Haitian Community Activists Bid Hello/Goodbye to Educators

Some 200 Haitian community activists and their supporters gathered at Autun’s in Queens Village on Saturday June 11 to celebrate the appointment of Carole Berotte Joseph to the Presidency of Bronx Community College.

According to the announcement released by the City University of New York, “Dr. Berotte Joseph, whose career in higher education spans more than 35 years, has been president of Massachusetts Bay Community College, located in Wellesley Hills, Mass., since 2005. Her appointment as the President of Bronx Community College marks her return to CUNY, where she served as Vice President of Academic Affairs at Hostos Community College in the Bronx after having been a faculty member at City College for over 20 years. Prior to becoming president of MassBay, she was Chief Academic Officer and Dean of Academic Affairs at Dutchess Community College of The State University of New York. A prominent authority in the field of sociolinguistics, she is the co-editor, with professor Arthur Spears of City College, of the groundbreaking book, “The Haitian Creole Language: History, Structure, Use and Education,” which was published last year.”

The event also paid tribute to the work of the Haitian Bilingual Education and Technical Assistance Center (HABETAC) which, along with all the other New York State Funded BETAC, will close its doors on June 30 because of the budget axe.

HABETAC was created in 1993 through an endeavor of the City College of New York (CUNY) under the leadership of Dr. Carole Berotte Joseph, Carmen Perez Hogan at the New York State Education Department, and Haitian community members and educators. Its purpose was to address the unmet educational needs and concerns of Haitian students and their families.

Three retiring Haitian-American educators and school professionals, amongst them Yolène Ambroise, were recognized.

HAUP is delighted to have co-sponsored the event which was held in a festive atmosphere punctuated by performances from Buyu Ambroise and his band,  laughter and dancing to konpa.

HAUP calls for accelerated implementation of language access policies in NY

Last May, the NYC Council’s Committee on  Immigration invited HAUP to submit testimony regarding implementation of Executive Order, an order issued by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of the City of NY which directed City Agencies to develop and implement policies on language access to facilitate the “successful integration of immigrant New Yorkers into the civic, economic and cultural life of the City.” Below are excerpts from the statement submitted to the consideration of members of the Committee by HAUP.

The Haitian Presence in New York City

Haitians began to settle legally in large numbers in New York in the 1960s. They left behind a beloved homeland which was unfortunately ruled by one of the most terrible dictatorships in the western hemisphere. Thanks to the family reunification provisions of the 1965 Immigration Act, their relatives eventually joined them in their new homes in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. The Haitian émigrés were soon joined by asylum-seekers who came by the boatload and on tourist visas as the political and economic situation continued to worsen in Haiti through the 1970s and 1980s.

Read more »

Immigrants to Suffer Under Proposed NY State Budget Cuts

NY State Governor David Patterson delivered a State of the State address on January 7, 2008 in which he detailed proposals to deal with NY’s fiscal crisis, brought on by the year-long  recession, Wall Street’s virtual implosion and a looming depression. Of the measures proposed, slashing $2.6 billion in school funding appears to be the most hurtful to immigrant children and families.

The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), which speaks for hundreds of immigrant organizations and advocates, including HAUP, issued a strong statement deploring the cuts as “unconscionable.”

We staunchly oppose Governor Paterson’s proposals to slash critical services and programs for the most vulnerable New Yorkers.  We are extremely disappointed that the only two immigrant-specific programs offered by the state—the NYS Refugee Assistance Program and the NYS Citizenship Initiative—are facing deep cuts of over 50 and 20 percent, respectively.  Funding for these programs was grossly inadequate to begin with.  These cuts mean that even fewer immigrants would find the help they need to resettle in the U.S., learn English, or become citizens. 

The governor’s proposed cuts of $2.6 billion in school funding would constitute the most drastic education cuts in the state’s history, and immigrant students would be particularly hit hard.  Given the already huge achievement gap between immigrant English language learners and other students (the ELL dropout rate is among the highest in the school system, with one in two dropping out of high school over seven years), these proposed cuts are unconscionable. 

HAUP, like many other community-based organizations that rely on state and city funding to deliver deeply needed services to the greater Cambria Heights community, has been preparing itself to thrive and grow despite the many obstacles that current economic situation has placed in its path. We are prepared to tighten our belt while delivering essential services. Cutting funds to schools that have long suffered from State underfunding could very well jeopardize economic recovery. Investment in education and essential services is a sine qua non for economic growth and social stability in our community. For the immigrant newcomer from the Caribbean, Haiti in particular, English-as-a-Second-Language classes are essential  to their rapid integration into American life and enhance their productivity.

We join others in urging the Governor to reconsider its budget proposals, and to do so in consultation with the constituencies that may be most affected by ill-advised and counterproductive measures.