Re: Draft 2 of Letter to Jacmel Mayor

[Leon David]

Please take a look and comment. Thanks.

Leon

[John Noel]

Leon, this is very good letter. Good job.  I am glad that R2D is finally on the move.  I like the website.  Let me know if you ever need my help.

[James Eliscar]

Leon,
Sorry for the later feedback. The letter is good. It is short and to the point. The only thing is that you need to keep it to one-page, because officials have a tendency not to read long letters.
James Eliscar

--
James D. Eliscar
MSPA International Relations
McCormack School UMass Boston
(P) 617-921-5976
james.el...@umb.edu
elis...@gmail.com

[Jean Plaisir]

Hi Leon,
 
You did a superb job crafting the letter, and some of our colleagues have also provided important feedback, as well.  With those two points in mind, I have taken the liberty to revise the letter in order to keep it short and more to the point.  Please, see the attached for a revised version.

Keep well, Jean Plaisir


 
> Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:21:24 -0500
> Subject: Re: Draft 2 of Letter to Jacmel Mayor
> From: leon....@gmail.com
> To: haiti-and-th...@googlegroups.com
> CC: hea...@yahoo.com; dhil...@hotmail.com; ne...@haitiaid.org

>
> Please take a look and comment. Thanks.
>
> Leon

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[Kenol David]

I approve of the last revised draft letter, dated 2/27 from JP. It ought to be the final revision.

Thanks All.

Kenol David
M: +1 347.688.2257
E: kenol...@gmail.com

[Leon David]

Folks:

Thanks for the feed back; and Jean thank you for the revised version.  We will move forward with this as the official letter as suggested by Kenol.

Id also like to take this opportunity to share with you our strategy moving forward.  Below are the endorsment forms for the Jacmel Economic Development Plan that was created by the people of Jacmel and facilitated by the Jacmel Chamber of Commerce.  Due to the structure of the Haitian Gov't which limits what the Mayor can do, we will take the campaign of getting as many people to endorse this plan (the links are below).  We need to start having these out to as many people in the community and across the world to back this plan (the different forms explain how one can support)

http://www.jacmelchamber.org/Economic%20Development%20Plan%20Endorsement%200210.pdf

 

http://www.jacmelchamber.org/Economic%20Development%20Plan%20Endorsement_commercial.pdf

On Feb 27, 2010 3:20 PM, "Kenol David" <kenol...@gmail.com> wrote:

I approve of the last revised draft letter, dated 2/27 from JP. It ought to be the final revision.

Thanks All.

Kenol David
M: +1 347.688.2257
E: kenol...@gmail.com

On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 3:13 PM, Jean Plaisir <jeanp...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > Hi Leon, >   >...

[Jean Plaisir]

Hi Leon,
 
Please, send me the text for the plan Form in Word, so that I can edit the French in it.

Keep well, Jean Plaisir


 

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Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 00:43:38 -0500

Subject: Re: Draft 2 of Letter to Jacmel Mayor
From: leon....@gmail.com
To: haiti-and-th...@googlegroups.com

[Leon David]

Hi Jean:

Good to hear from you. Hope you are doing well. I do not have the
original MS Word document of the Jacmel Economic Plan; I have CC'd
Tiffany in on this email - she typed it up based on local
feedback/input. Here is the link to the French version of the pdf
which you can review to see if any errors happened in the process of
translation: http://www.jacmelchamber.org/haiti_econ_plan_0210_fr.pdf
feel free to share with Tiffany any errors you find.

Let me also point out that we are not the creators of the plan but
rather are working to support it because it is a holistic plan for the
Southeast region of Haiti. Rather than recreating the wheel I thought
it would be best to align with other like-minded efforts for greater
impact, coordination, oversight, and financial support. The economic
plan provides the framework from which to use as a spring board; our
programs provide the meat and a means to reaching some of the
goals/priorities identified.

If anyone knows of any free software that works similar to
GotoWebinar.com please let me know. I would like for us to start
hosting weekly online presentations of the economic plan and where our
programs fit in as a strategy of building grassroots support of our
efforts and the plan which would hopefully show a reason why to
support the plan.

I will get over to everyone more details of our programs soon. I hope
this helps to clarify everything thus far. Thanks.

Leon

[Kenol David]

Hi Leon,

ZoHo Meeting is another web service that allows for online meetings and webinars.  They do charge a reasonable premium for the professional edition.  For instance, for a fee of $49/month, two people can host/conduct online meeting in an organization, summing to an annual fee of $940.  This price may be significantly more affordable than other online meeting providers. With ZoHo, one-one-one online meetings are free.  The web site address is meeting.zoho.com.

Ken

Kenol David
M: +1 347.688.2257
E: kenol...@gmail.com

[Leon David]

Hi Jr:

Thanks for the info. I will check out the link. Do you know how many
people they allow to participate at a given time? With gotowebinar
you can host up to 100 participants at a time or for the more advanced
membership you're allowed to host up to 1000 participants.

Also, can you add Tiffany on the group so that she automatically
receives emails through this group. Her email address is:
ne...@haitiaid.org

Jean: Do you know of any ways that the university you teach at can
help support what we are doing? I think having the partnership of an
academic institution would be a great thing to have.

Take care.

Leon

[Jean Plaisir]

The City University would welcome the idea of me serving as the Principal Investigator on a grant to support this effort.  We would have to find donors that would be willing to sponsor our programs, and the University would definitely provide letters of endorsement to our grant applications.  I could also tap the Office of Grants and External Affairs to seek find out a list of funding sources we could send our proposal to.  Dr. John Montanez, who is the Dean of that Unit, would be glad to help fine tune the proposal.
 
So, we need to (1) conceptualize the project in the form of a proposal, (2) channel it to Dean Montanez for feedback and exploration of funding sources, and (3) have the university endorse the final proposal before sending it out to potential donors.


Keep well, Jean Plaisir


 
> Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 16:03:25 -0500

> Subject: Re: Draft 2 of Letter to Jacmel Mayor
> From: leon....@gmail.com
> To: haiti-and-th...@googlegroups.com

> CC: ne...@haitiaid.org

[Haiti Aid Network]

Jean:

 

We are probably needing 2 rounds of endorsements. We definitely need endorsements for the overall vision (available now). Then we may need specific grant proposal endorsements. The goal now is to get wide acceptance for the overall plan to get momentum going that can also be used for smaller projects that don’t require a separate endorsement if they meet overall vision goals. (some larger projects/grants will likely need project-specific endorsements as well as general endorsements)

 

Best,

 

Tiffany Bond, President

Haiti Aid Network - matching good deeds to worthy needs
206 854 2663 m
866 837 2663 f
tif...@haitiaid.org
www.haitiaid.org

http://twitter.com/HaitiAidNetwork

PO Box 2682
Woodinville, WA 98072

Member, Jacmel Chamber of Commerce (www.jacmelchamber.org)

[Leon David]

Jean:  those are some great opportunities, thank you.  While we are working on this first phase of securing endorsements for the overall economic plan for Jacmel, there is one proposal that I drafted that a volunteer grant writer is refining to be submitted to IAF.  I will forward it to you as soon as it is available. 

Tiffany:  Thanks for the clarification! 

Leon

On Mar 4, 2010 6:37 PM, "Haiti Aid Network" <ne...@haitiaid.org> wrote:

Jean:

 

We are probably needing 2 rounds of endorsements. We definitely need endorsements for the overall vision (available now). Then we may need specific grant proposal endorsements. The goal now is to get wide acceptance for the overall plan to get momentum going that can also be used for smaller projects that don’t require a separate endorsement if they meet overall vision goals. (some larger projects/grants will likely need project-specific endorsements as well as general endorsements)

 

Best,

 

Tiffany Bond, President

[image: logo_sized_paths_lr]

Haiti Aid Network - matching good deeds to worthy needs 206 854 2663 m 866 837 2663 f tiffany@haiti...

http://twitter.com/HaitiAidNetwork PO Box 2682 Woodinville, WA 98072 Member, Jacmel Chamber of C...

 

From: haiti-and-th...@googlegroups.com [mailto:haiti-and-th...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jean Plaisir
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 5:50 PM
To: Haiti New Horizon
Cc: ne...@haitiaid.org
Subject: RE: Draft 2 of Letter to Jacmel Mayor

  The City University would welcome the idea of me serving as the Principal Investigator on a gra...

[Jean Plaisir]

Both of you are right.  While there is a need for a relatively more widely accepted vision, there is also the need for preparation on a smaller scale (i.e., the seminal project).  Each one can impact the other, depending on who you ask.  For example, some donors fund small projects and do not require an established tract record.  Other funders would be interested in big projects, but require substantial endorsements and track records.  Conclusion: we need to get ourselves ready to jump on opportunities.  We all know things in Haiti, especially these days, do not and will not take off the way they tend to gain momentum in the US or Canada--with broad-based support or a single endorsement from an influential individual.  At least, we can secure an endorsement from a University that is already doing for Haiti in collaboration with Mayor Bloomberg--for whatever that is worth.  I also have direct links with CEOs of organizations, such as Limye Lavi, Haiti Partners, and Beyond Borders, that are already doing work in Jacmel.  We need to get our project to Jacmel through all roads that lead there.

Keep well,
 
Jean Plaisir


 

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Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 19:16:39 -0500
Subject: Re: RE: Draft 2 of Letter to Jacmel Mayor
From: leon....@gmail.com
To: haiti-and-th...@googlegroups.com

---

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[Jean Plaisir]

Hi Leon,
 
Thank you for the clarification about the translation and the "master" plan.  A number of errors jumped at me when I browsed through the translation, which I suspect was a machine translation.  There were instances of omissions, grammatical errors, and inaccurate vocabulary.  I thought that I could help fix those errors so that people would take us more seriously when they read the Form.  Unlike Americans, Haitians and many French-speaking people tend to focus more on the form of language than the message in the language.

Keep well, Jean Plaisir


 
> Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 14:47:49 -0500

> Subject: Re: Draft 2 of Letter to Jacmel Mayor
> From: leon....@gmail.com
> To: haiti-and-th...@googlegroups.com

> CC: ne...@haitiaid.org

---

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[Haiti Aid Network]

Well put Jean.

 

The document is definitely just another tool to get funding (helping projects in line with the plan moving forward) and keep projects seriously out of line with the vision from creating a mess down the line. It can take a lot more to get traction on projects in Haiti, particularly with the +/-10,000 orgs working down in such a small country on widely varying plans and projects, with almost no coordination. In the US you’d just have a City Council stamp a document and shop grants. A certainty is that well supported, well documented projects of any sort are more likely to get funding.

 

I look forward to working with all of you and hopefully we will have a thick stack of endorsements soon to start grant shopping!

 

Warmest Regards,

 

Tiffany Bond, President

Haiti Aid Network - matching good deeds to worthy needs
206 854 2663 m
866 837 2663 f

tif...@haitiaid.org
www.haitiaid.org

http://twitter.com/HaitiAidNetwork

PO Box 2682
Woodinville, WA 98072

Member, Jacmel Chamber of Commerce (www.jacmelchamber.org)

[Leon David]

Hi Jean and all:

Jean, I think you are 100% correct with the language isssue with Haitiansb thanks for the cultural perspective.  I will send concept papers and a draft of the PATH proposal to everyone soon to review and comment.  In the mean time could you send Jr. a bio and profile pic of yourself so we can add it to the website.

Thanks,
Leon

On Mar 6, 2010 7:11 PM, "Jean Plaisir" <jeanp...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Leon,
 

Thank you for the clarification about the translation and the "master" plan.  A number of errors jumped at me when I browsed through the translation, which I suspect was a machine translation.  There were instances of omissions, grammatical errors, and inaccurate vocabulary.  I thought that I could help fix those errors so that people would take us more seriously when they read the Form.  Unlike Americans, Haitians and many French-speaking people tend to focus more on the form of language than the message in the language.

Keep well, Jean Plaisir


 
> Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 14:47:49 -0500

> Subject: Re: Draft 2 of Letter to Jacmel Mayor > From: leon....@gmail.com > To: haiti-and-the-n...

> CC: ne...@haitiaid.org

> > Hi Jean: > > Good to hear from you. Hope you are doing well. I do not have the > original MS ...

[Haiti Aid Network]

Please do send any corrections to me and I will have them corrected swiftly. The endorsement forms were translated through software. The French plan was translated by a friend of mine born in France, however a few minor of the earthquake changes were done through the translation software as he was unavailable for all of the edits in a fast turnaround.

 

Even though I studied comparative law in France last summer and can read French reasonably well, my ability to write in French is appalling.

 

Warmest Regards,

 

Tiffany Bond, President

Haiti Aid Network - matching good deeds to worthy needs
206 854 2663 m
866 837 2663 f
tif...@haitiaid.org
www.haitiaid.org

http://twitter.com/HaitiAidNetwork

PO Box 2682
Woodinville, WA 98072

Member, Jacmel Chamber of Commerce (www.jacmelchamber.org)

 

From: haiti-and-th...@googlegroups.com [mailto:haiti-and-th...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jean Plaisir

Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 7:12 PM
To: Haiti New Horizon
Cc: ne...@haitiaid.org