Funding Allows Mission In Haiti To Continue

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -  The Clinton Foundation has announced that it will - through its Haiti Relief Fund - provide $500,000 in bridge funding for a camp in Petionville run by J/P Haitian Relief Organization.  The money will allow J/P HRO, whose staff is 90 percent Haitian, to continue to manage a camp of 55,000 displaced people, provide emergency medical and primary care services, educational seminars through their women’s clinic, psychosocial support through their camp medical clinic, and dynamic rubble clearing project. Under the leadership of actor and humanitarian Sean Penn, J/P HRO has tirelessly advocated for the people of Haiti.

"Rebuilding housing for more than 1 million people displaced by the earthquake will take time, as teams on the ground continue to clear rubble and build infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems," President Clinton said. "In the interim, our commitment to the Petitionville camp, managed by J/P HRO, will ensure the 55,000 people living there, including many children, can access health care, education, and job training services until families are able to move into more permanent homes."

"We are deeply grateful for the support of the Clinton Foundation for the ongoing work of J/P HRO,” said Sean Penn, founder J/P HRO. “From the beginning the Clinton Foundation staff and leadership have generously shared expertise and essential logistical support. With this grant, I'm proud of the J/P HRO staff and volunteers -- both Haitian and foreign -- who have earned this tremendous foundation's faith in their contribution and continuing efforts."

The contribution will help J/P HRO continue to run its hospital at the top of camp, which sees approximately 250 patients a day. It will also help with the maintenance of its women’s clinic, which is fully Haitian run and where the nurses carry out educational seminars for men and for women. Additionally, starting October 1, 2010, J/P HRO  took over a second medical facility previously provided by another organization including the only labor and delivery unit and psychosocial unit in camp.

Since the creation of its Haiti Relief Fund the Clinton Foundation has disbursed $3 million in grants to 12 organizations working on the ground in Haiti; and has facilitated the shipment of $16 million in supplies, including 14 pieces of heavy equipment, 32,680 solar flashlights and lanterns, 58 solar-powered streetlights, and 390,000 articles of clothing.  In August, the Foundation announced that it was building emergency shelters in Leogane - the first of which will be ready mid-October - a project valued at $1 million.  And in May, it provided the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) with its first $1 million for operational support.    

President Clinton currently serves as the co-Chair of the IHRC and as UN Special Envoy for Haiti.