Changemaker Catalyst Award recipient, Jordan Kirsh-Clemenceau, traveled to New York City, Boston, New Orleans, Miami, and Washington D.C. for a student led independent research project that examines the impact of information gaps and information access in Haitian metropolitan communities in the cities mentioned above. The study received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval from Tulane and academic grants from three additional Tulane organizations. Jordan is a junior, Class of 2023, studying political economy and finance with a French minor.

As principal investigator for this student-led research project, I conducted virtual/in-person interviews and communicated directly with the organizations and institutions that helped me set up interviews across each metropolitan Haitian communities studied. I am also writing the final reflection paper and creating a presentation that includes insights from all 40 interviews conducted.

I am interested in providing my research to think tanks, NGOs, political leaders, local and external decision makers, and political advocacy groups to further bolster each of these metropolitan Haitians communities’ voices/needs. Ultimately, I intend to compile my qualitative and quantitative findings into a written research report and a presentation to provide context for the project and its most significant takeaways. I hope to publish my research through Tulane’s undergraduate research journal and present my findings to different Tulane academic and institutional organizations in addition to the Taylor Center. I am potentially looking to use the insight from this project to determine the focus and scope of my senior thesis.

The research analysis and the perspectives of those interviewed will be accessible to non-immigrant populations. I hope this project will provide insight into unique obstacles facing the Haitian community and potentially other U.S. immigrant populations while building awareness of these issues and recommended solutions from those interviewed.

The project was fortunate to receive academic grants from the Taylor Center, Newcomb Tulane College, Tulane Center for Public Service and the Altman Program. This research project would not have been possible without the help from each organization mentioned above. Additionally, Professor Myrlene Bruno agreed to be my faculty advisor. Professor Bruno teaches Haitian studies and Creole through the Tulane French department. Professor Klinger helped provide me with academic support through the French Department. Lastly, Ms. Norah Lovell provided me with faculty advising as I was selected as a Jean Danielson research scholar through Newcomb Tulane College.

Ten Haitian community organizations helped me set up interviews with organization members or staff. I received a tour of Little Haiti, Miami from a local community advocate. I also worked with one elected official’s office in Brooklyn and multiple elected officials in the greater Miami area. Further, I was fortunate enough to gather a wide variety of Haitian perspectives on the differing role of information access. For example, the Haitian interview subjects consisted of store owners, Haitian organization directors, politicians, national community advocates, businesspeople, tv/radio personalities, teachers, artists, authors, museum directors, and others.

Almost all of the interview participants were extraordinarily candid, and I often found a level of trust developing throughout the course of an interview. I found the personal stories that I learned to provide eye opening examples of resiliency through immigration and rebuilding a life and family in the U.S. Through the interviews, I began to soon realize how close knit many of Haitian metropolitan communities were and how everyone showed loved and support to other community members.

Some of challenges included attempts at finding an efficient method for reaching staff at organizations in hopes of scheduling an interview or being directed to someone that might be interested in meeting with me virtually or in-person. Due to COVID-19, many of the Haitian organizations that I researched were often either completely closed or operating entirely virtually. Most organizations only had a general office phone number or general email to contact. 90 percent of the time, both options did not result in any interviews or even a response. I had to rely on developing strong connections with multiple organization directors or assistant directors who then were often able help set up interviews with other community leaders that they already knew personally.

The project was successful given the opportunities I had to build credibility and trust among different Haitian communities that I visited. For example, this resulted in the opportunity to ask questions to multiple Haitian elected political officials from Miami in addition to being connected and with one of the most successful and well-known Haitian rights advocates in the country. I even spoke to someone who had a very close relationship with the businessman that created Little Haiti in Miami and who is still regarded as the father of Little Haiti.

The interviews provided important distinctions when comparing insights from those external and internal to politics and community organization leadership. This allowed me and those that I spoke with to better understand different obstacles to community development, based on the perspectives of decision-makers and those with a strong network of connections in Miami’s Haitian community. I spoke to younger and older Haitians in addition to those U.S. born Haitians and Haitians born in Haiti. I found the opportunity to speak to Haitian subcommunities that do not ordinarily interact with each other to be very informative. I look forward to highlighting similarities and differences in perspectives between many of these Haitian sub-communities, in hopes of reducing bias that could lead to ineffective communication throughout Haitian communities.

I looked to integrate insights that I gained from past interviews into future interactions with study subjects. I feel that this relates directly to changemaking, and positive social change as Haitian metropolitan areas face fragmentation due to certain social demographics. Firstly, subcommunities in Miami’s Haitian population can become individualized due to differences in socioeconomic status, types of professions, fluency in Creole, age, and country of origin (U.S. born Haitians or Haitians who immigrated here). I hope my final research report will provide unique perspectives to those that might not connect or interact with different Haitian subcommittees due to any of the aforementioned obstacles as well as others. The insight gathered should be able to educate local and federal leaders on the impact that different demographics can have on fragmentation of Haitian communities. With this consideration, I believe that community initives and support programs can be implemented in a manner that is more directed and efficient.

This project highlighted the importance of accessibility in one’s life, especially for an immigrant population living in the U.S. This accessibility gap can be seen in the struggle for access to and direct communication with politicians or other external or internal leaders. From my interviews, I realized how this can manifest itself through the difference in Haitian politicians’ perspectives on current Haitian community issues in comparison with the actual needs of the community. I also learned through firsthand perspectives how difficult it is to navigate the political, educational, judicial, and criminal system when you are facing a language or cultural barrier. In regard to cultural barriers, learned experiences stemming from how a Haitian individual approached local institutions in Haiti or interacted with Haiti’s government can result in high levels of reluctancy of interacting with different community structures in the U.S. Currently, Haitian immigrant integration support systems consistently fall short, and parents are left to navigate advocacy in a large public school system or find their local politicians unreachable or uninterested in individual community needs.

I am interested in pursuing professional opportunities around technological or social system innovation that is aimed at improving accessibility and increasing self-sufficiency of all members in a community, regardless of race, nationality, immigration/educational/financial/disability status. I believe in the importance of demystifying involvement in many of the structural systems in the U.S., in particular politics, education and financial empowerment. Ultimately, I hope to run for political office at some point.