Haiti Projects, founded in 1994, is a non-profit organization in Fond-des-Blancs with a mission to empower rural Haitian women toward self-sufficiency. They provide access to jobs at fair-trade wages, primarily through a cooperative garment workshop where women learn to embroider, knit, and sew. As a result of expanding community involvement, Haiti Projects quickly outgrew the space needed to provide library services, a family planning clinic, literacy education, women’s artisans, and community center.

With a grant from the W.K. Kellogg foundation, Haiti Projects partnered with Build Health International to design and build a library and community center on a donated piece of land in the center of town. BHI broke ground on the project in January of 2017. The library features a passive cooling system designed to allow heat to rise and escape through angled roof trusses and numerous windows and breezeways encourage airflow throughout the building. The first floor features room for a café, makerspace, and large meeting room. The second story holds the library, workshop, and a veranda overlooking Fond-des-Blancs.

The Haiti Projects library has quickly become a successful community center, hosting town meetings, film nights, child care, and adult literacy classes. The center continues to serve the residents of Fonds-des-Blancs and find new ways to help them enjoy their new community fixture.