The Haitian-American Community Coalition of Southwest Florida is seeking the community’s help in raising money for its scholarship fun, which currently has a match donor.

Twenty scholarships have been provided since 2015 to students of Haitian descendent who are ready to graduate from Lee County schools. In the last four years, $15,000 in scholarships have been awarded to graduating Lee County students of Haitian heritage.

Haitian-American Community Coalition of Southwest Florida President Beatrice Jacquet-Castor said every year they have a scholarship gala at Broadway Palm Theater to raise funds for the scholarships. Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the coalition was unable to hold the gala in October.

“Therefore we had a foundation, We Can’t Have That Foundation, step up to give us a matching fund of $2,000,” she said, adding that the founder of the foundation is the chairman of the coalition. “So far we have raised a total of $2,500. We are still raising more to be able to give out more because we have a prospective donor that asked us to open scholarships to cover Southwest Florida.”

Those who would like to donate to the scholarship fund can do so by mailing a check to Haitian-American Community Coalition of SW Florida, PO Box 62016, Fort Myers, Florida, 33906 with “donation for scholarship fund” in the memo line.

“There is a lot of Haitian kids that are need,” she said. “We need to help them when it comes to providing scholarships to go to post secondary education.”

The goal is to either meet, or exceed last year’s goal of providing four students with a $1,000 scholarship.

Scholarship applications must be submitted by April 16 to Haitian-American Community Coalition of SW Florida, P.O Box 62016, Fort Myers, Florida, 33906. More information can be found at http://haitianamericanccf.org.

Eligible students must be of Haitian heritage and be a high school senior graduating this year. The scholarships are currently $1,000 per student.

Jacquet-Castor said the coalition began in 2015 to promote social justice and human rights for Haitians. She said they are providing a voice for the invisible demographics of Haitian descendants living in Southwest Florida.

“There are over 28,000 Haitians living in Lee County,” Jacquet-Castor said. “There is a huge population.”

One of the missions of the coalition is to increase awareness and address issues and needs surrounding the Haitian community. The coalition advocates for legislation to increase the allocation of resources to them, so they can continue to help the community.

“The Haitians that live in Southwest Florida don’t know how to access it,” Jacquet-Castor said of resources. “We are like a lifeline to the Haitian community.”

A vision of the coalition is to increase the participation in the political process, as they want the Haitian community to be engaged in the process.

“Elected officials pay attention to those voting for them. The primary focus is to get them involved and to go out and vote, so they can get their issues resolved,” she said. “We register people to vote. We unite the Haitian Americans to achieve social equality in education, healthcare and job training in Southwest Florida.”

In addition, the coalition is providing assistance to the community, the entire community, not just those of Haitian decent because of COVID-19. Since June 1, the coalition has provided assistance to more than 600 people.

“We have helped over 450 people, who got approved for rental and utility assistance through Lee Cares,” Jacquet-Castor said, adding that they have also helped 150 people with unemployment benefits.

They are helping individuals fill out rental and utility assistance paperwork, Obamacare Health Insurance, SNAP benefits and Medicaid.

“This is how we are giving back to the community. We are here and here to assist,” Jacquet-Castor said. “We do require you to make an appointment because we have to follow CDC guidelines.”

Those who would like to make an appointment can do so by calling (239) 878-5898.