A new initiative aimed at rallying Dominica’s emigrant community to contribute to the well-being and economic development of Dominicans at home has been launched.
The Home at Heart Initiative (HHI) is a collaboration of Dominicans living both at home and abroad with the intention of encouraging economic activity within the local communities and offer some much needed support to Dominica’s less fortunate.
HHI will turn to Dominica’s relatively large emigrant population (roughly 70,000) to fund the initiative through their website (https://www.homeatheart.org), where they will be invited to make small monthly donations simply and securely.
“We have been able to use the power of the internet and social media to help make giving back to our homeland, not only a fulfilling experience, but an easy and convenient one,” Dion St. Hilaire, HHI Co-founder, said.
The initiative will accept donations of any amount above US$10 (or its foreign currency equivalent) per month but hopes to receive an average of US$25 per month from its donors.
HHI is confident that participation from roughly 3 percent of the Dominican emigrant population is enough to make an impact in the communities that they intend to serve.
Under the HHI strategy, donations will be combined once a month and transferred to Dominica where it will be used to purchase goods and services from local vendors or, as the HHI team calls them, ‘our smallest entrepreneurs.’
These goods and services will then be donated to Dominica’s less fortunate.
According to the team, these donations will stimulate economic development by directly injecting foreign currency into Dominica’s most deprived villages and communities.
The ‘buy local’ focus of the initiative is expected to encourage existing vendors to grow their businesses and motivate new entrepreneurs to start their own ventures. HHI believes that targeting the smallest businesses will ensure that donated funds circulate within local economies as long as possible.
By giving those goods and services to the less fortunate, HHI anticipates that it can multiply the impact of donated funds in that community.
“Enlisting local entrepreneurs is a great way to get local communities engaged in their own economic development,” another of HHI’s co-founder, Kiyana Edwards, said.
HHI will work with local governments and community leaders in order to identify its suppliers and beneficiaries and will select beneficiaries based on their need and continually evaluate them for appropriateness.
The initiative has partnered with Amonia Paul-Rolle, Social Development Planner with the Ministry of Finance, to help facilitate these connections.
“I am looking forward to working with the Home at Heart Initiative to provide much needed assistance to the less fortunate people of Dominica. My hope is that these donations will have a stimulating effect on local communities and eventually the country as a whole,” she said.
The initiative was developed by Dominicans; O’Dell Grell, Dion St. Hilaire and Kiyana Edwards.
Grell is HHI’s Executive Director and is responsible for its general strategy and finances. He is a Certified Public Accountant and is employed with Ernst & Young, a global accounting a firm.
St. Hiliare is a Consultant with Microsoft, a leading technology company and manages all of HHI’s Information Technology and Social Media.
Both Grell and St. Hilaire live in South Florida.
Edwards, who lives in Dominica, is a recent graduate of Syracuse University where she earned dual master’s degrees in Public Administration and Natural Resource Management as well as a certificate of advanced study in Sustainable Driven Enterprise. Kiyana is responsible for HHI’s operations and logistics.
“Though Dion, Kiyana and I are the managers of HHI on paper, we believe that the initiative belongs to all Dominicans and requires support from all us to be a success,” Grell said.
HHI invites anyone interested in volunteering with the organization both in Dominica and overseas to send them an email message at: [email protected].
More information on the initiative is available at www.homeatheart.org and on their facebook page, Facebook.com/HomeAtHeartInit.
Thanks a lot! Lots of advice!
I wish your panache of writing, support it up clotheshorse.
Great initiative! The poor, needy and underprivileged will always be among us so simply ignore the negatives (those who unashamedly wait for a hand down) and assist those who genuinely need a ‘heads up’. I humbly suggest that some of the assistance should be in the form of probably a summer training institute where young, unemployed persons are trained in various disciplines to be self-sufficient. I support the notion of ‘teaching a man to fish’ rather than giving him fish for a day.
All the best in your endeavours!
Lets start with Calibishie. The people need help there.
Please send us an email at [email protected] so that we can keep in contact about Calibishie.
I think this is a brilliant initiative, and I truly wish you the best.
Personally, I too would be worried about the attitudes of some of the recipients. I have a large garden, and often give surplus fruit to local villagers, but I find, the more I give, the more I am asked “when are you bringing some more fig?” or even “i really wanted ripe fig this time”. I take clothes to children, which I have purchased, or had donated from abroad, but then find I am told “my child needs new shoes”
I have even heard the principal in assembly telling primary schoolchildren that he is always begging for things for them, and they should be doing it too.
I would really like to see emphasis placed on the education of children, that way, they can learn to help themselves, instead of depending on, or begging from others.
I already donate monthly via ChildFund, but would be interested in regular donations to this project when I have seen some examples of the work you are doing on your webpage/FaceBook page.
Good luck! (and please keep us informed)
Thank you for your advice, it will definitely be taken into consideration. Our system is such that everyone must play their part including our beneficiaries. Stimulating economic activity depends on everyone being actively involved. We will keep statistics on our vendors and beneficiaries to ensure that they are progressing successfully.
Great idea but they will steal the money at the Roseau Post Office when we post it in the mail can’t trust this post office workers
I appreciate your concerns, however any donated funds will be transferred through secured bank transactions. No funds will be mailed and all donations will be accounted for and made available via our website (www.homeatheart.org).
Very good initiative by these young brilliant minds ! All the best, we must all play our part.
Thank you, please spread the word. The success of the initiative depends on all of our participation.
Your efforts, concerns and focus on Dominica in such a generous and heart felt “giving back to your community” is very much appreciated. I support your initiatives.
Thank you so much for your support.
Please help us by spreading the word. We need all the help we can get!
this is such a good idea.just imagine i was on dno yesterday ,and i saw an ad with foster kids i said u know what i can`t foster a kid due to the fact i donot live in dminica but i still can make a contribution i call the number and told them i will be contibuting $20 US
every month .i`m on board
Thanks enquire,
You can rest assured that your donations will go towards helping entire families.
You will receive periodic updates of the people you are helping.
Please register at http://www.homeatheart.org
Hi enquire, appreciate your love for your/our country and it’s children. I say thanks and God bless on behalf of the HH1. I trust many more ppl. will come on board since we are known to be a loving and caring ppl. Once again thanks and God’s blessings.
This is great! So good to see young people come back home and do good for their country. I will enjoy watching this expand and change Dominica for the better. 5 thumbs up if I had that many thumbs to give
Thank you so much for your encouragement.
Please spread the word. The more support we get the more we can accomplish.
Looking forward to your contribution?
Please post any questions or concerns you may have and we will address them directly.
This initiative depends on all of us.
This is a wonderful idea!
Thank you!
A good idea that can become a reality from everyone’s contribution.
the poor still dont get the help,its all bogus.
We fully intend on targeting the most economically deprived areas of Dominica as our #1 priority.
I encourage you to register on our website: http://www.homeatheart.org to receive updates as we work towards a brighter future for our beneficiaries.
Not bogos guy, these young ppl. are serious, dedicated committed, they don’t have to do this, their hearts are in the right place. The concentration is on the needy.
This maybe a good thing to do; but just be careful cause Dominica is a place where many people do not like to work and depend on relatives overseas and the the Red Clinic to meet their needs.
This is a valid concern.
We want our donors, and the general public to rest assured that we are putting programs in place to encourage continued economic growth.
Focusing on the needs of our beneficiaries and ensuring that they continue to “go to work”
This statement may be true, but that should not stop HHI from focusing on the needy.
way to go , congratulations on this new venture
Thank you for your kind words.
Please be sure to check out our:
website: http://www.homeatheart.org
twitter/facebook/instagram: @homeatheartinit
that way you can keep up with our progress.
Great initiative peeps keep it up.
Thank you for your kind words.
Please be sure to check out our:
website: http://www.homeatheart.org
twitter/facebook/instagram: @homeatheartinit
that way you can keep up with our progress.
Fabulous initiative from the young minds.
Thank you for your kind words.
It is in all of our best interests to make sure Dominican can grow to it’s fullest potential.
Please be sure to check out our:
website: http://www.homeatheart.org
twitter/facebook/instagram: @homeatheartinit
that way you can keep up with our progress.
Excellent initiative.
Thank you for your kind words.
Please be sure to check out our:
website: http://www.homeatheart.org
twitter/facebook/instagram: @homeatheartinit
that way you can keep up with our progress.
GREAT!!! Two thumbs up to these young people for this!
Thank you for your kind words.
It is in all of our best interests to make sure Dominican can grow to it’s fullest potential.
Please be sure to check out our:
website: http://www.homeatheart.org
twitter/facebook/instagram: @homeatheartinit
that way you can keep up with our progress.
Good idea but more information on how the funds will actually be managed is crucial as full transparency is key to the success of this initiative.
Absolutely, Transparency is essential! Let’s start by clearing up some issues right now.
We have fully automated the entire donation process and will give regular detailed status reports to our donors via email.
Moreover we will publish regular reports on our website and show progress in the areas we have designated.
If you have further suggestions/feedback on this matter please send us an email to: [email protected]
We take all questions, concerns and feedback very seriously as our process evolves.
all well and good but my country men have a bad habit give them charity once and then they expect u to allways be there hand feeding them its all well and good to start that charity but be carefull cause my countrymen will sit and not help themselves cause they getting handouts
As we’ve previously stated. This is a valid concern.
We want our donors, and the general public to rest assured that we are putting programs in place to encourage continued economic growth.
Focusing on the needs of our beneficiaries and ensuring that they continue to “go to work”.
Our process will work like this:
1. Identify less fortunate economic areas in Dominica.
2. Work with community leaders to identify local businesses and individuals who would benefit from our donations.
3. Setup contractual obligations for continual benefit with:
*the individuals (e.g. steady income, economically qualified, etc…)
*the businesses (e.g. sound business practices, trades mostly local items)
4. Once a month donate directly to the local business who will in-turn provide goods and/or services to the individuals we designate.
We encourage you to check out our website: http://www.homeatheart.org and see what we are really about!
Great initiative. I could do with some of that help, as a single mother, food and pampers are so damn expensive here. Probably you all could send down barrels with supplies. My problem with these things, are the wrong set of people are put in charge and they get greedy and take the things which are meant for the less fortunate for themselves and their families.