YÉLE HAITI FOUNDATION Mission Statement

YÉLE HAITI FOUNDATION
Mission Statement

Yéle Haiti (www.yele.org) is a grassroots non-political movement that has built global
awareness for Haiti while helping to sustain the country through short-term emergency relief
efforts and long-term programs in job creation, community development, health, agroforestry and the arts. Musician, producer, humanitarian, and Haiti’s Goodwill Ambassador Wyclef Jean founded Yéle Haiti in 2005, and on August 5th resigned from the organization in order to serve his native country by running for President of Haiti.

Yéle Haiti Programs for 2010
Haiti Community Network: Working with community leaders to coordinate relief activities.
Yéle is working with non-elected community leaders and elders within 34 tent camps and
distressed neighborhoods throughout Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area to identify needs
and coordinate aid delivery. All Yéle deliveries of food, water, clothing and supplies, and relief
services are undertaken in consultation with these leaders who in turn enlist local volunteers to
work alongside Yéle staff.


Yéle Haiti Diaspora Community Network
: Enhancing the impact of diaspora organizations.
On July 12th Yéle launched a program to provide grants to diaspora organization throughout the
US, Canada and Europe that have historically supported specific communities in Haiti to the
fields of health, education, micro-enterprise and other development activities. The purpose of
the network is to enhance the impact of this support to communities in Haiti by giving small
grants of between $5,000 and $10,000 to diaspora organizations for targeted projects in Haiti
that are contributing to the rebuilding of the country.


Yéle Corps
: Employing local people for street cleaning combined with vocational training.
On August 9th Yéle launched a major new initiative called Yéle Corps that supports the Haitian
government’s action plan for recovery through a program of, 1) job creation for up to 1,000 people
a day from tent camps and neighborhoods in distress, 2) garbage removal from the streets of these
same areas to reduce health risks and improve the quality of life, 3) vocational training for
carpentry and other basic skills, and, 4) a public awareness campaign that enlists popular
musicians to generate support for the program and change behavior regarding littering.
August 9, 2010

Supplies to Tent Camps: Collecting and shipping donated goods from the US for distribution in Haiti.
Immediately after the earthquake, Yéle began taking part in airlifts of relief supplies to Haiti.
Now we have a Yéle Haiti Donations Center in South Orange, New Jersey, where a steady
stream of individuals, faith communities, community groups and companies drop off new and
used clothing and shoes, medical supplies and food that is sent by ship in 40-foot containers to
Haiti and then distributed by Yéle to tent camps throughout Port-au-Prince and surrounding
areas. Yéle also solicits in-kind donations from companies of toiletries items such as soap,
shampoo, tooth paste, tooth brushes, deodorant and other items that are assembled into colorcoded
cloth “care bags” with contents designated for men, women, boys, girls and infants.
Corporate donations of solar flashlights and windup radios have been particularly well received
in the tent camps.
Bulk Water: Filtered water delivered in tanker trucks for cooking and personal hygiene.
Yéle has secured a fleet of 14 1,200-gallon tanker trucks that deliver water to communities. An
average of 36,000 gallons of water is delivered four days per week for a monthly total of around
500,000 gallons. The several day supply of water is used primarily for cooking and personal
hygiene, with each day’s disbursement serving approximately 7,200 families. The trucks are all
branded “Yéle Dlo”, which is Creole for “water,” and have become a common throughout Portau-
Prince and surrounding communities.
Pouch Water: Drinking water packaged in 10-ounce pouches and delivered to families.
Yéle began in July to distribute free 10-ounce plastic pouches of drinking water, long a popular
form of buying drinking water on the streets in Haiti. A total of 2.4 million pouches a month are
being packaged in bags that hold 60 pouches each. These bags supply a family with several
days of potable water. The individual pouches all bear the Yéle Haiti logo.
Yéle Medical Center: Providing basic healthcare, support for amputees and a CT scanner
Yéle is completing construction of a Medical Center that will consist of two parallel operations
operating out of two large geodesic domes at Yéle Headquarters – one will function as a clinic
offering primary and multi-specialty healthcare and the second will provide a service to
amputees. Both will be staffed by local health professionals complemented by visiting doctors
and nurses, particularly Haiti-Americans, who will be donating their time to train the resident
staff. As part of the Medical Center, Yéle is partnering with Project Medishare to provide the first
high resolution CT Scanner in Haiti that will be available to patients regardless of their financial
resources. The device is being installed at Bernard Mevs Project Medishare Hospital in Port-au-
Prince, a non-profit institution working closely with the Haitian Ministry of Health. This
technology will allow rapid diagnosis and effective treatment to prevent unnecessary deaths
from major heart attacks, strokes, major trauma and maternal emergencies.

Tents: Providing both tents and tarp kits for families who have lost their homes.
Yéle is distributing tents that range from small tents that hold a family to large tents that can
serve as a distribution center or community gathering site. Yele is also distributing Tarp Kits.
Each tarp kit contains two large tarps, ropes, tools and supplies that can be used to assemble a
tent as well as perform basic repairs on damaged homes.

Temporary Housing: Providing one-room wood-frame homes for families in tent camps.
Yéle has a program to build one-room, 12’ x 12’ wood frame temporary homes for people
displaced by the earthquake. These homes will be built to specifications that can withstand
hurricanes and earthquakes. Two demonstration houses have been built at Yéle headquarters
in La Plaine, and the goal is to begin installing these houses in a number of locations throughout
Port-au-Prince and other communities affected by the earthquake. The houses will be built on
land that the government of Haiti has allocated to NGOs for this purpose.

Jean et Marie Orphanage: Supporting this small orphanage and assisting to rebuild facilities.
Yéle is providing ongoing core support for the Jean et Marie Orphanage in La Plaine, near Portau-
Prince. This orphanage currently has 55 children and nine staff. Their meager facilities were
damaged in the earthquake and have since been repaired. Yéle is helping with additional
repairs and improvements including a school, expanded dormitory space, kitchen, latrine and
showers. Yéle currently supplies regular water, food, clothing and other supplies.

Yéle Vert: Community-based agroforestry, environmental education and social marketing.
Yéle Vert is a multi-year program centered on farmer led and operated tree nurseries that supplies
multi-purpose and fast-growing trees for food, animal fodder, construction material, biofuel and
sustainable wood fuel and charcoal production. Each nursery will provide an agricultural service
that includes supplying seed, fertilizer and training to help small scale farmers and cooperatives
improve their crop production and integrate trees into their farming practices. In the communities
served by Yéle Vert, an environmental education initiative will engage students by training teachers
in how to use new classroom materials that will eventually include the first textbook about the
natural environment of Haiti (in both French and Creole). The first 100,000 trees have been
planted, 60 farmers assisted with seeds and work completed on the last of six nurseries that brings
the annual capacity of the Yéle Vert in Gonaives to one million trees a year.

Youth Orchestra of Haiti: Classical orchestral and choral training for at-risk youth.
A group of 76 at-risk youth from the slums in Port-au-Prince are being trained as classical
musicians in the new Youth Orchestra of Haiti that was launched in November, 2009, but
interrupted by the earthquake when the St. Trinité School of Music collapsed. Yéle is providing
ongoing support to the orchestra to help them recover from the loss of their facility, buy new
instruments and find a temporary facility. The orchestra, which is implemented by the St. Trinité
School in partnership with Yéle Haiti and the Organization of American States (OAS), uses the
El Sistema method developed in Venezuela to train both orchestra and chorus.
NGO Grants: support for Haitian NGOs and associations involved in relief and rebuilding.
Yéle is providing small grants to Haitian organizations, associations and community groups that
are providing vital relief and rebuilding services but that are in most cases not able to access
funds from the international community. Grants range from $3,000 to as much as $50,000.

YÉLE HAITI IMPACT SINCE THE EARTHQUAKE


Since the earthquake on January 12th, Yéle Haiti has provided:

– 225 jobs created through the Yéle Corps program in which people are cleaning the streets,
building to 1,000 people a day employed by the end of September
– grants totaling $140,000 given to a range of small to medium size NGOs involved in relief
and recovery efforts in Haiti
– one high-resolution CT scanner to Project Medishare, the first in Haiti to be available to the
general public (purchased, but installation date estimated at the end of September)
– 100 temporary homes pre-purchased through a contract with Ceres Environmental, with the
first two demonstration homes built at Yéle Headquarters and the remainder scheduled to
be built once the Government of Haiti provides the land as part of a larger program to
provide land to NGOs for housing
– 84,000 hot meals
– 14,400 items of canned and packaged food
– over 2 million gallons of bulk water
– 220,000 10-ounce pouches of drinking water
– 32,850 bottles of water
– 860 bottles of coconut water donated by Zico
– 270,310 nutrition bars donated by Cliff Bar and Nature’s Path
– 14,300 pounds (approximately) of medical supplies including bandages, medicines,
painkillers and first aid
– over 2,500 “care bags” with personal toiletries and assorted items, including 2,400 diapers
for infants and 2,250 feminine products
– 30 mosquito nets
– over 1,500 tents, including 636 Shelter Box tents donated by Urban Zen and 120 tents
donated by churches throughout Georgia and New Jersey
– 873 tarp kits provided by Habitat for Humanity
– 1 26’ x 30’ tent donated by Structure Shelters
– 8,455 items of new and used clothing
– 1,520 pairs of new and used shoes
– 1,000 pairs of new boots donated by Timberland
– 2,000 pairs of new shoes donated by Tom’s Shoes
– 900 sheets, blankets and towels (approximately), most of which were given during a
donation drive in Miami
– 1,240 windup flashlights donated by Eton through the efforts of Timberland
– 2,500 solar radios donated by Eton through the efforts of Timberland
– through the Timberland-sponsored Yéle Vert program, 100,000 trees have been planted in
the Gonaives area and 60 farmers provided with high yield, non-hybrid seeds and tools to
help them improve crop production
– work has been completed on all six nurseries that make up the Yéle Vert program in
Gonaives, bringing the annual capacity to one million trees a year and 350 farmers who will
receive seed for their crops.

More information available online at www.yele.org.
The Yéle Haiti Foundation is a US non-profit 501(c)(3) registered charitable organization with
Federal Tax ID number 650823881. In Haiti, the Yéle Haiti Foundation is an official nongovernmental
organization recognized by the government and MPCE/UCAONG/SR with
registration number B-0391.

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3 thoughts on “YÉLE HAITI FOUNDATION Mission Statement

  1. Forget Wyclef, the amateur politician.

    Remember Wyclef and Yele Haiti.

  2. Forget Wyclef, the amateur politician.

    Remember Wyclef and Yele Haiti..

  3. Exactly, the charity program is great, but politics is for idiots and criminals.
    Wyclef can do a lot for Haiti as an entertainer who opens doors for Haiti.

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