The Haitian Community in Miami-Dade

Acknowledgments

The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program has many people to thank

for the support of this project. First, this report has been made possible by the generous support of the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation Donor-Advised Fund at

Dade Community Foundation.

The original project, Growing the Middle Class: Connecting All Miami-Dade Residents

to Economic Opportunity, was funded by Living Cities: The National Community

Development Initiative. Living Cities�� support has enabled the Metropolitan Policy

Program to analyze the results of Census 2000 through its Living Cities Census

Series, of which The Haitian Community in Miami-Dade is a part.

The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program would like to thank the

driving force behind this publication, Gepsie Metellus, executive director of the

Haitian Neighborhood Center, Sant La, Inc. Sant La was founded in December

2000 by a group of community leaders and service providers concerned by the

chronic gaps in the provision of services to the Haitian/Haitian American community of South Florida. Sant La��s work addresses the problems resulting from the Haitian

community��s social isolation and lack of awareness about available community

resources. Brookings also acknowledges the work of the rest of the Sant La staff:

Leonie M Hermantin, Sheba St. Hilaire, Sophia Lacroix, Desiree Marrero, Arielle

Dominique Valme, and Lauren Fordyce.

We thank Sese-Paul Design for the design of this publication.

The principal author of the report is Rebecca Sohmer, with contributions from

David Jackson, Bruce Katz, and David Warren.

Note: The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the trustees, officers, or staff members of

the Brookings Institution

The Haitian Community in Miami-Dade: A Growing the Middle Class Supplement ? Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program

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The Haitian Community

in Miami-Dade

A Growing the Middle Class Supplement

BROOKINGS INSTITUTION METROPOLITAN POLICY PROGRAM

? Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, 2005

Introduction

Introduction

2

Although Haitians have been coming to Miami-Dade in large numbers

for only a little over two decades, they have quickly become an integral part of the region. But

there are important differences between the Haitian experience and other immigrant experiences in South Florida. As researcher Philip Kretsedemas explains, ��Unlike many Hispanic

immigrants, who benefited from the enclave economy and political networks established by earlier cohorts of middle-class refugees��Haitian immigrants entered South Florida as unwanted

immigrants, black minorities, and members of an ethnolinguistic group that was isolated from

both the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking community.��1 Haitians are also from one of

the poorest nations in the world. And in a region with some of the highest poverty rates in the

country, Haitians are among the poorest groups in Miami-Dade: Haitians are more likely to

work low-wage jobs, earn less money, and pay larger shares of their incomes on basic necessities.

T

his report is a supplement to a June 2004 publication entitled, Growing the Middle

Class: Connecting All Miami-Dade Residents to Economic Opportunity. The intent of this

report is to provide specific information about the Haitian community in Miami-Dade

County in order to better describe the challenges they face. After describing Haitian

income trends, the report explores some of the reasons behind the low incomes and

higher poverty rates of Miami��s Haitian population.

The Haitian community in Miami-Dade has gained a lot of ground since the late

1970s��there are now Haitian and Haitian American politicians, organizations, businesses, and middle-class neighborhoods. But the numbers also show that there is still

much work to be done to ensure that all groups in the region, including Haitians, have

access to economic opportunity.

The Haitian Community in Miami-Dade: A Growing the Middle Class Supplement ? Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program

Introduction

A NOTE ON THE DATA

It is often difficult to get a truly accurate

count of groups such as the Haitian American

community. A range of issues��from distrust

of federal agencies to inadequate funding

for outreach to immigrant communities��

contribute to a likely undercount of Haitians

in the U.S. For example, the U.S. Census

Bureau says there are 96,000 Haitians in

Miami-Dade, but community leaders feel this

number underestimates the true count.2

While recognizing that the Census Bureau

number may not capture all the Haitians in

the county, this report relies on the census

numbers because of the unparalleled level of

detail and information they provide.

Undercount or no, the statistics still reveal

important trends facing the Haitian community in Miami-Dade.

And no other data source provides such

detailed characteristics of population, housing, and employment at very small levels

of geography. Such data come as close to

comprehensiveness as any that exist.

The information about the Haitian community is captured in the ��ancestry�� section of

the Census found in Summary Files 3 and 4.

Individuals in households who received the

long form of the census were asked, ��What is

this person��s ancestry or ethnic origin?�� This

report includes any individual who listed

��Haitian�� as their sole ancestry, or as one of a

number of ancestries. In other words, the

numbers in this report represent those that listed themselves as either Haitian or part Haitian.

Most of the numbers in the report are

from Census 2000, Summary File 4. The

tables provided by the census in Summary

File 4 are the only source of detailed information on groups below the major race

categories (black, white, Hispanic, Asian,

etc.). However, in a few years the U.S. Census

Bureau will complete its implementation of

the American Community Survey (ACS), a

new research product that will eventually

replace the long form of the decennial census.

Once implemented, the ACS will provide

yearly data which will enable users to track

the information provided here on a more

regular basis. Until then, Census 2000 is the

best source of detailed information about the

Haitian community.

Little Haiti, USA:

A Brief History of Haitians in South Florida

By Gepsie Metellus

Executive Director, The Haitian Neighborhood Center, Sant La, Inc.

Haitian migration to the United States dates back to the early 1800s and even to Haiti��s

pre-independence period. However, this migration became more formalized during the

1950s and early 1960s as the Haitian educational and economic elite was exiled by the

Duvalier regime. After an initial wave of professional and highly-skilled workers of the

1960s, a second wave of middle and lower-middle class migrants arrived in the mid1970s, mainly settling in the northeastern United States. As socioeconomic and political

conditions continued to deteriorate in Haiti, the 1980s gave rise to a mass exodus consisting mainly of poor peasants, both rural and urban, who became known as the ��Haitian

Boat People.��3

Haitians fled deteriorating conditions in Haiti and traveled by boat to the Bahamas and

Florida in search of a safe haven and a more stable and prosperous life. While many

reunited with family members located in other regions of the United States, the great

majority without United States relatives remained in South Florida.

Simultaneously, there was also a wave of Haitian migration from the Northeastern United

States and Canada. The latter group consisted of earlier immigrants who were fleeing the

cold weather and were seeking an alternative similar to Haiti��s tropical weather and

lifestyle. These groups settled in such neighborhoods as Miami Gardens, Florida City,

Homestead, and Opa-Locka.

Once the province of middle-class whites, the city of Miami became the highest point of

concentration for Haitian refugees in South Florida beginning in the 1970s and into 1980s.

By the late 1980s, there was a solid presence of Haitians in the Edison/Little River area.

Because successive groups of Haitian refugees settled throughout this enclave, the neighborhood was christened ��Little Haiti.�� Geographically, this neighborhood is considered to

stretch from 54th Street in the south, to the northern Miami city line, or 86th Street. The

eastern border is the Florida East Coast Railways, and Interstate 95 marks the western

side.

Little Haiti has a viable business district along Northeast Second Avenue, whose revitalization in a relatively short time is credited to the ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit of

Haitian small business owners.

In recent years, several factors have led to a change in Little Haiti. Many of its original settlers have moved to the contiguous neighborhoods of the Northeast Corridor such as El

Portal, Miami Shores, North Miami, and North Miami Beach as well as to Broward County.

Simultaneously, a real-estate boom, the rapid demographic transformation of smaller

neighborhoods surrounding Little Haiti, the area��s proximity to downtown Miami, and its

accessibility by public transportation have made it desirable for redevelopment and realestate investments.

Little Haiti enjoys a national and international reputation. Little Haiti is, and will continue to

be, of social, cultural, and historical significance to South Florida��s Haitian community as

well as to members of the Haitian diaspora because of its role as the touchstone of

Haitian migration to the United States.4 The names of Haitian cultural and historical icons

grace major thoroughfares in the heart of Little Haiti: Northeast 54th Street has been designated as Toussaint Louverture Boulevard, and Northeast Second Avenue is now also

known as ��Avenue Felix Morisseau Leroy.�� Over a relatively short period of time, Haitians

have changed the character of the neighborhood once known as ��Lemon City.��

Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program ? The Haitian Community in Miami-Dade: A Growing the Middle Class Supplement

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