PIANTINI, Santo Domingo, D.R. – During its recently-held annual board meeting in the state of Rhode Island, the Batey Relief Alliance’s Board of Directors unanimously approved the organization’s 2010 budget of $5.7 million to carry out humanitarian work in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and the United States.

“BRA will implement various important projects in the Dominican Republic, including a new Agricultural Development, HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment, Blindness Prevention, Preventive Healthcare and Education, Nutrition and Micronutrients, Water and Sanitation, Child Healthcare, and Disaster Relief” said Ulrick Gaillard, BRA’s CEO. In Haiti, BRA will carry out other programs in Water and Sanitation, Child Healthcare, Micronutrients and Women’s Economic Empowerment. Gaillard added that the organization will also dedicate effort to educate the New York City immigrant population about HIV/AIDS and prevention techniques.

BRA’s work will address the socio-economic and health needs of children and their families severely affected by extreme poverty, disease and hunger inside the Dominican’s vulnerable bateyes, rural communities and urban slums; Haiti’s border regions; and New York’s inner city barrios. More than 25,000 people are expected to receive direct health-related services from BRA’s clinics while another 80,000 will benefit from its indirect intervention through partnerships with 15 local groups receiving support in donated medical goods, supplies and equipment; 35,000 more will enjoy food security and economic self-sufficiency while 60,000 children are expected to receive multivitamins, nutrition and antiparasitic medicines.

BRA’s strategic partners for 2010 will include the United States Department of Agriculture, United States Agency for International Development, Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative, New York State Department of Health, Engineers without Borders, Dominican’s Ministry of Health, Department of Agriculture and State Sugar Council, Presbyterian Church-USA, Partners In Health, FONKOZE, Esperanza International, Major League Baseball-Dominican Development Alliance, Direct Relief International, Catholic Medical Mission Board, National Cancer Coalition, Vitamin Angel Alliance, Nordic Naturals, United Natural Food Inc., IDA Foundation, and University of Indiana. More than 75 volunteers are expected to be recruited to share their expertise in the areas of healthcare, education, fundraising and media outreach.

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The United States Department of Agriculture donated $2 million to the Batey Relief Alliance to improve agricultural training, production and marketing, and planning more profitable crops inside Dominican Republic’s agricultural batey communities. BRA’s international assistance grant falls under USDA’s Food for Progress Program and will support agricultural and rural development, while helping to address food shortages.

The project will be implemented by Batey Relief Alliance’s Dominican-based field organization BRA Dominicana, in partnerships with various key government entities, including the State Sugar Council, Dominican Agrarian Institute, Monte Plata Office of Senatorial Management and the Department of Agriculture.

“The two-year project will have the capacity to create food security and economic self-sufficiency for 35,000 people living in extreme poverty inside seven batey communities in the province of Monte Plata,” said Ulrick Gaillard, BRA’s CEO. Gaillard also added that more than 7,000 unemployed farmers will be put to work 3,000 acres of fertile land and develop their community infrastructures for long-term agricultural and economic development and growth.

As part of other project benchmarks, BRA will establish an Agricultural Cooperative to teach the participating farmers how to manage and sell more profitable crops, create sustainable business plans, and apply for loans and credits and reach more consumers. “In light of the current global economic crisis affecting millions around the world, especially in poor countries, the USDA grant is timely as it responds directly to the dire economic conditions facing thousands languishing in these vulnerable agricultural batey regions,” concluded Gaillard.

USDA’s Food for Progress Program provides U.S. agricultural commodities to developing countries and emerging democracies committed to introducing and expanding free enterprise in the agricultural sector. Commodities are provided on a donation basis to foreign governments, private voluntary organizations, non-profit organizations, cooperatives or intergovernmental organizations. Projects are chosen based on their agricultural focus, the country’s needs, proposal’s quality and organization’s management, experience and financial and technical capabilities.

Dear friends,

This year is my first message to you, asking on this important occasion to join members of our Boards of Directors, our staff, our partners, and me to celebrate the twelfth-year anniversary of our organization, The Batey Relief Alliance, created on October 23, 1997.

THE BATEY RELIEF ALLIANCE (BRA) was founded in the state of New York, United States of America, as a tax-exempt, non-profit, non-political, humanitarian aid organization addressing the socio-economic and health needs of children and their families severely affected by extreme poverty, disease and hunger in the United States and the Caribbean, principally in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. BRA’s mission serves all regardless of race, sex, creed, religion, national origin, socio-economic status or political affiliations.

This year, I would like to share with you two new beginnings for the BRA that we all should be proud of: expanding our services from comprehensive healthcare to agricultural development inside the bateyes and expanding our intervention from the bateyes to the border regions of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Starting 2010, BRA will develop an agricultural cooperative where more than 7,000 unemployed farmers will be put to work 3,000 acres of fertile land in various batey communities to create food security and economic self-sufficiency for 35,000 people. This ambitious project is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture.

In border communities of Anse-à-Pitres, Haiti and Pedernales, Dominican Republic where, as in the bateyes, the populations are isolated from most state support and live in extreme poverty, BRA has planted the seeds for a long-term bi-national healthcare and economic development intervention. We have mobilized new and current partners, including USAID, Vitamins Angels, Direct Relief International, United Natural Foods Inc., and Rotary International to expand our micronutrient/deworming and nutrition programs, build a new water purification center, and organize free dental and medical mission trips. We have also submitted proposals to develop a Women’s Economic Empowerment Program providing microcredit loans and training and improving financial stability for 600 women in Haiti. And soon, we hope to sign a partnership agreement with Haiti’s Ministry of Health to deliver improved and sustainable health services inside Anse-a-Pitres.

Expanding our mission from the bateyes to the border regions is a strategic necessity that implicates a new form of thinking and bona fide binational partnerships in order to address the dire need of people who are so different culturally and yet interconnected at a poverty level. This is just the first step toward bringing to the border the same socio-economic and health services that we already deliver inside in the bateyes. And our new agricultural program will provide the batey population with new economic tools they desperately need to better manage their lives in light of the current economic crisis affecting billions around the world.

As we take on these new endeavors, however, more funding will be needed. The generous support of donors like you has allowed us to strengthen our base even as we expand our horizons. Your continued support is essential to our continued success.

Happy Birthday Batey Relief Alliance!

Respectfully

Ulrick Gaillard, J.D.
Founder/CEO