Haitian Women of Miami (FANM) records

Family Action Network Movement (FANM), originally called Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami / Haitian Women of Miami, is a private, non-profit advocacy organization that was founded in 1991 by Marleine Bastien. First conceived of as a resource for Haitian women living in Miami, FANM is primarily run by minority women and has always focused advocating for lower-income women of color in particular. They provide services and programming related to issues including immigration, housing, health and mental health access, education reform, gender equality, human rights, crisis and domestic violence intervention, counseling, job training, financial literacy, adult education, and after school programs.

FANM is a founding member of the Miami Climate Alliance, Catalyst Miami, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Haitian American Grassroots Coalition, Center for Haitian Studies, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, and many others. To date FANM has won the following campaigns: The Haitian Immigration Fairness Act (1998); Temporary Protected Status (2010); Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program (2015); Little Haiti Campaign (2016); Little Farm Mobile Home Campaigns (2016). As an organization they are currently pressing forward with the fight for Temporary Status Renewal, and Comprehensive Immigration Reform more broadly, especially pertaining to Haitian immigrants to the U.S.

Bastien’s desire to create an organization specifically for women was inspired by the philosophy that if women – more so the most vulnerable women – are protected and empowered then that means that everyone is/can be. Despite the centrality of women within the organization, FANM has long served people of all races, genders and ethnicities and for this reason FANM staff, community members, and leaders decided to rebrand in 2018. As explained by Bastien, FANM’s new name, “Family Action Network Movement,” was decided on to “reflect FANM’s expanded myriad of services to people of diverse backgrounds in Miami Dade County. FANM has had an impact in the lives of more than 10,000 children, women, and men and built a village network where immigrants and local residents feel welcome. We reach thousands weekly through our radio show, Vwa FANM, and our advocacy work inspires people to passionately organize around civic and other issues close to their hearts” (Bastien).

In excess of advocating for individuals, one of FANM’s most difficult battles to date is advocating for an entire community in the face of the rapid gentrification of Little Haiti. Due to Little Haiti’s location on a ridge that is approximately double the elevation of affluent coastal areas such as Miami Beach, local residents are being displaced as real estate developers attempt to buy up the land for when the inevitable time comes and Miami beach will be under the sea. Currently, SVP realty are trying to get approval for the Eastside Ridge Special Area Plan, which, if approved, will redevelop twenty-two acres of land on the edge of Little Haiti and displace many residents of the area through either the demolition of property or outpricing the locals. In 2018, Bastien commented on the severity of the situation: “We are in the last leg of gentrification, where developers basically come with a lot cash. We call them the ‘cash-empowered’ developers, with their suitcases full of cash. The fear is real. The pressure to sell is real. As a result of gentrification, Little Haiti is shrinking” (Wong). For an ever-precarious community, FANM is not only helping residents who are displaced find new housing and get compensation, but also behind efforts to convince the City to turn over some of the land to the community so that it cannot be bought by developers – an essential concession if Little Haiti is to survive.

Laura Bass
UGrow Fellow for the Department of Manuscripts and Archives Management, 2019-2020

Works Cited

Bastien, Marleine. “Miami advocacy group expands its mission to empower immigrants.” Miami Herald, March 5, 2020, https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op- ed/article240932251.html.

Wong, Brad. “Miami’s Little Haiti Organizes on Gentrification.” Marguerite Casey Foundation, July 4, 2018, https://www.caseygrants.org/who-we-are/inside-mcf/miamis-little-haiti- organizes-on-gentrification/.

Marleine Bastien (b. 1959) is a licensed clinical social worker, human rights activist, and published author based in Miami, FL. For over thirty years Bastien has advocated for Haitian, immigrant, and women’s rights in South Florida. She has led many important advocacy campaigns such as The Haitian Immigration Refugee Fairness Act of 1998; Temporary Protected Status; The Dream Act; Comprehensive Immigration Reform; Living Wage and Human Rights Ordinance; and the Children’s Trust. Additionally, has been centrally involved in the formation of many community organizations, namely Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami (FANM) (Haitian Women of Miami), now known as Family Action Network Movement; the Justice Coalition for the Haitian Children of Guantanamo; the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition; the Haitian Neighborhood Center (Sant La); the Center for Haitian Studies; the Florida Immigrant Coalition, and more. For all her years of dedication, Bastien has been the recipient of many honors and awards.

Bastien was born in the small village of Pont-Benoit in Haiti to parents Philippe Bastien and Angelina Destinoble – she was the third of eight children. Her parents were rice and mango farmers and her father was also the village’s sole health practitioner; he treated the local residents’ health problems routinely. Bastien attended the esteemed Swiss school, College Bird in Port-Au-Prince and learned English while still in Haiti. Her activist impulses were ignited at a very young age through her father’s advocacy in the community – which frequently made him a target of the authorities – and she undertook voluntary positions while still a child and into her teen years. In addition, after learning English Bastien read Martin Luther King’s speeches and this gave her a sense of U.S.-based Black activism. Philippe Bastien ended up settling in Belle Glades, Florida because of the tensions in Haiti’s political climate during the 1980s. In 1981, at age twenty-two, Marleine also left Haiti to pursue higher education.

Shortly her arrival in Miami, Bastien visited the Krome Detention Center and her experience there irrevocably changed the course her life would take. She reflects, “Haitian refugees were placed in a big compound: men, women, and children and deported for the most part, in complete denial of their basic rights of due process. I started volunteering at the Haitian Refugee Center two days after arriving. I was hired as a paralegal a few months later. My goal was to go to Chicago, but once I joined the struggle for freedom and equal treatment for Haitian refugees, I could not leave” (Miami Girls Foundation). After training as a paralegal, Bastien completed her undergraduate and master’s degree in clinal/medical social work at Florida International University in 1987. During this time she joined Jan Mapou’s dance company, Sosyete Koukouy, and met the actor and poet, Jean Desire, who she married in 1998. The couple have three sons.

Once graduated from FIU, Bastien began working at Jackson Memorial Hospital and set up the first HIV/AIDS support group for women and families. In a recent interview for HistoryMiami’s “Queer Miami Stories,” she discussed the impact of HIV/AIDS on Haitians not only the impact of the disease itself, but more so about the harassment Haitian people received when the Haitian population was singled out along with LGBTQ-identifying people and intravenous drug users as the only people who could contract and spread the disease.* Bastien advocated for women and babies affected by HIV/AIDS at a time when men were the sole focus; she was the primary source of support for women and children dealing with the fallout of the virus. Her dedication to advocating particularly for Haitian women was prompted by the injustices she witnessed during the Duvalier dictatorship; she states, “I had a keen sense of the abuses, persecution, and lack of protection for the population, especially women and children who were the most vulnerable under the Duvalier dictatorship. I can still see in my mind’s eyes how women were beaten by Tonton Macoutes with a big “baton” (club) for not being able to pay expensive taxes” (Miami Girls Foundation).

In 2000, Bastien left Jackson memorial to manage FANM, which she established in 1991, full-time. Now a large and hugely important organization to South Florida, FANM advises people on matters including, but not limited to, immigration, housing, health access, education reform, gender equality, and human rights. While originally founded for the Haitian community specifically, FANM also provides resources and services to other minority and immigrant populations. Bastien has been widely acknowledged for her tireless years of advocacy, garnering awards such as Miami Dade County’s Volunteer of the Year Award in 1994, Miami Dade County’s Social Worker of the Year Award (2000), and multiple recognitions from the city.

Laura Bass
UGrow Fellow for the Department of Manuscripts and Archives Management, 2019-2020

Works Cited
Miami Girls Foundation. “Marleine Bastien.” https://miamigirls.org/miamigirls/marleine-bastien/.
*See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka-zr-c7rLA