HELP provides merit- and needs-based university scholarships for Haiti’s top high school graduates from severely disadvantaged backgrounds in order to grow Haiti’s professional class and build a more equitable society.
HELP is at the forefront of the transition to the knowledge economy in the developing world. Because a nation’s educated class builds economic and social stability, the world’s poorest countries need large-scale increase in university enrollment to escape generations of poverty and actively participate in the new global economy. HELP is one of the only organizations building the new middle class in the developing world.
HELP’s mission is to create, through merit and needs based scholarships, a community of young professionals and leaders who will promote a more just society in Haiti.
They envision a Haiti where every Haitian has access to quality education, the opportunity to live up to his or her potential, and the ability to contribute to a just and prosperous society.
Provide opportunity for deserving students
Most Haitians are denied access to education, resulting in the lowest school enrollment rates in the Western Hemisphere. Haiti’s university enrollment rate is less than 1%. HELP’s scholarships and leadership training provide high-achieving students with their only opportunity to fulfill their academic potential, become productive citizens and agents of change.
Break the cycle of poverty
HELP graduates command substantial salaries that enable their entire family to join the educated class. Helping one person earn a university degree can break the cycle of poverty for an extended family.
Build a professional class and economy
Decades of repression and instability have drained Haiti of the professionals it needs to develop; 85% of graduates have emigrated and university enrollment is just 1%. The 2010 earthquake revealed the disastrous effects of the absence of a professional class. A lack of urban planners, architects, civil engineers, and zoning and construction standards compounded the damage and tragedy. The shortage of doctors, nurses and disaster-response experts resulted in needless death and suffering. Building the country’s educated class is the only way to create a better Haiti.
Build a more just society
Education has measurable economic benefits, but its most powerful effects are often incalculable. Haiti’s lack of opportunity and strict class divisions date to the colonial era. By leaving the slums to become top professionals, HELP graduates become important role models to the country’s disadvantaged youth and bring new perspectives to their professions, helping to erode the centuries’ old mentalities that have impeded Haiti’s social and economic progress.
