22467: (Hermantin) PalmBeachPost-Keep them 'proud to be Haitian' (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Keep them 'proud to be Haitian'

By Elisa Cramer, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Friday, June 11, 2004



There are dozens of reasons why the Children's Services Council of Palm
Beach County should not disrupt the "Youth Between Worlds" program at the
Haitian Center for Family Services. To see them personified, drop by 2715
Australian Ave. in West Palm Beach.

Teenagers will be using computers, playing basketball or table tennis,
writing poetry, learning about good health, dancing, planning their futures.
The program introduced 14-year-old Bill Gira to swimming and movie-making.
It motivated Dinah Delimon "to be better for myself." She just completed
ninth grade at Palm Beach Central High School with an A in science and B in
math -- subjects she had been failing.

Youth Between Worlds helped 14-year-old Junior Julien pass the FCAT. After
only eight months in America, Jean Don, who will be a senior at Palm Beach
Lakes High in the fall, said through a friend's translation from Creole: "If
this program is taken away, it would be like a crime done to me."

The benefits are further documented by Director A. Jay Parham and Program
Coordinator Beth Camphire: Grade point averages have increased for 90
percent of participating students since the beginning of the 2003-04 school
year; of more than 97,000 students who took the National French Exam, eight
from Palm Beach Lakes High placed among the top 10 students in the country
and three of the eight are in Youth Between Worlds (including Jean Don).

The teens also produced educational videos and books on teen violence and
relationships. And they helped 550 children learn to swim through an
International Water Safety Initiative in Haiti.

If the children's services council needs one more reason not to fix what
isn't broken, 17-year-old Ardens Jean Pierre should be convincing.
American-born, Ardens credits the program with teaching him his Haitian
history, about the country's independence 200 years ago, a heritage strong
enough to transcend the taunts that made him disown Haitian Cultural Day two
years ago when he was in the ninth grade. "I decided," he said, "I wanted to
be proud to be Haitian."

Any group that thinks it can replicate that lesson of self-esteem must
notify the council by 5 p.m. today that it intends to submit a proposal to
run the program for a year starting Oct. 1. The Youth Between Worlds
contract is among three of the center's programs up for bid after the
council last year found nepotism and fiscal mismanagement among former board
directors. A new board has been seated, and a new director hired. "We began
internally addressing some of these issues," said the new board chairman,
David Harris, "but obviously not fast enough."

Mr. Harris acknowledges that the programs aimed at family empowerment and
providing family therapy in the Glades, West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Lake
Park and Mangonia Park are not meeting the standards. But the youth program,
which receives up to $151,315 a year from the taxpayer-financed council,
should not be dismantled because the others have failed.

Ironically, the new board members' accountability is being used against
them. In announcing its decision not to renew the Haitian center's contract,
the council cited minutes from the center's February board meeting, which
included a discussion about payroll problems. "When we took over," Mr.
Harris said, "the entire general ledger was gone. We had to re-create all of
our books. We're late with our audit because we had to fire our auditor...
What are we supposed to do, lie in our minutes?"

High staff turnover also preceded the new board. The current board deserves
a renewed Youth Between Worlds contract. The deadline for proposals is July
6.

What matters to the soft-spoken students who passionately defend the program
is that "Mr. A. Jay and Miss Beth" remain available to talk to the students
about their problems. That they can still reach translators and tutors. That
they have access to computers, a swimming pool and dance lessons. That they
get continued encouragement to not be ashamed of who they are.

"The Haitian center is not only a program that helps us with our homework,"
said 17-year-old Rubens Amisial. "It protects us. We've formed a family
here."

Their family deserves to stay together.

elisa_cramer@pbpost.com

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