Haiti’s Youth Build the Skills to Build Back Better: Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and The MasterCard Foundation Team Up to Provide $5.68 Million in Vocational & Leadership Training for Haitian Youth

Washington, D.C. November 30, 2010 – The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund together with The MasterCard Foundation and YouthBuild International, today announced a $5.68 million partnership to support youth employment and long-term reconstruction in Haiti.  The project supports the creation of education and skills development centers throughout Haiti where more than 5,300 Haitian youth will receive vocational training in construction and learn leadership skills for the future.

“Haitians need homes, schools, and infrastructure. With more than one million Haitian youth entering the workforce over the next five years there is a unique opportunity for The MasterCard Foundation to join with other donor organizations, like the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, to provide Haitian youth with the skills and training they need to build their country and their futures,” said Reeta Roy, President and CEO of The MasterCard Foundation. “Today’s announcement is about more than hammers and nails, it is about building equal opportunities for Haiti’s youth to learn and prosper.”

Today’s announcement reflects a $4.1 million partnership between The MasterCard Foundation and YouthBuild International and a $1.58 million grant from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.  The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and The MasterCard Foundation partnerships will continue and expand YouthBuild’s current collaboration  with IDEJEN, a Haitian non-profit organization that works with at-risk young people, emphasizing that participants take ownership of projects they serve on in the community. IDEJEN’s current partners: USAID, Catholic Relief Services and Education Development Center will also join the initiative. The Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank plans to contribute US$3.9 million to IDEJEN for 2011-2015.

CEO of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Gary Edson, explains, “Our grant to YouthBuild will give young people in Haiti access to jobs.  The programming will help them earn a livelihood for themselves, save for their future, and achieve their full potential in post-earthquake Haiti.  Haitian young people are the future of their country, and this training will prepare them to help Haiti build back better.”

The partnerships announced today support the creation of education skills development centers across Haiti. Clinton Bush Haiti Fund’s contribution will support the first two centers; The MasterCard Foundation partnership will finance the launch and programming of the next four centers. The centers will provide a six-month training program on construction skills, leadership development, financial literacy, and basic education that includes a stipend, equipment and uniforms, a daily meal, travel allowance, and a starter set of hand tools that will enable trainees to become immediately employable upon graduation. During the six-month program, young people will divide their time between learning in a classroom and working on construction sites, rebuilding critical community infrastructure.

The program will also support Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), in which individual trainees will receive 2:1 matching funds from the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund when they set aside eight percent of their stipends, creating a financial safety net for the trainees as they enter the post-training, job-seeking phase of the program.

About the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded after Haiti’s January 12, 2010 earthquake, when President Barack Obama asked Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to lead a major fundraising effort to assist the Haitian people to  “build back better.” The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund primarily focuses on longer-term, sustainable economic reconstruction designed to create jobs and promote economic opportunity. Its aim is to help create an economy in which all Haitians have the opportunity to prosper and achieve their full potential.

To date, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund has raised $52 million in contributions and has committed nearly $12 million in funds. With a focus on longer-term reconstruction – especially job creation and the promotion of economic opportunity – the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund continues to work toward a more vibrant, decentralized, inclusive, and competitive economy in which every Haitian has the opportunity to succeed.

To make a donation to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, visit www.ClintonBushHaitiFund.org or text the word “QUAKE” to 20222 to donate $10. A one-time donation of $10 will be added to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid balance. Message and data rates apply. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. Service is available through the following wireless operators: AT&T, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, US Cellular, Cricket Communications, Cincinnati Bell, Cellular South and Verizon Wireless. Donations are collected for the benefit of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund by the Mobile Giving Foundation and subject to the terms found at www.hmgf.org/t . You can unsubscribe at any time by replying STOP to short code 20222. Reply HELP to 20222 for help.

About The MasterCard Foundation

The MasterCard Foundation believes that every person has the potential to transform their lives and to improve the lives of their families and their communities.  By increasing access to microfinance and youth education to people in developing countries, the foundation is enabling them to realize their potential and lift themselves out of poverty. It is an independent, private foundation based in Toronto, Canada and was established through the generosity of MasterCard Worldwide at the time of the company’s initial public offering in 2006. For more information, see http://localhost/mcf/.

About YouthBuild International

YouthBuild International is a Boston-based nonprofit building a global network of programs dedicated to reaching, inspiring, preparing and connecting young people who are unemployed and out of school to viable employment opportunities. In YouthBuild programs, young people, ages 16-28, acquire basic education, job readiness, technical training, and leadership skills while building permanent community assets such as housing, community centers, schools, playgrounds and ‘green’ infrastructure. For more information, visit:  “http://www.youthbuildinternational.org”

Contacts:

Meg Galloway Pearce
Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
+1 202-457-7606

Krista Pawley
The MasterCard Foundation
+1 647-837-5787

Tim Cross
YouthBuild International
+1 617-741-1214