“We started by reviewing some of the past information I created about the Haitian Coalition and then brainstormed the key words we felt described the Coalition. Those words we came up with were compassion, collaboration, grass-roots, education, inclusivity, prosperous, unity, advocacy,” he said.
The first meeting was held in the summer of 2022 and the structure was formalized for a kickoff meeting in December of 2022. They had a one-page that described the innovative process of the coalition in early 2023, which included background, challenges, intervention, success and partnerships, but had been using that until they created the purpose statement.
The purpose statement is:
“The Haitian Coalition works to engage public, private, and faith-based partners to create a more inclusive and prosperous community through education, advocacy, and collaboration.
The Haitian Coalition provides a county-wide forum to:
- Educate the community
- Discover the health inequities
- Collect and share innovative solutions and best practices
- Build infrastructure and partnerships
- Increase access to health, social, economic, and community resources
- Support coordination, engagement, and linkages in the community
- Establish a trusted and culturally sensitive point of coordination
When asked how the group was going to turn the purpose statement into action, Cook said he thinks it has caught up with the work they’ve been doing.
“We’ve been flying the plane and building it at the same time for a couple years now — we took a minute make sure we all know where the “north star” is,” he said.
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