(Washington, DC) Congresswoman Corrine Brown participated in a Congressional Delegation visit to the island nation of Haiti this past weekend. Along with Rep. Brown were Transportation Committee Chairman, Rep. James Oberstar (MN-8) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (NY-6), who sits on the Foreign Affairs' Western Hemisphere subcommittee. As key Members of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Brown and Rep. Oberstar met with Haitian President Rene Preval, as well as Public Works Minister Jacques Gabriel, essentially to discuss ways to improve Haiti's infrastructure, offset continuing deforestation, as well as address the country's high unemployment rate and crippled economy. The Congresswoman was also accompanied by Mr. Richard Danford, the President of the Jacksonville Urban League, as well as AME-SADA Executive Director, Mr. Robert Nicolas, whose organization does extensive work on the island, both in the area of education as well as well health care.

On the Codel, Congresswoman Brown brought along clothes for approximately 100 children, as well as boxes of school supplies, including notebooks, pencils, writing pads and pens for Haiti's school children. Unfortunately in Haiti, although public education is free, the cost is still quite high for most families because they must pay for uniforms, textbooks, and supplies. Moreover, due to extremely weak state provision of education services, private and parochial schools account for approximately 90% of primary schools, while only 65% of primary school-aged children are actually enrolled (at the secondary level, this figure drops precipitously to around 20%). Sadly, although Haitians place a high value on education, few can afford to send their children to school, as many families must depend on remittances from the Diaspora community abroad for assistance.

"As a staunch advocate for the people of Haiti throughout my congressional career, I took full advantage of this opportunity to speak to Haitian government officials to see what types of policies we can implement in Washington to provide assistance to the Haitian people, who, in reality, live less than 700 miles from the Florida Keys," said Congresswoman Brown. The Congresswoman continued, "to this day, Haiti remains the least-developed country in our Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world, with per capita income around $400, horribly acute economic inequality, and more than 80% of its 9 million inhabitants living below the poverty level. To me, this is entirely unacceptable, particularly given the island's proximity to the state of Florida."

"One idea I would like to implement to improve the lives of the Haitian people include an interchange program with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (for example, using the resources of agricultural specialists at FAMU in Tallahassee, where there are a number of Haitian students enrolled) and parlay that knowledge back to the island to improve crop production and fight deforestation and environmental degradation. Another consists of utilizing the outstanding art produced by the Haitian artistic community and promote this artwork at African American festivals, such as Eatonville's yearly Zora Neale Hurston festival in my congressional district. I also have worked closely with the AME-SADA church in Haiti for several years, and have coordinated yearly food donations, which have contributed to feeding approximately 2000 Haitian families.

One area of promise I did witness on the island was that the Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act (HOPE), which provides duty-free access to U.S. markets for garments assembled in Haiti using fabrics from third countries, has led to the creation of approximately 25,000 jobs on the island. Along with Secretary of State Clinton, the Congressional Black Caucus, and new leadership in the administration, I firmly believe that now is a perfect time to take action and work to improve the lives of our neighbors on the island nation of Haiti."