Growth, Adjustment, Maturity
The Haitian community in Boston, now almost 50 years old, has had to adjust to several waves of immigration, each bringing people with different socio-economic backgrounds, interests, and needs. Members of today’s community include a variety of generations and individuals that have had radically different life experiences, ranging from a 70 year-old man who arrived in the late 1950s to a 10 year-old, third generation child who has never been to Haiti. Finding the common ground among such diverse members of the population as these is one issue within the community as is another one, dictated at least in part by geography. As Haitians spread further and further throughout the Boston metropolitan area, they are in the process of becoming somewhat economically segmented, with the blue-collar, lower-middle class population in places like Mattapan or Somerville confronting quite different issues and challenges than the more white-collar, upper-middle class families moving to places like Randolph, on the outer fringes of the metropolitan area.

Haitians have assumed a leading role in organizing refugee issues in Boston across a broad number of nationalities.

Mature and Accomplished Institutions
Despite these characteristics and the challenges they present, the Haitian community – or perhaps one might say communities - in Boston have matured well thanks to the strong institutions built to serve its members. While the initial purpose of these institutions was to respond to punctual economic, social and health crises, they have laid the foundation for the consistent provision of services for new arrivals and for those already in the area. A measure of the strength and capacity of these organizations is the number of partnerships they have created among themselves and with city and state entities that deliver services to immigrant populations. As one comes to know this strength of Boston’s Haitian organizations, it comes as little surprise to learn that they have assumed a leading role in organizing refugee issues in Boston across a broad number of nationalities.

A small Haitian business in Mattapan

Economic Advancement: The Perpetual Challenge
In spite of their impressive accomplishments, the work of Boston’s Haitian organizations is far from complete. Their interventions in the cultural, service and advocacy domains have assisted several generations of immigrants and their families integrate socially, economically, and geographically across diverse boundaries. Community leaders interviewed recently expressed unanimously the feeling that maintaining achievements in economic advancement, along with expanding economic opportunities for the community as it expands, is both the leading concern of the population and their greatest challenge. The sustainability of small businesses, their expansion, and the creation of new businesses, along with the ongoing needs of training, education, and access to resources are in the forefront of many community leaders’ thoughts.

A Political Nexus
In view of these thoughts, it is not surprising that community’s leaders also have their eyes on the importance of the population’s ability to gain greater representation in the hallways of state government, city hall and other political offices. The election of a naturalized Haitian, Marie St. Fleur, to the State House of Representatives gave a tremendous boost to the profile of the entire community. Local leaders

It is not surprising that community’s leaders have their eyes on the importance of the population’s ability to gain greater representation in the hallways of state government, city hall and other political offices.

praise her willingness to work with and on behalf of the Haitian community and its organizations. Interestingly, St. Fleur was not elected on the overwhelming strength of the Haitian vote. Rather, the attorney was elected to represent a district with a small Haitian population, winning a strong vote of support from constituents who are not Haitian. Although she has relatively few Haitian constituents, Representative St. Fleur has taken the opportunity of being the first Haitian-American elected official in Massachusetts to speak as a voice for all Haitians in the Boston area when the occasion calls.

As such, she has inspired Haitian leaders throughout the metro area to think about increasing their community’s political power at all levels of government by actively preparing and promoting other Haitian candidates for elective office. According to Pierre Imbert, Executive Director of the HMSC, St. Fleur’s election influenced large numbers of Haitians residing on Boston to acquire U.S. citizenship and the right to vote – and to begin exercising that right. It is not at all surprising that local leaders who have witnessed a well-qualified Haitian-American get elected in a district with a small Haitian population believe that there is a strong possibility to elect other Haitian officials in districts with large numbers of Haitian-American voters. As the population and its leaders mobilize to achieve this new goal of elective politics, their ability to serve the community and its members’ needs will begin to move onto a much higher – and wider – plain.