30722: Hermantin(News)Delray Beach's Haitian council faces tough road (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flhaitian0708pcjul08,0,7311592.story
Delray Beach's Haitian council faces tough road

Haitian group offers immigration services


By Dianna CahnSouth Florida Sun-SentinelJuly 8, 2007
Delray Beach Guerline Delva spent her first nights in the United States in 
jail, alone and heartbroken, wrenched from her home in Haiti and the people she 
loved.It was a time of great political strife, and Delva's husband was an 
opposition politician. So, she left her baby daughter with Delva's mother and 
sisters and boarded a plane for Miami.That was four years ago. Today, Delva has 
political asylum and a new home — hard-won victories she gained with the help 
of the Haitian American Community Council, she said. They showed her how to 
apply for a visa and a green card, and helped with the forms in English. "I got 
all my work papers with them," she said, sitting in the council's offices 
recently, her daughter Schebania finally by her side. "I just give them my 
donation. They never tell me it's too little."For Delva and dozens of 
immigrants like her, the Haitian American Community Council is a lifeline into 
American society. It has been operating for 15 years in their Delray Beach 
neighborhood. Services are free.But this year, the council came close to 
shutting its doors after its main funding source pulled the plug. Palm Beach 
County, the organization's only other funding source nearly did the same, over 
concerns about the council's administrative and fiscal performance.The first 
blow came in September, when the Children Services Council of Palm Beach County 
halted its annual funding of $531,674 for two Haitian council programs, family 
empowerment and Head Start, and moved the work to another agency. This followed 
a recommendation by Palm Beach County staff members in July that the county 
stop funding an average of $150,000 a year for the council's immigration 
program. If it had, the Haitian council would have been penniless."This has 
been a decline over years," said Renee Constantino, of the county's Human 
Services division. "We kept giving them support. We kept giving them technical 
assistance like CSC did. Finally, they just fell apart."But county 
commissioners, led by Mary McCarty who represents Delray Beach, decided to 
extend the council's contract one more year.The decision was rough on Carolyn 
Zimmerman, board president and co-founder of the Haitian council. Zimmerman 
loves to recall stories of how she started the agency with her friend Daniella 
Henry, a Haitian, how they made trips to Haiti, worked tirelessly for better 
treatment for Haitians, and started an AIDS program at the height of the 
crisis. "This is not an easy position, when you are dealing with people's hurts 
in their lives," Zimmerman said. "You go home and think, 'How can I help that 
person? What can I do?' And you don't know, and you can't sleep."She 
acknowledged that the council had some financial problems and went through a 
series of directors in recent years, but said these were ordinary pitfalls of a 
nonprofit organization and insisted that the books were in order."I don't think 
that very many people could run the organization with the little amount of 
money we use," she said. A review by the children's council conducted in August 
found that its staff had cited the Haitian council on 10 occasions in recent 
years for governance, fiscal and programmatic issues, and placed the Haitian 
council on corrective action plans twice.The agency fell behind on bills and 
tax payments and didn't follow protocol in seeking funding for debts, the 
review said."The agency does not maintain a sufficient cash flow to function," 
it said. It cited "grave concerns … that they may be close to, if not actually, 
insolvent."The children's council moved the programs it funded to the 
Broward-based Minority Development and Empowerment, taking the program staff 
with them. That allowed the programs and services to continue, children's 
council spokeswoman Marlene Passell said."It didn't affect the community even 
for a minute," she said. Zimmerman and Haitian council program supervisor Lola 
Pierre-Louis said they pushed for the arrangement."I said, 'If you take our 
funds away, you have to find a place for these employees,'" Zimmerman said."I 
still refer clients to them," Pierre-Louis added. "We want to see the Haitian 
Americans get the help they deserve."The only service remaining with the 
Haitian council is immigrant services, rendered by Pierre-Louis and two other 
staff members. The council helps immigrants fill out forms, helps with 
translations and refers immigration lawyers when needed.It's about giving 
people a leg up to a new life, Zimmerman said.In the lobby recently, Delva sat 
with her new husband, Jean, their new baby, and Delva's daughter Schebania from 
her former life in Haiti.Delva's husband in Haiti disappeared, she said. Two 
years ago, she married Jean and started building a new life, working toward her 
naturalization and finally recently sending for Schebania. Now, she was 
starting Schebania down the same path. For them, the Haitian council is a key 
part of the process."It would be hard if they close it," Jean said. "If you 
need information, you come and you get information. If you need to fill out 
papers, you come and they help. If you need translation, you come here. If they 
close, it's going to hurt the community. It's going to be really bad." Dianna 
Cahn can be reached at dcahn@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5501.
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel














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