Vision

The Haitian people face many challenges both in advancing their country out of poverty and in meeting life’s daily demands.  The earthquake of 2010 brought this small Caribbean nation’s plight into the world’s consciousness.  However, Haiti’s place as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere is not new.  The long-term solution for Haiti lies in its people and institutions.  Only when the Haitian people are in a position to help themselves can the country emerge from abject poverty and political turmoil.

We at the Haiti School Project believe that the most effective and efficient means of promoting self-sufficiency and economic development in Haiti is through collaboration with the Haitian people on education of the next generation.  We are committed to helping the Haitian youth learn the skills and develop the tools to achieve personal stability and prosperity while preparing them to accept the responsibility of leading their country out of poverty and toward sustainable growth.

Organization

The Haiti School Project is an entirely volunteer organization and an IRC Sec 501(c)(3) non-profit with a governing board comprised of five members. (See Governance and Our Story below)

Mission Statement

The Haiti School Project’s mission is to:

Support a sustained investment in education that will promote economic development and improve the quality of life in Haiti.

Goals  & Objectives

Complete construction of the L’Institution Mixte Bethleem de Villard 1(“Bethlehem School”) which is located in Villard, the L’Artibonite region of Haiti, by the mid 2013 and provide for the school’s future vitality and quality of education.

Action Steps

Raise $150,000 to achieve our goals and objectives which consist of program delivery, school construction, and support for ongoing operating expenses.  (See Budget below).

• Individual donors
• Foundations / grants
• Religious organizations
• Other

School construction (See Building Strategy below)

• Draft and finalize plans for School building.
• Research and develop local suppliers.
• Draft a construction schedule in consultation with general contractor.

The Haiti School Project will supervise construction of the Bethlehem School; disburse funds to local suppliers and contractor for labor after receiving appropriate accounting; provide construction documents; provide training as needed.  All work will be done by Haitians.

Build relationships with other non-profit, private, and governmental organizations in Haiti, as well as the US Agency for International Development, in order to facilitate our mission and leverage our efforts within the larger picture of Haitian development.

Collaborate with Clark University and other stakeholders in planned teacher-training program in the town of Villard, Haiti, in order to improve the quality of education the students will receive.

Provide ongoing support for teacher salaries, tuition grants, and school maintenance so the school staff will be able to focus their energies on educating the students

Establish a self-sustainable book program for the students of the Bethlehem School.  Haiti School Project will buy the initial books for all students who don’t have the necessary books. Parents will rent the books for the school year.  Adjustments will be made based on a parent’s ability to pay.  Funds raised will go to replacing and updating books as needed.

Teaming/Volunteers

The Haiti School Project is interested in working with global volunteers to assist us in accomplishing our mission.  We will coordinate volunteers for a variety of positions that vary in terms of expertise and duration where there may be one-off projects or on-going assignments.

Where The Haiti School Project is Today

The Haiti School Project has accomplished a great deal in its short history and is in a good position to achieve its mission.   We have gone from being a sponsored program of another non-profit in early 2011 to establishing our own non-profit corporation and have achieved federal recognition as a non-profit IRC Sec. 501(c)(3) entity.

We have in place the following:

• Responsible governing body comprised of five board members
• Central communication and marketing hub at our website, www.haitischoolproject.org
• Efficient fundraising infrastructure via the website to solicit and receive donations
• Architectural and structural engineering firm donating their services to design a school building that will be economical to build, conducive to learning, and earthquake- and hurricane- resistant
• Ongoing relationship with National Public Radio in publicizing our efforts
• Documentary film in production

Finances & Fundraising

The expenses of the organization have thus far been only legal and filing fees, insurance and accounting costs.  We realize that in moving forward we will incur administrative costs but are committed to keeping all non-program expenditures to a minimum.  A priority of the Board is that as much of the donated money as possible goes directly to achieving our primary goals and objectives.  With that in mind, the Haiti School Project utilizes the latest in technology–internet and cloud-based resources–to collaborate and network.  We are in many ways a virtual organization, thus avoiding many of the expenses of maintaining a physical presence.

It is a founding principle of our organization that we will be accountable for our actions and transparent in our dealings with all stakeholders.  We take very seriously our responsibility to effectively and efficiently use the money that has been donated to our organization.   In that regard the Haiti School Project will provide periodic updates on its website regarding its budget and expenses.  (See Budget below)

Governance

The Board of Director is comprised of the following members:

Fred Ireland
Co-Founder and Board of Directors member

Fred received his Doctor of Physical Therapy and Masters of Education in Exercise Physiology from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Masters of Physical Therapy from the University of Delaware in Newark, DE.  He is in private practice in North Carolina and is working on a book about nutrition and exercise for sustainable weight loss.

Alina Michelewicz
Board of Directors member

Alina is the coordinator of the teacher-training workshop that is scheduled for February 2012 in Villard, Haiti.  She is a student at Clark University in Worcester, MA studying International Development and Social Change and a member of Clark University’s Haiti Relief Initiative.  She got involved in the Haiti School Project after hearing about the school on an NPR Planet Money podcast. She first went to Haiti with an Experiential Learning Field School to the Southern Department to areas near Les Cayes and to the University of Notre Dame of Haiti and on her second trip visited Saint Marc and the School in Villard.  She is committed to improving education for children all over Haiti.

Tim Myers
Co-Founder and President of the Board of Directors 



Tim is a retired builder who has 35 years of construction experience in single-family custom homes and commercial multifamily residences as a carpenter, superintendent and project manager.  He is a graduate of Ohio State University with a BS in Soil Science.  Tim is committed to improve education in Haiti. Tim currently lives in Carbondale, Colorado.

Monica Punjabi
Board of Directors member and Secretary

Monica holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Entrepreneurship with a minor in Psychology from Northeastern University. She
has work experience in various facets of the banking industry at Credit Suisse, UBS and Wells Fargo. Monica also enjoys working with children and has spent time teaching math and English at an Akanksha center in Mumbai, India. Monica’s involvement with the Haiti School Project began after she heard the story on NPR’s Planet Money Podcast in June 2010 and emailed Tim asking how she could help. Monica brings strategic planning and execution skills to the Haiti School Project and is dedicated to promoting its initiatives toward a
better education system in Haiti.

David Reichow
Board of Directors member and Treasurer

David is an economist and Managing Director with Deloitte in Chicago.  He has more than 17 years of consulting experience in international economic policy, trade, and business matters.  He holds a Masters in Public Policy with a focus on International Economics, Law, and Business from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Wayne State University.  David has an active interest in promoting economic development in countries in transition or faced with natural disasters as well as humanitarian support to refugees in areas of conflict.  David first learned of the Haiti School Project through the June, 2010 15 NPR story, and reached out to Fred and Tim after hearing the follow-up story of the exhaustion of the initial $3,000 investment.  David brings a strategic/consulting perspective to the Haiti School Project.

Building Strategy

One of our primary goals for building the Bethlehem School is to use local materials and local labor and to teach better techniques for using local materials that will improve the building standards to meet earthquake and hurricane International Building Codes.  This school building will be seen as a place of refuge and needs to meet safety standards allowing for overcrowding during times of stress that may be due to flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes and possible political unrest.

Design and Schedule

The current school design is a two story building, approximately 3,000 square feet; two stories with six classrooms; and a small office for the principal.  This design incorporates site restrictions (e.g. water runoff) and calls for the school to be constructed of reinforced concrete columns and beams with concrete block walls between the reinforced columns.  The roof design is steel trusses with wood purlins and metal roofing attached.  This type of design is typical in commercial buildings in Haiti and would be familiar to local craftsmen.

Seasonal changes in weather can make construction progress difficult or even impossible; there are two raining seasons one in the spring and one in the fall during hurricane season.  Therefore planned construction is aimed for a building schedule over 90 to 100 days to minimize the impact from these seasonal changes.

Construction Steps

1. Inspect existing foundation by a registered local engineer to determine if it is sound and if not can the foundation be modified or does the foundation need to be replaced in order to be an earthquake stable structure.
2. Procure building materials.  Most materials will be available from St. Marc a moderate sized town about 25 kilometers to the south.  Some materials will need to come from Port-au-Prince.
3. Hire local contractor to complete the building or work with the engineer that started the building foundation.  The second approach will help in the training of the local craftsmen in better building techniques and it is just a matter of money and training.
4. Initiate construction which will probably be the demolition of the existing foundation.  Some of this material will be salvageable for use in the new school and some will be donated to locals.
5. Construct new foundation, main level floor, columns and beams.
6. Construct second level floor and second level columns and beams.
7. Install roof trusses and roof covering.

Construction Budget

The current school budget is $143,900 as outlined below.  Constructions costs include materials, labor, tool rental and purchase, translator, site security, Haiti Engineers, material transportation, travel to and from Haiti for supervision, living expenses while in Haiti and a contingency fund.  The costs are based on personal interviews with local business people and typical labor costs.

 Our Story

The Haiti School Project was created by Tim Myers and Fred Ireland after hearing a follow-up story on NPR’s Planet Money about a school building that was started in Villard, Haiti.  The building of the school had stalled, literally, at the foundation stage.  Tim and Fred had never met but heard the same story on NPR and wanted to help.  They each independently contacted NPR asking if something more could be done. They were put in touch with each other and this was the genesis of The Haiti School Project.

Adam Davidson and Catlin Kenny of the Planet Money team went down to the L’Artibonite area of Haiti in the Spring of 2010 to do a story about a region of the country not directly affected by the earthquake yet deeply impacted by it nonetheless.2  The L’Artibonite area of the country grows and processes rice as its main agricultural product.  After the earthquake, foreign aid brought in massive amounts of relief food to the country including significant quantities of rice.  This effectively depressed the price of locally grown rice, putting an already fragile local economy under increased strain.

While in the area doing this story Adam and Catlin met the principal of the L’Artibonite School in Villard.  Classes at the school were being held in a church and even out of doors.  The teachers were writing whole book lessons on blackboards because the students couldn’t afford books.  The principal remarked that if he just had a little money to buy books and a few supplies things would be so much better for the children.

As a result of that story on June 15, 2010, NPR listeners donated $3,000 to the school–so much money that the principal felt there was enough to build an entire school building.  Unfortunately, by the time the foundation was built the money for the entire project was used up and there was no apparent prospect for additional funding.  NPR aired a second story about this outcome on November 30, 2010. 3 The Haiti School Project was created to finish the school and establish a sustainable educational system for the students.

2 www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/06/15/127860878/tuesday-podcast-tk

3 www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/11/30/131705055/the-tuesday-podcast-what-your-3-000-bought-in-haiti

Budget

The Haiti School Project  is a federally recognized non-profit IRC Sec. 501(c)(3) organization helping Haiti’s children supported entirely by volunteers.  Our mission is to support Haiti with a sustained investment in education that will promote economic development in Haiti and improve their quality of life.

If you are wondering how you can help Haiti or how to donate to Haiti children, you have a unique opportunity here to do so. You can make  school donations that are tax deductible on this website via a secure PayPal Haiti donation button.

Our goal  is to complete construction in Haiti  of the L’Institution Mixte Bethleem de Villard  (“Bethlehem School”) which is located in Villard, near Saint-Marc in the L’Artibonite region of Haiti, by mid 2013 and provide for the school’s future vitality and quality of education in Haiti.