NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. —At the end of June, The Haitian Project (THP) took first steps in establishing a second Louverture Cleary School in Haiti.

 

A groundbreaking for the new, Catholic, secondary boarding school took place in Haiti’s Plateau Central region in the Diocese of Gonaives. The new school will be modeled on the project’s first school located just outside of Port-au-Prince. 

 

The campus is designed to be safe and efficient with buildings that prioritize energy self-sufficiency, environmental sustainability, and comfort for staff and students.

 

The original school has been educating bright young men and women tuition-free for about three decades, drawing them from families who cannot afford the cost of their children’s education. 

 

The goal is to enable these students to work toward building a Haiti where justice and peace thrive. 

LCS graduates are instilled with values of being servant-leaders, according to a press release from the school.

 

Students are given hands-on experience with innovative green technologies and gain an understanding of environmental stewardship to combat vicious cycles of environmental degradation in Haiti. 

 

They give back to Haiti and are making a brighter future for their country. Ninety percent of LCS graduates stay in Haiti, a country where only 30% of young people remain after graduating from college.

 

The planned 10-school network of Catholic secondary boarding schools will increase access to quality education in different dioceses and departments of Haiti. 

 

A Louverture Cleary School in each department, or geographic area, of Haiti will help stimulate regional economies and support structures that will encourage development throughout the country, opening all regions of Haiti to enable the country to thrive.

 

When the entire LCS network is complete, it will provide 3,600 students with a quality education steeped in service and 1,200 alumni with scholarships to Haitian universities each year.

 

The Haitian Project, headquartered in Providence, R.I., has long had ties with parishioner-donors in the Diocese of Rockford. 

 

Deacon Patrick Moynihan of the Rockford Diocese served many years as president of the Port-au-Prince school and others from the diocese have visited, volunteered and worked for the project. 

 

Info: www.haitianproject.org.