New Partnerships, New Spaces, Same Mission
The past twelve months have been among the most challenging in the 25-year history of the Haitian Education & Leadership Program. Our students, staff, and institution have navigated a period of extraordinary change. We closed our offices after bullets pierced our walls this spring. We were forced to close student dorms and relocate our staff multiple times. We had to reimagine almost every fine detail of our day-to-day mission delivery. Yet through it all, our mission remains steadfast: to build a more just society in Haiti by investing in its most promising young leaders.
Despite the hardships, we have made remarkable progress:
• For the first time in two years, we will enroll a freshman class this October—thanks to a new partnership with the American University of the Caribbean (AUC) in Les Cayes.
• We are opening a new center in one of the few relatively safe neighborhoods in the capital region. This space will serve third- through fifth-year students enrolled at universities in Port-au-Prince, providing a stable, secure environment with reliable electricity and internet. It will also allow students to meet with advisors and attend in-person ESL and leadership classes.
• Thanks to the dedication of our academic team, student retention remains near 100%, and our graduates continue to inspire with their resilience and achievements.
We will also continue to expand our impact beyond our own facilities to reach more students across the country. We’ve trained teachers at Andrew Greene High School in Cité Soleil to implement a four-year leadership curriculum. We’ve taught ESL courses to graduate students at Quisqueya University, and we’ve helped implement our open-source student database at the University of Fondwa. These efforts have become even more vital as the security situation in the capital continues to deteriorate, making daily operations increasingly difficult.
Adapting how we deliver on our mission is not easy. It requires resilience, flexibility, vision—and yes, it costs more. But just as we have weathered political upheaval, natural disasters, and now extreme insecurity, we will continue to move forward with determination and hope. We remain deeply committed to the belief that Haiti’s youth have the power to lead their country toward a better future.