Jou Nouvo’s Commitment to Haiti
In early 2008, Haitian native Kerline Tofuri founded Jou Nouvo to respond to the needs and aspirations of the poor in Bon-Repos, Haiti, where she grew up. Soon thereafter, Jou Nouvo, a 501(c)3 organization, began its first programs: Adult Literacy, Basic Health Instruction, Small Business Loans, and Child Sponsorships.
More than a decade later, Jou Nouvo has successfully maintained these programs and added more. We have also helped Haitian families during devastating natural disasters: Haiti’s 2010 Earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
We continue to facilitate partnerships between charitable people and Bon-Repos. Our programs have given the Haitian people the power to create a cycle of new hope for themselves, their families, and their community.
Our Life Changing Programs
Our programs empower Haitian families to create a cycle of hope for themselves, their families, and their community. We provide quality education, economic empowerment, and sustained community growth through a sustainable model that can be replicated in other communities to raise awareness of Haiti’s broader challenges.
Jou Nouvo is Dedicated to Creating
a Cycle of Full Economic Empowerment
Through Education for Future Haiti.
Sponsor a child. It can be life-altering for the child and their family. Make it possible for a child to go to school. Support a child’s education to help defeat illiteracy, build confidence, and create hope.
For just $42 a month, your child sponsorship will provide the following to a child in Bon-Repos:
School Tuition- School Supplies
- School uniform and shoes
- Food
- Free medical care for the entire family
- Nutritional supplements for malnourished children not in school
- Jou Nouvo’s Bon-Repos staff select the appropriate school
- Jou Nouvo encourages group, community, and family activities that promote reading and writing.
As you can imagine, there is a significant waiting list of children looking for sponsorship and the possibility of going to school. Please click here for more information on each child’s interests and background, and to ultimately sponsor a child. Making a huge difference in a life is as simple as a few clicks.
There are 75-100 children on our waiting list. With new sponsors, very quickly we will add those children to the Child Sponsorship Program. Very quickly they will start school at a quality school. And the cost of that is less than the cost of somebody’s Starbucks every day. It is not a lot of money, but it’s a huge potential benefit, a huge impact and a spark of hope to have one of these young children start to learn.
John Huycke
The reality is: Only 45% of Haiti’s female population is literate. The average Haitian girl only attends school until the age of seven. Adolescent girls are frequently pulled out of school to assist with domestic chores or to pursue domestic labor jobs in cities where they are at risk for abuse, forced unpaid labor, and exploitation.
To change this, Jou Nouvo is collaborating with Circle of Women, a woman-run organization that specifically supports providing girls education across the globe. Together, Jou Nouvo and Circle of Women have created an innovative program: The Girls Scholar Program (GSP) to provide secondary education for Haitian girls in a newly outfitted school. The first class of 16 students began school in September 2021. Through 2023, more than 110 girls are part of this program.
The Girls Scholar Program provides access to a computer lab, a library, and a multi-purpose classroom. The program is intended to pave the way for future inspirational leaders and changemakers in Haiti.
At Jou Nouvo, our mission is deeply rooted in the principles of collective empowerment, community solidarity, and individual autonomy. Despite the grim circumstances, we refuse to succumb to despair.
Kerline Tofuri
Investing in a girl’s education transforms communities, countries, and the entire world.
Liz Robinson
Vladimir Jeune
Support creating the future leaders of Haiti through our University Sponsorship Program, the Haiti Youth Education Fund (HYEF), which empowers Haitian students to attend university in Haiti helping them realize their dream of higher education and become community leaders.
The cost of tuition for one semester at a university in Port-au-Prince ranges from $300-750. HYEF plans for $5,000-10,000 per student for four years, depending on their program of study and the university they choose. Sponsor a student and you will cover their tuition, books, a laptop computer, and other personal expenses they may need to complete their education. In addition to supplies, Jou Nouvo actively engages with each student during their journey at university to fully support and help these students succeed.
This program aims to expand education opportunities for youth in
Bon-Repos, Haiti. The purpose of the fund is to enable equal access to education for Haitian high school students and to continue their education at the university level.
HYEF was created thanks to generous seed funding from the Community Engagement Fund at the United Church of Christ in Norwell, and a partnership with the Global Scholars Program at Thayer Academy.
Adult literacy is core to our foundation and Haiti’s education and regrowth. Our adult literacy program helps over 500 women and men in Bon-Repos, Haiti. Our trained instructors provide two-hour-long evening classes, 3 days a week, to help over 100 adults with fundamental reading and writing skills in Haitian Creole and French.
Most of the adults that take part in these programs are women and are consequently encouraged to develop vocational skills.
Basic Health Care
Supplementing the literacy component, our basic health program addresses the needs of our students for basic medical care and instruction about general health and nutrition. Through a collaboration with Foyer St. Camille Hospital, our participants have access to a local clinic in Terre Noir, a suburb within proximity of Bon-Repos.
Bill Cass
John Huycke
An important aspect of economic empowerment is helping small businesses start and succeed. Jou Nouvo facilitates microloans for small businesses in Bon-Repos so that individuals can learn to provide for themselves and their families. These small business loans range from $50-$150 and require participants to go through our training program to learn how to start and further develop their businesses. Economic development is truly a crucial need in Haiti at this time.
Since Jou Nouvo’s founding, more than 250 entrepreneurs have received loans for businesses such as cooking and selling food or reselling products such as eggs, fruits, and bread from their homes or at the market. Loans for small businesses are part of the full cycle of economic empowerment and community development that Jou Nouvo is fostering in Haiti.
Give A Microloan
With a small loan ranging from $100 – $150, our participants who live in extreme poverty will receive training to start up or further develop their businesses. They often:
- Cook and sell food
- Buy and re-sell a variety of products such as eggs, fruits, vegetables, bread, and more
Our Community Center
In August of 2020, we began to plan for a dream: a community center in the heart of Bon-Repos. In less than 18 months, an empty field of dreams was transformed into the vibrant, safe haven gathering place that is now Jou Nouvo’s Community Center.
Located in the heart of Bon-Repos, our Center offers a technology lab, a library, a multipurpose classroom, community spaces, a full kitchen providing hot meals to our students. Most importantly, as a safe haven for children, families, and team members who have been dealing with the harsh realities of Haiti, the center will have a lasting impact on the community, our members, and Haiti Education.
The Community Center is open 6 days a week, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Together we continue to create a cycle of hope and growth in our community. It is one motivated by education, gathering, economic development and most of all, HOPE FOR A NEW DAY.
Come Join Us on A Tour of Jou Nouvo’s New Community Center – Jou Nouvo – A New Day
We would like to take you on a tour of our amazing new community center and update you on, when you are dedicated to a mission, what we can all achieve together.
A Quick Tour of Our Community Center
A Message from Glada – Our Community Center Cook
Celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of our Community Center
The Difference We Make to So Many
Jou Nouvo aims to provide education and economic empowerment in Bon-Repos, Haiti. We will make a connection that brings our communities – in Haiti and globally – together to create a full cycle of hope for a new day.
Jou Nouvo’s mission is to help the extreme poor in Bon-Repos, Haiti attain independence and whole-life improvement through education while retaining the spirit of Haitian culture. Through literacy, education, and business development, Jou Nouvo provides hope. Children finally see a sightline from early education to higher learning to better employment opportunities.
Education in Haiti
With a small loan ranging from $100 – $150, our participants who live in extreme poverty will receive training to start up or further develop their businesses. They often:
- Almost all schools in Haiti are privately run (~80%) and require monthly tuition fees, a barrier for many children to attend school (per World Bank report).
- The average cost of tuition in Haiti is well beyond the means of most families, not to mention the extra costs for books, school uniforms, and transport.
- Children are often forced into alternatives to school, such as domestic servitude, child labor, or life in the streets. It is estimated that 300,000 Haitian children are working as domestic servants, approximately 80% of whom are girls under 14 years of age. Education is central to providing these children with a way to improve their lives. (per UNICEF report)
What we’ve achieved!
- More than 200 children have been sponsored – This allows families to send their children to school on a regular basis. Children don’t miss days or months of school due to a shortage of funds.
- 3 and 4 years olds are exposed to preschool. Some of these children would likely not get to be in a learning environment until they are 5 or 6 years old. Jou Nouvo encourages children and families to focus on education and make it a priority for the future.
- Over 80% of sponsor families have connected with children. Sponsored children love exchanging letters with the sponsors. Sponsored children and their families love it when they get to meet their sponsor through Zoom calls or visits when possible.
- Built a Community Center where hundreds of families, students, and team members gather to create and continue a cycle of hope in Haiti.
Our vision for the future
(Currently) Long Term Goals:
Jou Nouvo seeks to improve the quality of life throughout the community of Bon-Repos. We are providing children and adults with the tools of education, and giving them access to basic health care and instruction, as well as promoting economic stability through our small business loans program. Jou Nouvo is committed to forming partnerships with talented individuals and established institutions to rejuvenate the community in Bon-Repos.