University of Florida - Haiti Observer Blog

Agriculture is Haiti's most important but under-utilized resource. Not enough has been done to increase crop yields or exports in the world market. But a sustainability movement has started in some parts of the country, creating The Center for Rural Sustainable Development (CRSD), launched in Kenscoff. Present for the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Agriculture Ministers and Pamela White, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti.

The center will be operated by University of Florida sustainability experts, who will instruct farmers on greenhouse, drip irrigation, and vertical farming practices. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has underwritten the project. Conceived as a modern teaching facility, instructors will show farmers best practices for green farming. They will teach them how to grow different crop types, operate the latest farm equipment, and become responsible stewards of the environment.

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Rashad Jeanty is an American football linebacker with Haitian background. He has been a defensive end in Canadian football. He studied in Carol City High School. The Miami Herald rated him as fourteenth best player in the country and 6th best player in Florida.

Jeanty played for 4 years in Canadian football League for Edmonton Eskimos before he left for National Football League in 2006. He joined Cincinnati Bengals in the league. He also was part of the football team of University of Florida before he joined Canadian Football League.

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Miami-Dade College has appointed a new Executive Director of the Haitian-American Professionals Coalition (HAPC), Diana A Bien-Aime. An instructor in the Speech Communications Department at Miami-Dade, she is completing courses for her Ph.D. in Leadership and Communication. Born in New York State, she graduated from University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in 2001, and Masters in Organizational Communications in 2007, at Barry University.

Bien-Aime uses her degrees to work with organizations as a communications facilitator, and moderate education forum events on television. She is also a poet and motivational speaker. Confident in her new role, she shares her perspective on what will make HAPC an effectively-run organization: "Collegiality and professionalism . . . . along with the longevity of commitment to . . . (the) community's issues."
Her priorities as the new Executive Director are to persuade members to commit to strategies that will spur economic growth and offer mediation, formulating policy resources, civic involvement, and membership alliances.

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