Helpful Resources For People in New York City
The Bronx Health Link extends our heartfelt support to the Haitian American community in the Bronx and NYC at this time of horrible tragedy. We want to make available this list of resources, excerpted from information circulated by several community organizations.
*HAITIAN RELIEF EFFORTS AND INFORMATION
1. Crisis in Haiti: Call to Action and Information – from the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)
1A. Searching For Family
1B. Donations
1C. Local Efforts
2. Support for Mothers and Babies in Haiti – from the March of Dimes
3. Campaign to Help AIDS and Family Clinics in Haiti – from *Housing Works *
4. Resource List of Agencies and Attorneys Assisting Haitians in Applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) – from the New York Immigration Coalition
5. Help Haiti – Drop the Debt – from One International
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From the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)
http://www.thenyic.org <http://www.thenyic.org/>
*
In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, The New York Immigration Coalition urges you to support the Haitian community in the following ways:
*1A. SEARCHING FOR FAMILY:*
If you are seeking information about family members in Haiti, The International Red Cross has set up this page. Click on Locate your Relatives on the right side of this page:
http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/web/doc/siterfl0.nsf/htmlall/familylinks-haiti-eng?opendocument
The U.S. State Department Operations Center has also set up the following number: 1-888-407-4747.
*1B. DONATIONS*
Below is a list of organizations where you can donate funds towards relief efforts:
Partners In Health: Staff in Boston and Haiti are working to collect as much information as possible about the conditions on the ground, the relief efforts taking shape, and all relevant logistics issues in order to respond efficiently and effectively to the most urgent needs in the field. At the moment, PIH’s Chief Medical Officer is on her way to Haiti, where she will meet with Zanmi Lasante leadership and head physicians, who are already working to ensure PIH’s coordinated relief efforts leveraging the skills of more than 120 doctors and nearly 500 nurses and nursing assistants who work at Zanmi Lasante’s site.
Go to http://www.pih.org/home.html for more information and to donate to their Haiti Earthquake Fund. And see a New York Times op-ed that discusses Partners in Health: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/opinion/14kidder.html?ref=opinion
Other organizations recommended by our members:
AFYA Foundation http://www.afyafoundation.org/
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America International Disaster Response http://www.elca.org/
Catholic Relief Services http://crs.org/
American Jewish World Service http://ajws.org/
For a longer list of aid recipients, ways to help, and thoughts about what needs to be done, see the following links:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2584927/how_to_help_haiti_with_recovery_from.html?cat=9
http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/help/index.html
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/haiti-disaster-relief-how-to-contribute/
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/the-help-that-haiti-needs/?hp
* 1C. LOCAL EFFORTS*
Some NYIC Member Groups Helping with Relief Efforts:
Haitian Americans United for Progress http://www.haupinc.org/ <http://www.haupinc.org/%C2%A0>;; Ph: 718-527-3776
Diaspora Community Services http://www.diasporacs.org/
Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project and Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees
Donation Drop Off Information:
Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project
335 Maple Street 2nd floor* 208 Parkside, 2nd floor
Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn, NY 11226
Hours: Mon and Wed 6:30pm-8:30pm Hours: Mon-Fri 11am-4pm
* Please use rear entrance on Lincoln Rd between Nostrand and New York Avenue. Enter through St Francis Church Parking Lot
Dwa Fanm Jistis Pou Fanm http://www.dwafanm.org/
Send Donations of Medical Supplies: The Brooklyn Tabernacle or Dwa Fanm
17 Smith Street (near Fulton St) 74 4th Avenue (near Bergen St)
Brooklyn, NY 11201 Brooklyn, NY 11217
Hours: Monday-Friday 9am-5pm Hours: Thursday and Friday 9am-5pm
Sunday All Day Saturday 9am-5pm
Council of People’s Organization http://www.copousa.org/
American Friends Service Committee http://www.afsc.org/
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*2. Support for Mothers and Babies in Haiti
From the March of Dimes*
The March of Dimes (MOD) has made a $100,000 grant to UNICEF to help thousands of pregnant women, mothers and babies in Haiti who are struggling in the aftermath of the earthquake. The MOD funds will help Haitian women who are pregnant or breastfeeding and babies who are in serious need of proper nutrition and safe water, in addition to providing supplies such as diapers and clothing. Over the next few months, additional needs must be addressed for this group, including: prenatal and newborn care for pregnant women and babies, specialized care and equipment for an expected rise in the number of babies born prematurely, and immunization and other activities to prevent infectious diseases in mothers and babies.
For more information, go to http://www.marchofdimes.com/aboutus/49267_62824.asp. To make a $5.00 contribution to the March of Dimes, text the word BABY to 20222.
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*3. Campaign to Help AIDS and Family Clinics in Haiti – from *Housing Works **
http://www.housingworks.org/news-press/detail/housing-works-and-other-nyc-aids-groups-call-for-funds-to-open-emergency-cl/
With the blessing of the Haiti Ministry of Health, a coalition of Haitian AIDS organizations, Housing Works and three other New York City AIDS groups have banded together to open two desperately needed clinics for Haitians living with HIV/AIDS Port-au-Prince. At least half of the AIDS clinics in Port-au-Prince were destroyed in the devastating earthquake that shattered the lives of Haitians on January 12.
The other New York City organizations contributing to the effort include Aid for AIDS, the Caribbean Women’s Health Center, and Diaspora Community Services. The New York groups are also banding together to raise funds to reopen a family health center operated by Brooklyn-based Diaspora Community Services in Port-au-Prince that was destroyed in the earthquake. Thousands of families in the neighborhood that the clinic serves require immediate medical attention and support.
Housing Works is calling for volunteer doctors and nurses, donations of medical supplies and cash donations in order to get both clinics up and running. Anyone interested in supporting these critical relief efforts can contact Douglas Sanders at sanders@housingworks.org <mailto:sanders@housingworks.org> or 917-9535-8411; cash donations can be made on the Housing Works website at www.housingworks.org <http://www.housingworks.org/>. (Cash donations are used to purchase food, water and children’s nutritional supplement in the Dominican Republic to avoid shipping costs.)
Housing Works will establish a structure of logistical support that includes coordination of medical staff and supplies. Housing Works will also solicit donations from funders and its loyal base of supporters in New York City.
Aid for AIDS will coordinate the collection, inventory and packing of medications, particularly antiretrovirals. To contact Aid for AIDS, call or e-mail Aid for AIDS Executive Director Jesus Aguais, at 917-251-4985 or jesus.aguais@aidforaids.org <mailto:jesus.aguais@aidforaids.org>.
Diaspora Community Services will solicit funders to raise money and resume its oversight of its health Center. To contact Diaspora Community Services, call or e-mail Executive Director Carine Jocelyn at 718-207-568 or cjocelyn@diasporacs.org <mailto:cjocelyn@diasporacs.org> .
Caribbean Women’s Community Health Center will use its ties in the Brooklyn Caribbean community, faith-based organizations, and other relationships to raise funds to purchase nutritional and other essential supplies. To contact the Caribbean Women’s Community Health Center, call or e-mail Executive Director Cheryl Hall at 347-403-3642 at cars46@aol.com <mailto:cars46@aol.com>.
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*4. Resource List of Agencies and Attorneys Assisting Haitians in Applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
From the New York Immigration Coalition*
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) has compiled a list of agencies, law firms, and law schools responding to the tragedy in Haiti and the designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS gives undocumented Haitian residents protection from forcible deportation and allows them to work legally. A copy of the list will be posted soon at NYIC’s website at http://www.thenyic.org <http://www.thenyic.org/>, or you can email Tom Shea at Tshea@thenyic.org <mailto:Tshea@thenyic.org>.
Note that in New York State, people applying for TPS are considered PRUCOL (permanently residing under color of law) for purposes of Medicaid and Family Health Plus eligibility. Therefore, once someone has submitted the TPS application and has proof that US Citizenship and Immigration Services has received the application, they may be eligible for Medicaid or Family Health Plus (if they meet the income guidelines, of course).
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*5. Help Haiti – Drop the Debt
From One International
http://www.one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/
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As further news reaches us from Haiti following Tuesday’s earthquake, the true scale of the disaster is now emerging. Reports now suggest as many as 50,000 people may have died, with hundreds of thousands made homeless.
This is a time for all of us to be reminded of our common humanity and do all that we can to help. Take action for the immediate cancellation of Haiti’s debt and to ensure new aid comes in the form of grants.
Read the petition:
Dear U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, As Haiti rebuilds from this disaster, please work to secure the immediate cancellation of Haiti’s $890 million debt and ensure that any emergency earthquake assistance is provided in the forms of grants, not debt-incurring loans.
Sign the petition at http://www.one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/
Bagay Dwol Journal 
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