C2CHaiti Founder, Marie Eusebe featured in HU Alumni!!

Marie-Yolaine Eusebe '91

Humanitarian, speaker and actor, are just some of the words one could use to describe Howard graduate Marie-Yolaine Eusebe (B.S. ’91), who saw a calling and an opportunity in the wake of utter devastation. 

In May 2010, with her father’s legacy of duty to country instilled in her heart, Marie-Yolaine, a Haitian-American took action. The January 12th, earthquake that struck Haïti, killing over 300,000 people, some in her own family, compelled her to move. She resigned from her marketing position at American Express and with the experience she had gained with her Howard degree in communications and business management created Community2Community (C2C) to help rebuild her father’s hometown of Petite Goâve. Her goal: to replicate the pilot project throughout Haïti, offering Haitians across the Diaspora and those with a heart for Haïti an opportunity to be a part of something greater then themselves. 

 Community2Community, www.community2community.info, is a non-profit service organization dedicated to building self-sufficient communities by working with the community. C2C recently launched the Haïti Restoration and Transformation Pilot Project in Petit Goâve in April 2011. Their first fundraiser to fuel the project was held at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, NY, in January 12, 2011, the one year anniversary of the earthquake; celebrating Haïti's resiliency and culture. They raised over  $40,000.  In less than one year, C2C, working with local residents, broke ground for a new water distribution system. C2C is also working to restore the road, promote the community’s reforestation efforts already in progress along with plans to build a community school to house 350-400 students. With the support of Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, the 2012 “Hope and A Future” Benefit Concert for Haïti moves to Brooklyn.  Sponsored by the New York Daily News, in partnership with WBLS FM/WLIB AM, and Christian Cultural Center, the concert will feature special performances by Oleta Adams and Haitian Kompa sensation Carimi to raise awareness and much needed funding for the project. 

Marie, also a sought after motivational speaker, was selected to kick-off the 2011 Princeton TEDx event.  As an actor, she most recently starred in the female lead role in Lorey Hayes’ drama, “Haïti’s Children of God,” which ran at Harlem’s Dwyer Culture Center and has also appeared at the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington, DC at Shakespeare on the Green.  

With the foundation of a quality education enhanced with diverse, global perspectives solidly planted from her years at Howard University, Marie is a social entrepreneur who continues to dedicate her life and her numerous talents to serving others.