Community Institutions

Churches

Indivisible: Stories of American Community CLICK HERE for a slide show of Haitians in Delray Beach. For more information on the project, please visit www.indivisible.org

Sunday Mass with Pere Roland
No where is the push-and-pull factor of living life in the U.S. and longing for life in Haiti more apparent than at a Sunday mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, where Pere Roland, in his sermon in Creole, encourages his parishioners to think in the now, to concentrate on their lives in Delray Beach. By doing this, he continues, Haitians in Delray can not only improve their lives in the US, but also have a greater impact on Haiti in the long run. Churches play a predominant role in structuring Delray Haitians’ lives outside of their work and home. As Pere Roland says, the church, which now has a congregation of 800, “takes them from A to Z: it is a spiritual, social and political center.” For example, the past two coup d’etat attempts in Haiti have occurred at 2 AM and both times, his parishioners have come straight to the Church in the middle of the night to tell him “We need to march, we need to protest.”

In Delray the church goes much farther than the spiritual realm, extending into immigration and other social services as well as providing the only Haitian-specific space for social gatherings. As he says, in 1987, when he arrived in Delray from New York, the injustices done to Haitians “would have made you vomit.” Lawyers would enlist the few Haitians who spoke English to take advantage of Haitians with little or no English. The result was people paying $8,000 to file a simple form or paying $500 to have a piece of paper notarized. In response, Pere Roland began offering these same services for free from the church.

Sunday Services with Pasteur Frank
Pasteur Frank, of the Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church, has witnessed the growth of the community since its inception. His church has grown since the days that he began prayer services in the early 1980s to a congregation of 500. His church as well provides the community with services such as serving food to unemployed recent arrivals from Haiti. Interestingly, despite the length of time he has been operating the church, his congregation is quite young. Upon entering the church on a Sunday one finds a room full of young children who are following a religious course in English, leaving this room to a larger room, one finds the larger adult congregation following a vibrant mass entirely in Creole. This points to one of the dichotomies which is appearing as the community matures: the growing cultural and linguistic differences between the first and second generations.

Haitian Radio Programs and Businesses

Chez Ti Doc is one of many Haitian restaurants in Delray Beach

Several Haitian radio programs operate in Palm Beach County and can be heard in Delray Beach although most are based in Boca Raton rather than in Delray itself. Of course, a number of Miami radio stations also can be heard in Delray Beach.

Haitian Small Business
An expanding number of small businesses serve Delray’s growing Haitian population. There are several Haitian restaurants in Osceola Park as well as on Atlantic Ave. west of Swinton. Of particular note is the small bakery and carry-out on 2nd Avenue SE. Just down the street are several Haitian businesses one after another. Jean Francois, owner of Francois Appliances, has been serving the Delray community since 1989. Next door, Odette Martin is a more recent addition to this Haitian business strip, opening the Sensational Dollar Store in 2001. In addition, various businesses, including markets and hair salons line 3rd Avenue.

When asked what the organization does, Daniella Henry, HACC’s Executive Director provides a laundry list of answers; “translation, interpretation, parenting, pre-natal care, education, outreach about AIDS.”

Outreach Institutions
While churches have played an important role in providing services to the Haitian community, the increasing migration to Palm Beach County eventually required an institutional intervention from the County government. It arrived in the form of the - Haitian American Community Council (HACC), which has served as a one-stop shopping place for the Haitian community’s needs for over 15 years. Since its inception, the council has served as an intermediary for the county’s social services to the Haitian community. Over the years, it has also come to provide services directly. The HACC is in fact responsible for providing services to the entire Palm Beach County Haitian community, not just Delray Beach. Because of the Delray community’s size, however, the organization’s headquarters are located there.

When asked what the organization does, Daniella Henry, HACC’s Executive Director provides a laundry list of answers; “translation, interpretation, parenting, pre-natal care, education, outreach about AIDS.” Given this list, one has a sense that it might be better to ask what the HCC doesn’t do! The services provided also depend on the time of year, with demand rising for job-finding assistance in the summer when many of the hotels lay off workers during the off-peak tourism months. HACC’s services have become essential, not just for the growth of the community, but also to facilitate the assimilation of newly arrived immigrants.

Toussaint Louverture High School for the Arts and Social Justice

Educational and Cultural Institutions
Recently, a third institution has made a name for itself as a symbol of the Delray Beach Haitian community’s ascendance. Located in a bright yellow one-story building, the Toussaint Louverture High School for the Arts and Social Justice is a bit of an incubator for studying how Haitians of the younger generation interact with each other, their counterparts in older generations and local Americans. It is also the most dynamic of the Haitian–centric organizations in Delray Beach and is shaking up the way things have been done for the past twenty years.

The charter high school, which opened in August of 2001, has become very quickly one of the pillars of the Haitian community. It’s relentless drive is embodied by the work of its co-principals Dr. Diane Allerdyce and retired U.S. Army Major Joseph Bernadel. Their idea - to make Haiti and its history the foremost symbol of their school’s unique devotion to the arts and social justice - is about raising awareness about Haiti among Delray’s non-Haitian residents and about acknowledging the great contribution Haitians are making to Delray today. The school, which is located in the center of town, is impossible to overlook, and that is the way Principal Bernadel likes it.

Toussaint Louverture High School has quickly become a nexus for community activity, as witnessed by the increasing number of students who are recent arrivals from Haiti. It seems that its sheer presence has caused a change in mindset for many Haitians because it is prominently located and it screams loud and clear that it is Haitian. According to Bernadel, the town leaders would rather not have this advertised in such a visible manner.

And the Delray school is only the first step in expanding a prideful Haitian presence in Delray, according to Bernadel. A museum of Haitian art and history will be housed in a wing of the school until it can be moved to a more permanent location in Delray Beach. Once the museum is in operation, it will be the first of its kind in the United States.

Milagro Center advertisement

One other institution of note serves the Haitian community alhtough it is not exclusively Haitian. The Milagro Center is, according to its website, “a unique, arts-integrated educational and cultural facility which serves as a catalyst for community collaboration, individual transformation and social change by providing learning opportunities to members of the Delray Beach community. The Center strives to enhance self-awareness and the pursuit of life goals within an honest and non-sectarian environment.” Due to the Delray Haitian community’s great size and to its close proximity to Osceola Park, the Milagro Center advertises many of its events in Creole to ensure local community participation.

Institutions as a Mirror Image of the Community
In the evolution of the Delray Haitian community’s organizations one can see a mirror image of the development of the community. The churches were first on site. They were also the first to respond to the service needs of their parishioners, moving beyond their traditional spiritual. Then came HACC, serving as an extension of the County government to help assimilate the growing Haitian community. Eventually, HACC evolved to provide services beyond those offered by the county and the churches. Its growth and development into a multi-service agency reflected the growing needs of the expanding community. The Toussaint Louverture High School signals a new chapter in the Delray Haitian community’s history. Its bold display of a Haitian hero dares the unknowing resident of Delray Beach to inquire about what this name stands for. The school itself goes beyond the provision of social services to empowerment through education for youth and empowerment of the community through pride in its roots.