Reconnecting Baltimore, rebuilding Haiti: Why H.R. 1114, Haitian American Enterprise Fund 2025 matters now

By Gilbert Saint Jean

Baltimore. Your port, your economy, your neighbors and your city’s past and future is tied to your Caribbean- American family.  The cultural, economic and historical links that bind for a more prosperous Baltimore are strengthened by urging passage of H.R. 1114 – Haitian American Enterprise Fund 2025 (HAEF 2025), currently in the U.S. Congress. 

HAEF 2025 learns from successful U.S. Enterprise Funds, which helped to catalyze Eastern European economies after they ended communism. Recently, Egypt, Tunisia, and some southern Africa economies also have been improved by the Funds. 

U.S. Enterprise Funds are a venture capital-like mechanism to provide investment capital to grow frontier and developing economies. After a number of years, the investment holdings of the fund are liquidated, providing financial returns to the U.S. treasury and improving economic conditions for the host-country as well as its citizens.

HAEF 2025 proposes a $5 billion investment over five years in key Haiti sectors: agriculture, biodiversity, construction, manufacturing, technology and tourism. It contributes to Haiti’s stabilization through entrepreneurship, infrastructure development, and job creation. Given the Port of Baltimore is a U.S. national leader in exports, the region will benefit greatly by facilitating exports of construction and farm equipment, contributing to Haiti’s bounce back.

The ties that bind Baltimore and Haiti run deep. Trade between the two in the past was significant. Coffee harvests, among others, from the island colony of Saint Domingue (today Haiti), were sent to Baltimore’s ports then shipped to Europe. 

The 161 year-old St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, which sits in the heart of Baltimore, is recognized as the first Black parish in the United States. With Sulpician priests, it was founded by Black people who  sailed from Haiti to Baltimore, landing at Fell’s Point in 1791.  The City of Baltimore documents these early Haitians accounted for as much as 30 percent of the “colored” population of Baltimore.  The descendants of these migrants to late 18^th century Baltimore are ingrained in Baltimore and its metropolitan area today. 

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates approximately 2,000 Haitian Americans reside in Baltimore City and Baltimore County combined. Many of these residents, who have at least one grandparent from Haiti, are  valued professionals across fields. 

Among them are Sister Mary Elizabeth Lange. Born in 1789 in Haiti, she came to Baltimore around 1813 and founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first permanent community of Black Catholic sisters in the United States. She also established a school, St. Frances Academy, to educate Black children in Fell’s Point. It still operates today.  Among other accolades, Lange was inducted to the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame in 1991, a local high school is named after her and has been declared Venerable by the Catholic Church, a step closer to canonization. 

HAEF 2025 is an opportunity to  tighten the bonds between Baltimore and Haiti. The city’s own Taharka Brothers, an ice cream company, has sourced its chocolate and vanilla flavors from Haiti–a microcosm of mutual benefits that can be expanded with the legislation. 

B-more’s past and future renaissance should involve Haiti. Urge Maryland representatives and U.S. senators to pass HAEF 2025, further strengthening the cultural, economic and history ties that bind Baltimore and Haiti for centuries to come.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.

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