SANTA ROSA, Zacatecas, Mexico — Fausto Goyita Avila proudly stands where the dusty dirt road leading to this town merges with fresh pavement extending to the highway.

He says the project is a prime example of how vital expatriates remain to the economy of this rural region of Zacatecas.

In the Sain Alto municipality where he is president — the equivalent of a county mayor — nearly 19 percent of households receive remittances, or payments from people who have left, according to a Zacatecas development plan.

But that isn't the only way those who have left are chipping in. Avila is an advocate of Mexico's Tres por Uno (Three for One) program, which combines donations from Mexicans living in the United States with Mexican government funding for infrastructure projects such as roads.

"The vision is that people will have a better life," he says in Spanish. "People want a nicer place to live."

The road project here in Santa Rosa was sparked by Salvador Lazalde, a native of the town who now calls Utah home. Lazalde says that when he first had the idea to raise funds to pave the five kilometers of road, at roughly $125,000 each, it wasn't easy.

"People look around, and they say, 'No way,"' he says. "So I say, 'Let's do it one (kilometer) at a time. If I can get $100 per person, I need to to find 50, 100, 200 people."'

Showing a list of names of Santa Rosa natives from across the West of the United States who have donated, Lazalde says he's so far been able to finish two kilometers. This year, he's raising funds for the third kilometer.

"The first kilometer was a dream," he says. "Now, no way, it's not a dream any more."

Such projects represent a collaboration between people in Mexico and those living in the United States who still have strong ties to their homeland.

The way the Tres por Uno program works is simple: Each dollar raised by a club in the United States is matched by $1 each from the municipal, state and federal governments, says Alfredo Gutierrez, coordinator of Institutes of Mexicans Abroad for the Salt Lake Mexican Consulate.

Lazalde heads one of at least six clubs in Utah organized to participate in the program. A Pueblo club wants to revamp a downtown, and a Guanajuato club has applied to build a hospital.

Across the United States, there are some 250 clubs, some of which have formed 80 federations, or umbrella groups, that contribute to Tres por Uno in Zacatecas alone, says Fernando Robledo Martinez, director general of the Instituto Estatal de Migracion in Zacatecas.