Midwest Region Meeting 2013

 

 

Date: 8/10/13

Location: 1611 Simpson

Participants: Roland Olivier, Leslie Conde, Max Gustave Joseph, Joseph Vernet, Serge Renaud, Jean Benito Mercier, Lionel Jean Baptiste, Sabine Cadet, Lynn Toussaint, Carline Paul Blanc, Vilio Bacette, Jean Robert Metellus, Marilys Ewa, Immacula Dieudonne, Carola Widmaier, Mardochee Jean Charles, Viola D’Haiti, Joel Augustin

Start time: 8.45 am

 

Summary

Lynn Toussaint the chair of the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti the General opened the meeting. She introduced the Haitian General Consul Leslie Conde who thanked all participants and reminded them of the importance of this meeting. Then Joel Augustin went over the agenda.

 

Introduction

Each Participant introduced his/her organization and the work of the organization:

 

DuSable Heritage (Chicago)

Marilys Ewa, the new chair of the DuSable Heritage informed us the organization since the earthquake has been more involved in Haiti particularly in Artibonite

 

Haitian Association of Indiana

Jean Gerve and Sabine Cadet spoke about HAI. The organization is based in Haiti and has been in existence for 5 years. It has a large board. They distributed a document which addressed the vision, the core values of the organization etc...

 

National Association of Haitian Professionals

Serge Renaud spoke of the work of the Association. He spoke about the upcoming conference with Columbia University in November for business investment in Haiti.

 

Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti

Lionel Jean Baptiste, spoke about the different areas of work. Lynn the chair of the organization added to the HCFH areas of work. Max Gustave spoke about the collaborative aspect and why a Federation would have a big impact.

 

Washington State Haitian Society

Roland Olivier, the chair of the organization, informed us that the work of the organization is based more on technical than social activities. The organization has engineers as its members. They have written many projects. However the main roadblock is the limitations of power to execute the projects.

 

 

HACMI

Jean Benito Mercier, told us the organization has many areas of work: cultural promoting Haitian history, social, education.

 

GRAHN

Ludovic Comeau informed us GRAHN Chicago has a new chair: Lionel Chery. Ludovic is Vice President of GRAHN Monde.

 

Carline Paul Blanc has been looking for organizations in Ohio. She is interested in starting one. Benito will send her information about on how to start a 501 © 3 organization. 

 

I). Mission of the Midwest and West Region Federation and resolutions

This session was very animated and fruitful. Some of the ideas discussed were to brainstorm throughout the Midwest. We need to build beyond ourselves, working for future generation. A consensus emerged as to what the mission should be:

 

• Those present on 8/10/13 agreed to constitute ourselves as an AD HOC Organizing Committee to mobilize Haitians in the 28 states under the jurisdiction of the Haitian Consulate of Chicago to build a federation in order to strengthen ourselves and to strengthen Haiti.

 

Resolutions 2

• Participants agreed to distribute 1 page release to the different sectors in our network, will need to post it in the website. Ludovic Comeau will work on a draft and will forward it to Benito Mercier and Joel Augustin for feedback.

 

Resolutions 3

• We will target 1 Haitian organization per state in the states in the jurisdiction of the Haitian consulate within 30 days. If the state does not have a consulate we will target activist s and/or people who are active in their communities. We agreed to continue recruiting other organizations even after reaching the goal of 1 representative per state (organization or individual/notable).

• We can research the organizations via the Secretary of State of a particular state, word of mouth. Once the contact is made, we need to do follow up phone calls, email, mailing, using face book, tweeter, LinkedIn, radio TV, the Haitian consulate, and visit.

• We will need to vulgarize our work and be accountable. An important point was to document the process of reaching out to the other states, laying out whether or we were successful in our efforts to recruit and why.

 

A division of labor was made as follow

• Roland Olivier: Washington State, West Virginia, Oregon

• Max Gustave Joseph: California, Alaska

• Joseph Gerve: Indiana, Idaho

• Jean Benito Mercier: Nevada, Missouri, Nebraska

• Lynn Toussaint: Utah, Arizona

• Joel Augustin, Wisconsin, Montana

• Serge Renaud: Wyoming, Colorado

• Sabine Cadet: Kentucky, New Mexico

• Carline Paul Blanc: Ohio, Oklahoma

• Marilys Ewa: Kansas, Illinois

• Joseph Vernet: Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota

• Lionel Jean Baptiste: Arkansas, Michigan, District of Columbia

 

Resolutions 4

• We will have an interim report in 2 weeks and full report within 30 days

 

II). Tasks forces

Participants agreed to have specific works assigned with deliverable

 

Task force 1

Sabine Cadet and Marilys Ewa will present a draft proposal within 30 days on where the headquarter of the organization should be and why.

 

Task Force 2 and 3

Lionel Jean Baptiste, Jean Benito Mercier will review other by-laws and will have a draft proposal within 60 days.

 

Task force 4

Max Gustave Joseph, Roland Olivier, Alix Claude will work on rules and regulations and will present a draft proposal within 30 to 60 days

 

Task force 5

Alix Claude, Sabine Cadet, Roland Olivier, Max Gustave Joseph will work on a draft proposal for the first General Assembly in 6 months: when, where, how. We will have a first report within 30 days

 

Task force 6

Lynn Toussaint, Lionel Jean Baptiste, Sabine Cadet, Marilys Ewa, Vilio Bacette, will work on the legalization process of the Federation. A preliminary report is expected in 30 days

 

Task force 7

Carline Paul Blanc, Jean Gerve, Mardochee Jean Charles, will work on a proposal regarding our relationship with the Haitian Consulate in Chicago.

 

The next conference call is for 8/23/13 at 7.30 pm. Roland Olivier will send text message reminder to everyone.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 5,30 pm