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ABOUT US
The Little Haiti Optimist Club is a non-profit organization established in 2010 by a group of business, community and civic leaders to provide assistance, guidance and programs to the youth of Little Haiti surrounding areas.
Our goal is to be the premier organization providing programs to prepare the youth of Little Haiti for academic and life excellence. The organization is affiliated with the International Optimist www.optimist.org, an association of more than 3,000 Optimist Clubs around the world dedicated to “Bringing Out the Best in Kids”.
LHOC has served more than 12,000 kids and their families.
The Community We Serve
The Little Haiti community is one of the most impoverished communities in the City of Miami. In addition, the income level of the families has an overall poverty rate of 41.7% for families with children. Of those, 54% of the families are headed by single-parents with the female as head of the household. Poverty rates for families below the 150% poverty level is at 49.2%. Needless to say, the youth growing up in the Little Haiti community are living the legacy of generations of poverty. In addition to the above, the lack of economic progress stems from a number of contributing factors:
Program Impact
The current & anticipated successes of these programs & services will build and sustain achievements that will change our students and community forever. Our successes will attract additional future funding opportunities, which will allow us to:
- Increase the scope and number of students/adults being served year to year.
- Extend the programs & services to create a greater impact on students, parents and the community.
Increase the number of LHOC students meeting State promotional standards by supporting school efforts with the at home/after school component of learning through its wide array of programs & services to our students. - Help prevent the youth of Little Haiti and the surrounding areas from engaging in the negatives of juvenile delinquency, gun violence, performing poorly academically, teen pregnancy and gang affiliations.
Provide young scholars growing up in poverty with experiences that will broaden their horizons and magnify their vision of their own potential.
Inspire innovation as the way to ensure a prosperous future.
