for the second position in Springdale’s Ward 2, held by Rick Evans, who had been a Springdale City Council member for 22 years. But Flores followed his gut and entered the race. The positions are nonpartisan, and Flores says he entered the race with an open mind and a determination to listen to all of his potential constituents.
“This is the way that I want to get involved in my community,” he says. “I didn’t have an agenda in seeking this role, aside from wanting to participate in the process. I want to get further involved in my hometown, and I want to use my experiences and skills to better this place. And not just Springdale, but, in general, Northwest Arkansas. I wasn’t naive about it. I knew it was going to be a difficult process. But I felt then, and I firmly feel now, that I was the qualified person for the job.”
The voters agreed: On Nov. 3, 2020, Flores won his election with around 58% of the vote. He made history as the first Hispanic person to be elected to the City Council in Springdale — where around 37% of the population is Latinx or Hispanic — as well as, at age 32, the youngest. Flores thinks his determination and ability to remain above the fray of hyper-partisanship was a plus for him in the election and afterward, as he began to get to know his constituents and the job.
“He is a person that can reach across the political aisles — I’ve seen it first hand: from radical left, radical right, conspiracy theorist, et cetera — and have them listen to him and take his opinions into consideration,” says Martinez.
“[In law school,] he was head of the organization for Hispanic students, and, as such, he brought a lot of different speakers on campus,” says Richards. “I was a member of the Federalist Society, so we were probably more on the right side of things, and his organization, by reputation, probably was not, but the speakers he would bring in were always objective and still had a good perspective that wasn’t politically swayed. So even the Federalist guys would always go to those events.
“Kevin is great for Arkansas because he’s not one of those people that has this narrow view — he’s not an ideologue. He’s not too far on the left, and he’s not this crazy conservative person all the way on the right. And I think that’s what the state of Arkansas really needs.”
“I think it benefits me, because those who are partisan or who tend to be more partisan will see me and say, ‘OK, now this is the guy we can work with, let’s just bounce this idea off of him,'” Flores muses. “And I’ve experienced that, and I think I’m humbled and happy when a fellow council member will reach out about something and ask me what my thoughts are, even before they move forward with it. I think, ‘OK, well, my opinion is valued.’ It’s great to see, but I think it’s valued because I don’t have this barrier set up — I’m not already planning to vote yes or no. Instead, it’s ‘Let’s discuss this, talk about the pros and cons, and how we can better the city or the lives of the residents of Springdale.'”
He’s doing a lot of listening and learning, says Flores, as he settles into the job. As far as a five-year plan — for the first time in his life, he says, he doesn’t have one.
What he has is motivation.
“This is going to sound somewhat cliché, but what I really want to emphasize is this American dream,” he says. “I have great pride in this country, and in me being an American. I’m sitting here talking to you in my law office. Growing up, a poor kid to a single mother of four, my vision of what I could do in life was narrow and limited. But the more mentors I had, the more people that invested in me — they really just pulled back this curtain from this window that I was looking at, metaphorically, and just said, “You can also do this, and you can also do this,’ and helped me see more opportunities in life.
“This kid, whose family came here with nothing, who worked their asses off to become something — he’s been able to do that. It’s because of the people of Springdale, but it’s also because of the American dream. Now it’s time for me to give back and give people an opportunity, or a ripple of hope of, ‘If I can do this, you sure as hell can too.’ That’s the stage I think I’m in now.”
(Courtesy Photo)
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Self-Portrait
Kevin Flores
The question I hear most often in my role as Springdale City Council member is “What’s next?” To which, in all sincerity, I do not know the answer. I simply want to fulfill the job before me to the best of my ability.
My greatest achievement is earning the title of U.S. Marine. Joining the Marine Corps is still the best decision that I have made in my life.
The greatest political obstacle we’re facing in America today is hyper-partisanship. It has become very difficult for folks with differing views to come to the table and work out a deal. This is particularly true at the state and federal level. Municipal government is appealing to me because a lot of us that participate tend to know each other through being a part of this great community. Most importantly, we see our constituents every day, which I believe leads to better discourse and accountability. We have no other choice but to come to the table and work out a deal that is better for our community as a whole.
My favorite place in Springdale is the Odd Soul on Emma Avenue. They have some of the best pizza in Northwest Arkansas and a very friendly environment.
My favorite childhood memory is selling newspaper subscriptions throughout Northwest Arkansas the summer between sixth and seventh grade. Going door to door during those long, hot days really helped instill a work ethic in me and helped me hone my communication skills. The additional cash that alleviated my family’s financial burden was certainly a plus as well.
When I’m faced with a significant problem, the first thing I do is what every other proven leader would do: I call my mom.
One thing people would be surprised to learn about me is that I have traveled the world and eaten some wonderful cuisine, but a hot dog is still one of my favorite foods, especially when you add a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer to the mix.
If I had not become a lawyer, my career right now would be a diplomat or a CIA agent.
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