Recording of Newtown Action Alliance virtual event
Newtown Action Alliance Lunch & Lobby on the ARMAS Act
March 2nd, 2026 at 12:00pm & 8:00pm EST
Watch the recording of this virtual event HERE
Quixote Center’s work in Haiti prioritizes systemic change. Our theory of change has three aspects:
- Economic development initiatives that lead to meaningful and sustainable jobs and income for families and communities;
- Reforestation to preserve Haiti’s environment and protect the soil and watershed;
- Advocacy to promote US policies that support Haitian democracy and Haitian-led solutions to poverty, gang violence, and migration.
Gros Morne and Grepen
Gros Morne and Grepen
Quixote Center partners with the Montfortain Fathers for a variety of projects in the Gros Morne area. Historically we have supported the Jean Marie Vincent Formation Center, which houses a tree nursery, a model instructional garden and multiple classrooms for training small-scale farmers. With our support, the JMV Center also maintains the Tet Mon model forest, a reforestation project that is the only one of its kind in the region. The JMV team holds formation sessions on reforestation and tree maintenance for local leaders, schoolchildren, and agronomy students.
Quixote Center also partners with the Montfortain-led LaChandle parish to support displaced people who fled to the Gros Morne area as a result of internal violence or deportations. With our support, the parish has sponsored programs to keep children in school and provide child-safe spaces to prevent gang recruitment. We have also provided cash assistance for the parents so that they can start small businesses and stabilize their income.
Developpement Communautaire Chretien Haitien (DCCH)
Developpement Communautaire Chretien Haitien (DCCH)
DCCH, a member of Caritas, partnered with Quixote Center in 2023 to conduct a needs assessment among rural communities around Les Cayes to identify investment priorities. After consulting with hundreds of community members through interviews and focus groups, together we designed a project that provides targeted investments in agroecological training, animal care, and women empowerment through microloans and small business ventures. In 2025, we launched the Socio-Economic Recovery Program as a scalable and replicable pilot project working with 100 rural families reaching up to 1000 people. This community-led initiative aims to improve their income and food security while building resilience and eliminating dependence on outside assistance. DCCH distributes seeds and livestock as loans where recipients return the same quantity of seeds and the first offspring to the program for redistribution. In 2026 we included an additional 100 families.
Read the final report from the 2025 pilot HERE.
Illegal Weapons Trafficking to Haiti Fact Sheet
Click HERE to see our most recent fact sheet on illegal weapons trafficking to Haiti.
Spring Newsletter
Fifty years ago Bill Callahan and Dolly Pomerleau founded Quixote Center with a dream to be a progressive faith-based center for challenging injustice. Our founders were influenced by liberation theology and animated by a commitment to solidarity with the vulnerable and
marginalized, within the Catholic Church and in society. They dreamed the “impossible
dream” of a world more justly loving, armed with the faith that their love and persistence
could make impossible dreams come true.
Haitian Flag Day
In Haiti and the throughout the diaspora, May 18th is a day filled with music, dancing, parades, religious services, and cultural events. It’s Haitian flag day, a national holiday and day of celebration, but its significance is far deeper than a day off work and a time to party. Schools often hold ceremonies, and communities gather to celebrate Haitian heritage, identity, and pride.
What Do "Haitian-Led" Solutions Look Like?
Last year our government brutally dismantled USAID, sending shockwaves around the world. The world's largest foreign humanitarian aid provider is reduced to a few remaining programs, including the successful HIV treatment and prevention program PEPFAR, now run by the Department of State. At a cost of less than 1% of the US total budget, many diplomats considered USAID an effective soft power strategy that consolidated alliances across the globe.
Haiti's Vulnerable Children
The people of Haiti are suffering. Violent criminal gangs perpetrate kidnappings, sexual violence, murder, and child trafficking. Over half the country is facing extreme food insecurity and 1.4 million people are internally displaced. For comparison, Haiti is about the size of Maryland, so it would be like 11% of the population of Maryland displaced and without homes.
Pilot Project Report from Haiti - Socio-Economic Recovery in Les Cayes
What happens when development and economic recovery starts with community leadership? This exciting pilot project in southern Haiti was designed to be replicated. The report below shares the process, results, lessons learned, and recommendations from this effort. We encourage you to read the full report here, and share widely with others working to build sustainable, locally-driven solutions.
Executive Summary
Keeping Children in School in Gros Morne
Haiti's ongoing security crisis has forced 1.4 million people to flee their homes, with many displaced families seeking refuge in Gros Morne. In response, the Caritas LaChandlé Parish stepped up by organizing a cash assistance program reaching 350 displaced families, thanks in large part to your generous contributions.
Haiti and Haitians in 2026
Haiti remains volatile. According to the most recent report from the UN Security Council, there are now 1.4 million people displaced, 12% of the population, and 5.9 million people facing hunger, with 1.9 million facing extreme hunger. There are also alarming levels of sexual violence, with women and girls the primary victims.
Three People Charged with Illegal Weapons Trafficking
On January 6 the US Justice Department announced an indictment charging one US citizen and two Haitian citizens with conspiracy to smuggle goods and unlawfully ship firearms from the United States to Haiti.
Christmas Season Event Brings Joy to Displaced Children in Gros Morne, Haiti
Over a three-day weekend between Christmas and New Years, over 100 children from displaced families participated in a series of fun and insightful activities in Gros Morne, Haiti. With Quixote Center's support, the Lachandlé parish organized the children to celebrate Christmas by playing games, learning new skills and discussing how to stay safe.
Violence in Haiti: A New Report
Haiti has been in the news again this week, and not in a good way. Criminal gangs fired on US Marines guarding the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Although the Marines did not report injuries, it is an indicator of the gangs’ perception of impunity.