13315: Bennett: Marleine Bastien receives Ford grant, "an emerging leader" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Nancy Bennett <nancymbennett@msn.com>

(from THE MIAMI HERALD)

Posted on Tue, Oct. 01, 2002

Haitian activist is an `emerging leader'
Dade's Bastien receives Ford grant
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@herald.com

Marleine Bastien has emerged as one of South Florida's most sought-after
leaders.

Just ask the Haitian businessmen who enlisted her help this year to protest
the firing of a Haitian bank officer. Or supporters of Miami-Dade County's
gay rights amendment who sought her out in their campaign to keep the law
alive. Or powerless Haitian refugees detained in immigration jails.

Rarely intimidated by the odds -- or the audience -- Bastien has earned a
reputation as someone whose voice always sounds clearly, whether in a
protest or in a boardroom.

Now, after years of local recognition, Bastien is capturing the attention of
national folks -- again. Deemed a Woman of the Year by Ms. magazine last
year, Bastien is now being called an ''emerging leader'' by the Ford
Foundation.

The mother of three and executive director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami Inc.,
or Haitian Women of Miami, is one of 20 winners of the 2002 Ford Foundation
Leadership for a Changing World award.

The national award, which comes with a $130,000 grant, is given to
individuals or teams who are getting results while tackling tough social
problems in communities. The only Floridian chosen in this year's group, and
the first Haitian American to receive the recognition, Bastien was selected
from 34 finalists in a pool of more than 1,400 nominees.

''This will really bring national attention to the work we are doing, and
much-needed support,'' said Bastien, 43, who will be honored along with the
other recipients at an awards ceremony this evening in New York. She will
receive $100,000 over a two-year period, and the other $30,000 will go
toward leadership development.

Marian Krauskopf, program coordinator at the Ford Foundation, said the
nonprofit grant organization did extensive research before choosing the
winners.

In Bastien's case, the foundation not only conducted hourlong telephone
interviews but sent a group of interviewers to Miami to meet with
representatives from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service,
elected officials and other advocates.

''She is just a wonderful example of the kind of leadership we are trying to
recognize -- people with real and important, vital ties to the community;
people who can work across different kinds of constituencies and bridge
boundaries that sometimes are divisive, but can build coalitions,''
Krauskopf said.

DECADES OF WORK

Bastien -- political activist, social worker, songwriter and dancer -- began
her work on behalf of Miami's Haitian community 21 years ago as a
22-year-old volunteer for the Haitian Refugee Center. Working as a paralegal
and interpreter for the center was a life-altering experience that led her a
decade later to establish Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami, a nonprofit advocacy
group dedicated to empowering Haitian women and families.

As the agency took on touchy topics like domestic violence, Bastien and her
supporters were accused of trying to break up the Haitian family.

''We've come a long way,'' Bastien said, recalling the criticism. ``Today,
we have men coming in, saying they are abusers and need help.''

That doesn't mean the criticism has stopped. Though publicly everyone speaks
about Bastien's compassion and commitment to the cause, privately and in
Creole on Haitian radio she is often criticized for her support of certain
issues and her need to be at the forefront.

''As a leader I sometimes have to make decisions and choices that will not
please everybody or take up a cause that will not be popular, but I have to
do what I feel is right,'' said Bastien, who recently faced criticism after
she joined Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and other leaders in the creation
of the No to Discrimination Committee that successfully fought to keep the
county's gay rights amendment. ``If I am someone who is fighting for human
rights, I cannot decide whose rights I can fight for. I need to be
consistent.''

PICKING SOCIAL WORK

Twice married to and divorced from her children's father, Bastien grew up as
the oldest girl of eight children in Pont Benoit, a village in northern
Haiti. Her father was a rice and mango farmer who doubled as the village
nurse. She wanted to go medical school but settled on a career in social
work after coming to Miami in 1981.

Two years ago, she quit her job as a clinical social worker at Jackson
Memorial Hospital to focus on FANM.

Although Bastien and FANM have become synonymous with fighting for the
rights of Haitian refugees and empowering Haitian women, both have expanded
their focus.

Today Bastien, through that group, is lending her voice to the plight of
nursing home workers and the recently successful campaign for an independent
taxing district for children's services in Miami-Dade.

She also continues to move forward with the group's original mission to
provide immigration advocacy and services, economic development and social
outreach.

RICE PROGRAM

''It's heartbreaking when you see the needs,'' said Bastien as she surveyed
a ground-floor office in Little Haiti where FANM will begin selling bags of
rice to unemployed Haitian women in an effort to help them start small
businesses. The women will buy the rice at cost, then sell it for profit.

She helped lead protests against Bank of America's firing of Eustache
Fleurant, a senior manager and the bank's highest-ranking Haitian-American
employee.

The bank said Fleurant was terminated in a cost-cutting move, but he was
later rehired.

In August, the INS moved 62 women refugees, including more than two dozen
Haitians, from a Miami-Dade jail to a less restrictive facility in Broward
County after Bastien and others demanded better treatment for the women.

`A LEADER'

''Marleine is a woman who is a leader, who has a tremendous amount of
passion about making sure that change happens,'' said Peter Wood, chief
program officer for the Health Foundation of South Florida, one of FANM's
donors. ``She can mobilize people, and she's not willing to sit back and
accept the status quo.''

With the demands for services increasing since Sept. 11, 2001, Bastien said
the award -- and money -- could not have come at a better time. Though her
organization has grown from all volunteers and a $5,000-a-year budget to 10
staffers with a $400,000 budget, the needs continue to outweigh the funds.

''People don't realize the level of poverty that exists in this community,''
Bastien said.

After years of pulling triple duty as her agency's public relations person,
fundraiser and executive director, Bastien said she plans to use her
windfall to hire a part-time immigration advocate and a part-time
development director to help raise money.

''One hundred thousand seems like a lot of money, but it's not,'' she said.
``It's a constant struggle and anxiety over whether you will be able to keep
your doors open and keep staff.''



_________________________________________________________________
Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
http://www.hotmail.com