On January 25, 2012, the Committee on Immigration of the New York City Council held a hearing on Resolution 1096 calling upon the Department of Homeland Security to create a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program. The Resolution, introduced by Haitian-American Councilor Mathieu Eugene, would benefit Haitians recovering from the January 12, 2010 earthquake by allowing Haitians with approved family-sponsored immigrant visa petitions to come to the United States.

Following is the statement that was delivered at the hearing on behalf of the Haitian-Americans United for Progress (HAUP)

My name is Jocelyn McCalla and I am pleased to testify today before this Committee on Resolution No. 1096, on behalf of the Haitian-Americans United for Progress (HAUP).

HAUP was founded 37 years ago by Haitian-American community leaders and advocates to help resettle and integrate Haitian asylum-seekers and immigrants in New York City. These leaders included the Most Rev. Guy Sansaricq, auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn and Ms. Carolle Berotte Joseph who is currently serving as President of Bronx Community College.

HAUP is located in Cambria Heights which is home to the largest Haitian-American enclave outside of Brooklyn. While HAUP began as a volunteer-based organization focused initially on responding to the needs of Haitian immigrants and refugees, it has since expanded and offers its multitude of services to newcomers and citizens alike. Under the leadership of Executive Director Elsie Saint-Louis, HAUP has risen to serve annually some 15,000 people who come to us from Cambria Heights proper as well as from Queens Village, Jamaica, Springfield Gardens and Laurelton. We provide services to clients in Brooklyn through our ambulatory programs. Residents of Elmont and Hempstead on Long Island also seek our services and support, since we are located so close to the border with Nassau County.

Regarding Resolution 1096

The Obama Administration responded remarkably fast and aggressively to the major catastrophe that hit Haiti some two years ago on January 12, 2010. The United States deployed thousands of troops to support the actions of a government that had literally collapsed, and to facilitate the relief and recovery response that poured from all over the world into Haiti. Stateside, it promptly granted Temporary Protected Status to Haitian non-immigrants who were in the United States at the time. Last year, the Administration extended TPS for this class and broadened it to include Haitians who had hurriedly joined their relatives after the earthquake because their livelihood had been destroyed. Most recently, the Administration has decided to allow Haitians to take part in the guest worker programs that U.S. growers and farmers use to ensure that they have sufficient legal labor to bring in the harvest.

Yet there’s one more step that the Administration could have taken and which – as Res. 1096 notes – it has not taken: it has not speeded up the family reunification process for Haitian immigrants who are already in the pipeline. These Haitians could be paroled and safely reunited with their relative sponsors in the United States while awaiting their final immigrant visa interviews. Such a program already exists for Cuban nationals. Failure to establish it for Haitians raises issues of double-standards.

HAUP supports the Resolution and urges the Committee on Immigration and the entire NY City Council to approve it. Such an action would send a very strong signal to the Obama Administration that this great city – which has one of the most diverse and productive immigrant populations in the United States – supports a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program

Haitian Reality Today

Haiti’s recovery barely got off the ground in 2010, in spite of the close to $10 billion pledged at the March 2010 International Donors Conference, and the commitment to hasten efforts to build Haiti back better. As time went by, frustrations with political management of Haitian affairs and of the recovery efforts led both Haitians and their international allies to turn to electoral politics. These turned out to be highly controversial; a disaster was only averted by heavy-handed management of the process by the US and its key allies. Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, remains home to more than half a million internally displaced earthquake refugees. Many have returned to homes that are unsafe.

While the United States and its allies have done much in the past year to support Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction, economic growth and political stability remain a dream deferred. We hope that Haiti’s new President and legislature will provide the leadership necessary to allow for growth and prosperity. Most observers however agree that real economic progress is years away. Meanwhile, Haiti remains vulnerable to the vagaries of nature (floods, tropical storms, hurricanes) and societal misfortunes (health emergencies such as cholera outbreaks, malnutrition, increased commodities and food costs due to world price fluctuations).

Conclusion

Haitian-Americans United for Progress resolutely supports the adoption of Res. 1096. We are prepared to offer support to the beneficiaries of a Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program once it is promulgated. We can help ease resettlement woes for the newcomers, and assist their relatives who are either resident or citizens with the inevitable questions that arise in such situations. In short, we believe that this is the right thing to do and we urge the Committee and the Council to adopt the resolution unanimously.

The City of New York is just about ready to request the release of monies promised for the renovation of our new headquarters.  This means the long-awaited, long hoped-for construction we have worked so hard to bring to life is very near.  So near we can almost hear work crews pouring concrete for the foundations of our new, modern, two-story offices with a bright basement.

But there’s a catch.

New York Cityneeds to ensure HAUP has cash to cover expenses during construction in the event its money is not turned over to us in due time.  Consequently NYC has requested we have on hand about $600,000 for a 12-month period, the anticipated building time. This money will not be spent, rather held as a guarantee that once construction start, it will remain on schedule without delays.

HAUP does not have that amount of money in reserve.  That is why we are turning to you and to many others, asking that you entrust HAUP with $1,000 or more for a year.  This money will be held in trust and reported on quarterly; and your contribution will be returned to you in full.  It will simply provide a necessary “bridge” to float the project until receipt of promised/guaranteed NYC reimbursement.

We know times are tough, but bad times will be followed by better times.  Our new building is a down payment on just such a future, helping HAUP provide improved and diversified services, build community and empowerment, in a modern, comfortable setting.

Walking away from a $2 million gift is simply a no-no.  Let’s stand shoulder-to-shoulder.  Please say “Yes, we
can–and we will!”

WITH THE HELP OF OUR FRIENDS

HAUP is most grateful for the support of the following for helping make HAUP’s new
headquarters a reality:

New York City Councilman Leroy Comrie, $1.3 million;

PresidentPro-TemporeNew York State Senator Malcolm Smith, $250,000;

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, $200,000;

New York State Assemblywoman Barbara Clark $150,000;

New York State Assemblyman William Scarborough, $50,000;

And many community supporters like you, $70,000 to date.

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.

The Committees on Civil Rights and Immigration of the New York City Council held a joint hearing on  November 19 to discuss the city’s efforts to ensure a higher count next year when the census is carried out, and to vote on two resolutions which expressed the sentiment of the City’s elected leaders that persons incarcerated  in far away places should be added to the count of the community that they lived in prior to being thrown in jail. The Haitian-Americans United for Progress was invited to testify. Following are the relevant parts of the testimony.

Ensuring that New York City’s Hard to Count Populations Are Identified
and Encouraged to Participate in the 2010 Census

Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued Executive Order No. 127 five months ago to emphasize the city’s determination to ensure that the 2010 census reflects more accurately the city’s population size. It is an open secret that in the past New York City may have lost its fair share of federal dollars because the census count has regularly failed to reach the hard-to-count populations in the city. The Census 2000 response rate for New York City was 55 percent, well below the national average of 67 percent. Given that a lower than average response rate deeply affects the quality of life in our communities, we wholeheartedly subscribe to plans and campaigns that aim to get residents of our great city to provide information to the census either via mail or when the census workers come knocking at their doors.

Everyone who is involved with the census count understands that networking and extensive cooperation are essential to the success of this effort. The cooperation of our group, the Haitian-Americans United for Progress (HAUP) is a given. In recent weeks, we have welcomed to our offices several Census district leaders to whom we have provided information about the communities that we serve in Queens and Brooklyn and with whom we have shared outreach strategies. We believe that the Haitian immigrant communities – which are concentrated in the Greater Cambria Heights area of Queens and in East Flatbush, and Crown Heights in Brooklyn – fit the definition of hard-to-count communities, because of language barriers, the level of misunderstanding that may exist as to where the information collected ends up, and doubts as to whether it will lead to positive difference in their lives. These obstacles can be overcome when confidence is built up through trusted institutions like HAUP.

Yet as we all know, trust does not spring eternal. It must be constantly nurtured and gained. We have gained much experience in doing just that through our 34 years of service delivery to our communities. It bears emphasizing that in this particular instance, trust is built and gained through a significant grassroots effort, which may be carried out via a combined volunteer and paid staff effort. In other words, it takes resources. Yet resources are woefully absent from the mix. Given the urgency of the hour and the benefits to the City of ensuring a higher than average census count, we strongly recommend that the City address this issue immediately. HAUP is prepared to help as much as possible, yet just like many other civic-minded organizations we have had to tighten our belts because of the recessionary squeeze. Providing resources to organizations like ours so that we can be involved in the grassroots efforts to get our communities to come out for the census is an investment that will be well worth it.

On Proposed Resolutions

Both of the resolutions before the Committees – proposed resolution 190-A referring to the legal residency of prisoners, and the resolution proposed by Council Member Seabrook – make sense.

Conclusion

We strongly recommend that there be closer consultation and cooperation with community-based organizations like HAUP which remains on the front line of efforts to ensure the smooth integration of new Americans of Haitian origin as well as those hailing from other nationalities. Our role as advocates and facilitators for the community members who seek our services makes us ideal partners with the city agencies that seek to develop winning strategies and plans. We know intimately the issues that they face. We can walk them through the system when the system itself remains unresponsive. If we are unable to do so, our failure is simply due to the lack of resources on hand. A stronger partnership with HAUP and other agencies like it should result in a greater capacity to deliver meaningful services to our constituents and empower them to take a more active part in the City’s well-being. That includes ensuring a high census count in hard-to-count communities.

On October 10,  Haitian-Americans United for Progress (HAUP) celebrated 34 years of service to the Greater Cambria Heights Community, in particular the Haitian refugees and immigrants who made Queens and Brooklyn their permanent home after emigrating from their homeland.

Guests came by the hundreds to the annual gala celebration which is traditionally held at Antun’s in Queens Village. Key officials from the City and State of New York came to recognize HAUP’s leadership role throughout these years, pledge their continuing support and urge the organization’s constituents to do the same.

Thanks to HAUP’s sustained efforts over the years, NY City and State agencies have collectively pledged some $3,500,000 towards the hard and soft costs of a new building to replace present facilities which have reached the end of their useful life.

There remains just $150,000 left to be raised to cover the soft costs. It is an achievement that the Haitian community can be proud of, yet it cannot remain passively on the sidelines waiting for some other angel to bestow its blessings in the community center. “We are our own angels,” said Elsie Accilien, Executive Director, adding:

“Our friends in City and State governments have done their part to help us achieve this milestone. They are now looking to us for the very last push. Just 1,500 donors contributing $100 each are needed to get us to the finish line.”

cross-posted on Queens Village Times

By Ivan Pereira

Thursday, August 27, 2009 9:17 AM EDT

A Cambria Heights nonprofit dedicated to helping the neighborhood’s Haitian community received a major boost to expand its operations Tuesday.

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) joined other southeast Queens elected officials outside the Haitian Americans United for Progress offices at 221-05 Linden Blvd. to award the group a $250,000 capital allocation.

Elsie St. Louis Accilien, executive director of HAUP, said the money will be used to help fund the organization’s new, larger headquarters.

“Through its dedicated staff and critical services offered, HAUP improves the quality of life for over 15,000 members of the southeast Queens community on a yearly basis,” Smith said in a statement. “The funds I have secured for HAUP will allow them to continue the extraordinary work they do for the Haitian and immigrant communities in southeast Queens.”

HAUP, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, runs 18 free programs out of its office for Haitian families. Some of the programs include immigration and citizenship classes, after-school programs, job training and cultural events.

“Through the leadership of Elsie St. Louis Accilien … and her staff, this organization is a place where those who need support, guidance, encouragement and services are welcome,” state Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens Village) said in a statement.

The group also sponsors programs that help immigrants lend a hand to their friends and family who are still living in Haiti. In the fall it helped to donate clothing and supplies to the nation after several hurricanes devastated many of its towns and villages.

The senator said HAUP’s offices had been in need of an expansion and renovations. Although the group raised $3 million for the proposed $3.5 million construction project, Accilien said they needed a lift to make the project a reality.

“I was losing faith that we weren’t going to get money for our new building, and then when we received word from Sen. Smith about the money, we were ecstatic,” she said.

HAUP will demolish its current offices and replace them with a new, two-story building with private meeting rooms, new offices, classrooms, a kitchen and a conference room, according to Smith. The design of the front of the building, scheduled to begin construction next year, will reflect Haitian culture with a drum shape design, the senator said.

Smith and his fellow electeds pledged to help the center during the construction to make sure that it can open with a reinvigorated spirit as well as a new home.

“It has been my privilege to work with HAUP on numerous projects assisting the immigrant community here and abroad, and I look forward to continue working with my colleagues in government to ensure that this project becomes a reality,” City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) said in a statement.

Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.

Senator Malcolm Smith, President Pro-Tempore of NY State’s Senate presented the Haitian-Americans United for Progress (HAUP) a grant of $250,000 to cover some of the soft costs of a new building that the community service organization plans to build in the near future. The grant nearly brings HAUP to the point where it will be able to break ground on the new facilities.  So far through staff efforts, HAUP has raised about $3.5 million in capital funding as follows:

1. $3 million from NY City through the good offices of Councilman Leroy Comrie;
2. $250,000 from the Queensborough President’s Office, Ellen Marshall;
3. $250,000 from NY State through the good offices of Senator Malcolm Smith; and
4. $50,000 from Assemblyman William Scarborough

HAUP hopes that Haitians in New York and elsewhere will pitch generously to raise the remaining $150,000 before the end of the year. To that end it will launch a vibrant campaign to provide them with the opportunity to contribute financially.

The event featured a who’s who of key elected officials in Queens and the Greater Cambria Heights area.  In addition to Senator Malcolm Smith, Queens borough President Ellen Marshall, NYC City Councilman Leroy Comrie, Nassau County Legislator John J. Ciotti, Town of Hempstead Councilman Ed Ambrosino came to show support and appreciation for HAUP which after 34 years of service continues to meet the needs and dreams of thousands. Several founding members came to celebrate this momentous event. Among them Marie Fouche, Monique Blanchard, Laurette Delaleu, Marcus Mordan, Rulx Rosefort, Pudens Devarieux.  Architects Nicole Hollant-Denis and Rodney Leon, and Construction Manager Rudolf J. Gedeon were also recognized for their involvement in designing what is sure to be a landmark building on Linden Boulevard .

Thanks to the due diligence of New York State Senator Malcolm Smith, Haitian-Americans United for Progress (HAUP) has been awarded a grant of $250,000 towards its capital program.

“We are extremely delighted to receive this award,” said Ms. Elsie Accilien, Executive Director of the 34 year-old multi-service agency, adding:

“We have long looked to the day when we can break ground on new facilities in order to better serve our constituents and the thousands of clients who seek our services. This grant puts us one step closer to that goal.”

In 2005, HAUP had secured a capital grant of $3 million dollars from the City of New York, thanks to the support of Councilman Leroy Comrie. This year’s grant will cover some, not all of the soft costs associated with the renovation of the facilities. Yet to be raised is an additional $150,000 toward soft costs.

“The NY State grant is a vote of confidence in HAUP’s ability to meet the needs of our community. We hope that our many supporters will go the extra mile and help us close the remaining gap with their financial contributions. We are committed to the revitalization of our neighborhood. Moving forward with facilities renovation will also give a tremendous financial and psychological comfort to our neighbors at a time of economic uncertainty.”

The picture gallery below shows some of the activities that children did in the past.

[View with PicLens]

Save the document on your computer, fill it out, print and bring the form and registration fee to HAUP at 221-05 Linden Blvd, Cambria Heights, NY. We will happily be of service to you.

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.

Haitians in the US have had a hard time fitting in because they have suffered from federal policies that targeted them as simply opportunistic job-seekers and refused to acknowledge the lack of democratic freedoms as the key cause of poverty in Haiti, and thus the reason for their emigration. Exclusionary immigration policies generally set the tone for State and municipal policy. Additionally, their unique history, language and character set them apart from other immigrant groups from Latin America and the Caribbean who spoke either Spanish or English and therefore could more easily move into the mainstream. In the early 1980s, Haitians were singled out as carriers of the HIV virus to the United States and were stigmatized.

Today the Department of City Planning estimates the foreign-born population of Haitian origin at about 100,000, of which 50% are not English-proficient. Other estimates of the community of Haitians are much higher. Regardless, the services available to facilitate the integration of Haitian immigrants in the life of New York City have not always been adequate. They got by with the assistance of self-help groups that helped them adapt to their new environment. A few of these groups, including HAUP, continue to provide dearly-needed services with limited resources. We are thankful for the support that we get from State and City Agencies, yet our limited resources hinder our ability to have more of an impact on the speed at which Haitian immigrants integrate and contribute to the civic and political life of this City.

Executive Order No. 120 is a Step Forward

About 9 months ago, on July 22, 2008 Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued an order directing 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.”

Like many of our CBO colleagues and advocates, we hailed Executive Order No. 120 as a significant step forward. It obligated city agencies to develop plans to provide services in Haitian Creole, along with Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, and Italian. These plans were to include:

1. Identification and translation of “essential public documents.”
2. Interpretation services.
3. Training of frontline workers and managers on language access policies and procedures.
4. Posting of signage in conspicuous locations about the availability of free interpretation services.
5. Establishment of an appropriate monitoring and measurement system.
6. Creation of appropriate awareness strategies for the agencies’ service populations.

City agencies were given 45 days from the effective date of the order to appoint a Language Access Coordinator and to develop plans by January 1, 2009. We are thankful to the City’s Office of Immigrant Affairs which published on its website all the plans developed so far and made it possible for us to assess and compare them to the needs we see in the Haitian community.

Our Concerns

Most of the plans put forward so far call for full implementation of the language access policy in two to three years. They all call for the development of agency-wide language banks (where and if none exists), the use of contractors to provide language services, staff training as appropriate, means to identify language needs and to evaluate how well they are complying with the Executive Order. It’s all well, except that:

1. Implementation should be speeded up. We are fully aware that adequate implementation of the language access policy takes time and effort, because staff has to be trained and adapt to policies that are only now catching with the reality that New York City today truly embodies the melting pot. Yet we believe that the timeline inevitably and needlessly leaves immigrants with language access needs behind, particularly at this critical juncture in the City’s life when economic growth has slowed down, unemployment is high and the need for skilled navigation of the services that the City offers to its residents greater than in boom times.
2. No one ethnic group can claim to be in the majority since the City has become so diversified. Although we subscribe to the notion that all New Yorkers, regardless of their background and ethnicity should be able to communicate in the English language, and share a common culture, we also believe that the embrace of multicultural diversity leads to more tolerance and understanding of “the other.” More importantly it leads to more effective delivery of services, and greater understanding between the provider and the recipient. This truth is not readily apparent to city agency workers who are burdened with keeping the city functional while earning relatively modest wages.
3. Translators or interpreters are not always available at city agencies. Our staff continues to escort clients to school, hospital and Medicaid appointments because usually agency-provided translators are unavailable as promised.
4. When translators/interpreters were present, the quality of their translation was poor. The assumption that an employee of Haitian origin is automatically fluent in both Haitian Creole and English is the wrong assumption. We have encountered employees whose English communications skills are poor and whose Haitian Creole skills were even more mediocre.
5. Translating documents and providing them to Haitian newcomers – as some schools have done in order to empower parents — is insufficient. We usually find ourselves being called upon to explain to the parents the content of the documents and to mediate with school officials. Lost in translation is the understanding that Haitian parents may have no more than a primary school education under their belt, that the words used in the Creole translation – which are unfortunately mostly literal translations – may not convey the message accurately, and that the translated content as a whole is beyond the grasp of the Haitian parent.
6. We note that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene plans on translating “essential documents” only in Chinese and Spanish, because they account for 96% of the demand on the Department’s services. We disagree with such an approach which assumes that demand for other language services will remain proportionately flat.

Recommendations

We truly believe that if implemented as intended Executive Order No. 120 will trigger greater demand on the services provided by city agencies. New York City’s immigrants and new Americans will also get involved to a greater degree in municipal affairs. And as a result, the City will be really representative of its constituents.

We recommend that the pace at which plans for implementing the language access executive order be faster rather than slower. We appreciate the fact that turning the ship of state around, in other words retrofitting it to respond to a constituency that has grown more diverse, is not a simple matter. We know that it takes time and resources, which is why we believe that more resources should be made available to implement the order. The returns will substantially justify the costs.

We also recommend that there be closer consultation and cooperation with community-based organizations like HAUP which remains on the front line of efforts to ensure the smooth integration of new Americans of Haitian origin as well as those hailing from other nationalities. Our role as advocates and facilitators for the community members who seek our services makes us ideal partners with the city agencies that seek to develop winning strategies and plans. We know intimately the issues that they face. We can walk them through the system when the system itself remains unresponsive. If we are unable to do so, our failure is simply due to the lack of resources on hand. Consequently our final recommendation is that of a stronger partnership with HAUP and other agencies like it, a partnership that should result in a greater capacity to deliver meaningful services to our constituents and empower them to take a more active part in the City’s well-being.