About
Who we are
Haïti College Fund (HCF) was established in 2005 as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For over fifteen years, HCF has raised money here in the States to support promising young Haïtians with opportunities to work their way out of poverty by obtaining advanced education and professional training through fully subsidized scholarships to universities in Haïti.
Haïti College Fund is dedicated to addressing the long-term needs of the Haïtian people to overcome the never-ending cycle of poverty and premature death by addressing one of the core issues giving rise to their impoverishment: lack of access to higher education. With university-level training, young Haïtians are able to enter professional positions and establish businesses of their own.
A university education in Haïti serves two important outcomes:
(1) by reducing dependency on assistance from abroad, Haïti will be better able to solve its many problems by having its own indigenous class of professionals;
(2) by encouraging local development through application of acquired skills, HCF graduates will promote economic progress and effect long-lasting improvements in their home communities.
With university-level educations, young Haïtians are able to enter professional positions. They will become the essential component of renewal and advancement that—up until now—has been missing in all the efforts to build the country from within.
Haïti College Fund is an all-volunteer organization. Although some administrative expenses are paid for by the Fund, many operating costs are covered by donations from HCF volunteers themselves. The vast majority of the money collected goes directly to pay for tuition, room, and board for our scholarship recipients who are selected based on merit and need. The university educations that HCF finances not only help the students, but also their home communities and towns in Haïti, as all our students commit to return to their home communities after graduation to apply their newfound skills and support development at the local level..
A growing population of university-educated Haitians is precisely what the Haïti College Fund hopes to achieve. Put simply, the goal of the HCF is a better future for all of Haïti—achieved one student at a time. This is not a vague hope, but a reality proven by the lives and contributions of our successful graduates.*
*The inspiration for Haïti College Fund was the life and example of Joseph F. Barba, Sr. Although the son of poor immigrants, he was able through good luck and hard work to put himself through college and graduate from Yale University with a degree in engineering in 1930. Dad always thought it was his college education that made all the difference. He was proud to be able to send all three of his children to Ivy League colleges.