HABETAC

The Haitian Bilingual and ESL Technical Assistance Center (HABETAC) at Brooklyn College is funded by the New York State Education Department (NYSED). HABETAC is one of thirteen technical assistance centers in New York State, and the only center specifically designed to address the high needs of the Haitian English Language Learners (ELLs) and their families. The center primarily focuses on providing professional services that would ameliorate and improve the education of the Haitian English Language Learner student by working with administrators and teachers of schools where there are Haitian students.

HABETAC was created in 1993 through an endeavor of the City College of New York (CUNY) under the leadership of Dr. Carole Berotte Joseph, Carmen Perez Hogan at the New York State Education Department, and Haitian community members and educators. Its purpose was to address the unmet educational needs and concerns of Haitian students and their families. In 2003, the center moved from City College to Brooklyn College, an institution of higher learning that sits in the heart of the Haitian community in Brooklyn, New York. HABETAC is committed to enhancing the knowledge and competencies of educators, parents, and community members in order to implement and sustain instructional programs of social, cultural and academic excellence and value that will benefit the Haitian student and his/her family as well as construct opportunities for the US Haitian community to build bridges with other communities, the Haitian Diaspora and their homeland.

To reach its goals, HABETAC plans and delivers courses (Haitian Creole and Haitian Creole Translation), educational activities, seminars, workshops, and conferences for Haitian and non-Haitian educators working with Haitian ELLs. The center organizes conferences and forums for Haitian parents on regulations and policies affecting the education of their children as well as activities that concentrate on parental rights, responsibilities and effective engagement in the education of their youngsters. HABETAC works with and organizes activities for community-based organizations servicing Haitian immigrants with children attending the New York City public schools. The center hosts an annual career day event for high school students, and an essay, poetry and art contest opened to Haitian ELLs or former ELLs in New York State (K-12).

HABETAC is a member of the Haitian Studies Association (HSA), housed at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. We maintain close working relationships with the University of Puerto Rico in Piedras, Universite Caraibes and Universtiy d’Etat d’Haiti in Haiti. Dr. Regine Latortue, HABETAC’s principal investigator, is currently the president of the College Language Association (CLA), a national and international professional organization.

In order to enhance the quality of education for the Haitian ELL students and assist them to reach higher academic standards and become successfully acculturated, we coordinate statewide activities with the NYSED and other BETACs, the New York City Department of Education’s Department of English Language Learner (NYCDOE DELL), other institutions of higher learning, and human service and cultural organizations.

Contact HABETAC at (718) 951-4668.