The Haitian League -- Lakou-USA Project, 2006
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In cooperation with community organizations, including religious institutions, The Haitian League proposes to create a network of lakou-style community centers in the United States where individuals, families and neighbors can find refuge and seek the attention, guidance and organizing skills they need to build self-reliance, exercise self-determination and create peaceful communities. According the 2004 Haitian League commissioned report, which is based on US census data, more than 2 million Haitian/ Haitian Americans live in the united State of America, excluding more than 20,000 Haitian American who either live or work in Haiti. The principal enclaves are New York (800,000+), Florida (700,000+), New Jersey (150,000+), Massachusetts (100,000+), Connecticut (50,000+), Illinois (100,000+), Pennsylvania (30,000+), and Georgia (50,000+). There are small pockets in other States. Because of language barriers and other unknown causes, the disenfranchised Haitian and Haitian American population has difficulty in assimilation/adaptation/integration, job training and employment, increased school drop outs, health disparity and taxation without representation. The per capita of the Haitian population is less than $12,000 per annum, which, by US standard, is below poverty line. The Haitian League proposes to create a network of interconnected urban community centers, fashioned in the spirit of the traditional lakou --family compound or sanctuary village, occasionally spelled lacou -- of 17th and 18th century Haiti. These were locations where individuals, families and neighbors gathered for the safety, attention, guidance, organization and productivity they needed to create peaceful and prosperous communities. The goals of this new network of community centers are to create, enjoy and increase the blessings of educational opportunity, sustained employment and happy marriages and family life, while eliminating such plagues as delinquency, divorce, maternal and infant mortality, child and spousal abuse, teen-age pregnancy, addiction and suicide. The centers will be artistically Haitian in appearance, feel and hospitality so that visitors, especially youths and newcomers to America will be able to gather comfortably and settle into communities with the basic things they need and without fear of being scrutinized or preyed upon by strangers or charged unreasonably for goods and services. The centers will be integral parts of the organizational structure and function of The Haitian League, especially to identify Haitian needs and trends and to offer democratic leadership training for Haitians' success in public and private life. The centers could also serve as research depots on Haiti for colleges and universities and other interested parties.
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