What We Do

Children of The Caribbean is engaged in numerous programs and charitable causes across the Caribbean Islands. Please read about what we are doing and join us in our effort to bring education, health, and hope to deserving children!

Globally, children are increasingly losing their rightful place in this world. Simply put – they are increasingly under threat. Unfortunately society is very slow in response to the world’s children. We wait for disaster to strike – whether a natural disaster, or a social disaster, to respond. Children of the Caribbean choses to be pro-active rather than reactive. It shouldn’t take an earthquake in Haiti for attention to be given to the level of poverty in that country. We believe that the cycle of inequity and poverty can be broken through entities making substantial investments in children and adolescents.

Children of the Caribbean, Inc. works with a range of partners to achieve its goals as the scale of the problems that the non-profit is trying to solve is very large. Our partners include organizations and facilities such as Cyril Ross Nursery, The Child Welfare Services of Dominica, The Emergency Shelter for Girls on Grenada, and ministries of Education, Health and Youth/Social Affairs on different Caribbean islands. Other partners may co-fund work or help us bring together multiple players working toward a common goal.

The Foundation is organized into three main program areas: Education, Health Care and Social Development.

Education

Through education children develop the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the risks of exploitation, abuse and violence that are prevalent in the second decade of life. In our attempt to move children into a position where they develop the skills to be successful in life, we vow to treat the education process as an “investment.” Our primary focus is on ensuring that all children have access to the basic tools that are necessary to succeed in the education process. We work to make sure that high school students graduate ready for success and are prepared to earn postsecondary degrees.

The Deputy Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Mr. Marcio Barbosa stated that “In my own country, Brazil, it is estimated that, in 2007 some 600,000 school-age children never made it to school. Thirty million adults in the region lack basic literacy skills, so important in today’s knowledge-driven society. Education quality also remains a challenge; low levels of learning achievement mirror and exacerbate socio-economic disparities. UNESCO is also concerned by the teaching shortages if Universal Primary Education is to be achieved. In the region alone, it is estimated that 1.6 million additional teachers will be needed by 2015. Teachers are fundamental to any education system; for this reason UNESCO has recently launched an International Task Force on Teachers for Education for All Program.”

Caribbean Backpack Program

Children of the Caribbean provides backpacks, notebooks, calculators, and other essential school supplies to children from kindergarten through high school.

The Annual “Every Child Matters” 5K Run/Walk is our main fundraising event for the Caribbean Backpack Program. Click here to find out more about this event.

Special Initiatives

We explore new ways to increase opportunities or respond to unique challenges that children in the Caribbean face in obtaining education.

COTC Scholarship Program

Every child in the Caribbean deserves the chance to attend a college any where in this world. Many High School students want to attend a college in the United States but do not have the means to do so. They recognize that obtaining a higher education while exposing themselves to a different culture and way of learning while creating opportunities to network in a global environment means studying abroad / outside of the Caribbean. We believe that assisting a child from the Caribbean to pursue his academic goals in the United States or any of its dependent territories will provide that child with the necessary skills for him/her to participate more fully in adult life – at work, at home and in their communities.

We provide a needs based Scholarship to assist in the purchase of text books to children accepted by Colleges or Universities in the United States or any of its dependent territories.

Healthcare

Children of the Caribbean, Inc. is committed to supporting health projects which get little or no attention and funding but have a major impact on children in developing countries. We focus our efforts on diseases and medical ailments that cause significant illness and death among children in the Caribbean.

The mortality rate for children between ages 1 to 4 in the United States is approximately 2 per 1,000 live births, in many developing countries it is 50 to 75 times greater. In fact, in most poor countries, for every 1,000 births, there are 100 to 150 deaths in the first year and an additional 100 to 150 deaths before age 5. Many international health experts regard the combination of these two rates, i.e. the mortality of children under 5 per 1,000 live births, as the best single statistic for evaluating the overall health status of a developing country. Because of extremely high death rates for infants and young children, 50% to 60% of all deaths in the poorest developing countries occur before the age of 5, as compared to about 3% in the U.S. where about 90% of death occur after age 45.

The best data on mortality in the developing world comes form large on-going studies sponsored by the World Heath Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Countries in the Caribbean share a similar history in the development of their health systems. They have often cooperated to deal with many of the challenges to health which they have had to confront. However, there is need for even greater collaboration and cooperation among the countries of the Region, given the increasing threats to the economies of these countries and the presence of newly emerging and re-emerging problems in the health sector. Efforts, therefore, have to be focused not only on the fight against disease, but on promoting healthy lifestyles, protecting the environment and increasing the capacity of the health sector to provide quality services and value for money.

Our Approach

Children of the Caribbean, Inc. makes alliances between the mass media and health interest groups toward successful communication of health promotion and prevention activities. We act as advocates for quality and we encourage the media to do the same.

We facilitate social marketing of health-related policies that promote efficient use of health resources and also alliances between health and pharmaceutical and equipment suppliers.

Children of the Caribbean, Inc., establishes alliances with tertiary institutions (regional and extra regional). Through collaborations with stakeholders – Ministries of Health, Ministries of Education, Caribbean Health Secretariat, private sector.

We support organizations that promote physical activities and sports and work toward developing awareness in these organizations about the importance of diet in enhancing physical activities and sport.

In 2011, Children of the Caribbean, Inc. supports the Cyril Ross Nursery, in Tunapuna, Trinidad. Cyril Ross Nursery is one of seventeen institutions of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and it is the only one for children. It is a home to HIV positive children who were abandoned at the Port-of-Spain General hospital or to children who are HIV positive and are also orphans. It is the only institution in the entire Caribbean that addresses the need of children living with HIV and AIDS both as residents and out patients. (See Cyril Ross Fundraiser under Events).

Social Development

Social Development is an extremely large concept that encompasses many aspects of a community – education, health and economics all play a vital role in social development. With respect to children, factors such as extra-curricular activities (the arts, sports, and hobbies) as alternatives to habits that may lead to or involve crime are all a part of the social development concept.

Children of the Caribbean, Inc. builds its program for Social Development based on the World Bank’s Development Strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Children of the Caribbean’s Social Development Strategy

Children of the Caribbean, Inc. focuses on bridging the gap between those children who are from financially sound backgrounds and those who are from financially challenged backgrounds through the following thematic areas:

(1) Youth Mentoring Program The lack of organized youth activities, the prevalence of single-parent families, and families with two working parents have all reduced the number of adult role models. Children of the Caribbean, Inc. partners with local organizations and churches to provide role models for children in the region so that these children are better positioned to develop socially and emotionally.

(2) Peer Mentoring Program It has been proven that children learn most willingly and arguably, best from their peers. Children of the Caribbean’s Peer Mentoring Program pairs children from the United States with children in the Caribbean who share similar interests. The children from the U.S. visit the Caribbean over the summer months and spend one to two weeks on the islands with the children in a day-camp environment. They share experiences, talents, skills and learn from each other.

(3) Other Special Initiatives Children of the Caribbean, Inc. sponsors and supports initiatives across the Caribbean that assist under-privileged children. The following are examples of what we provide: