With the support of Tupperware, FAVACA hosted a Haitian Hometown Association workshop at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando on Saturday, July 17th, 2010. Approximately 40 members of Haitian Hometown Associations and other organizations that strive to help towns across Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti six months ago gathered at UCF's Harris Engineering Center for a day-long workshop to network and build fundraising and financial accounting skills. In the past year, FAVACA hosted several Haitian hometown association workshops in Boca Raton, Davie and North Miami Beach. Based on a request from Nancy Charles of Orange County Public Schools, and a member of Haiti Help Med Plus and the Orlando Haitian community, FAVACA began the organization of a workshop. FAVACA veteran volunteer Jim Mueller guided the fundraising and organizational development workshop and Tania Delinois, a FAVACA volunteer who provided post-trauma counseling in Haiti post-floods and post-earthquake, provided a session on proposal writing.

Beekeeping in Haiti is a growing but still underutilized industry in Haiti. Beyond the immediate benefit of pollinating agricultural fields, beekeeping creates a cottage industry where beekeepers can sell honey and secondary bee products like candles and waxes adding much needed income. In a collaborative effort to increase the hive technology used by beekeeping associations across Haiti, FAVACA and Partners of the Americas identified hive construction material manufacturing as two areas that could greatly strengthen the capacity of local beekeepers.

Makouti Agro Enterprise, Southern Apiculture Society, Komin Akien Apiculture Association (AAKA), and the Pilate Beekeepers Cooperative were just a few of a variety of beekeeping organizations from the Northern and Southern Departments of Haiti that veteran FAVACA volunteer Sofie Geckler worked from May 23- June 6, 2010. Geckler taught the construction of Kenya Top Bar hives, which is less expensive to construct and easier to maintain than the Langstroth hives commonly found in the United States. Working closely with local carpenters to construct approximately eight hives Geckler was able to provide templates to ensure each wood piece is cut correctly. Beekeeping equipment in Haiti is only found in select areas of the country and is rather expensive, yet also very necessary to maintain healthy hives. Protective gloves and veils are especially important and the latter is in short supply in Haiti, so beekeepers and tailors were taught how to make gloves and veils with locally found materials. Thanks to Geckler's volunteer service, at least 40 beekeepers, carpenters, and tailors can construct Kenya Top Bar hives or protective veils.

FAVACA in collaboration with Florida State University's College of Motion Picture Arts traveled to Haiti to investigate international development programs and the type of assistance that creates long-term positive outcomes and impact on the country. The Film School enjoys a high level of prestige and recognition that is unparalleled among its peers and has been recognized by members of the industry with honors and awards since its creation. Film producer Sabrina Reisinger de Angulo from Florida State University's College of Motion Picture Arts and students Patrick Gines and Hali Gardella traveled to Haiti April 25-May 1 to capture images and stories from past FAVACA partners to understand the benefits of long-term commitment to short-term technical assistance that FAVACA has provided for nearly thirty years. Past partners interviewed during their visit included: the Minister of Tourism, the head of the Bureau of Civil Protection, Village of Vision in Lamardelle, the Haitian Hotel Association who shared their inspirational stories of success and positive change that has occurred as a result of FAVACA's technical assistance. Upon their return to Tallahassee, the students created a short documentary and shared their film with other motion picture institutions throughout the nation.

Haiti was the subject of intense, international media interest in the days and weeks following the earthquake, and the Haitian Ministry of Culture and Communications fielded the vast majority of those inquiries, conducting as many as 40 interviews a day.

Since that time, media focus on Haiti has slowed considerably. International media coverage now consists of periodic update stories, which are generally negative regarding the competence of the Haitian government, the level of recovery that has been made and the upcoming threat of rainy season. Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, Haitian Minister of Haitian Culture and Communications, requested the assistance of FAVACA to provide a volunteer to teach her staff how to craft a strategic communication plan to improve the Ministry's effectiveness in sharing information internally with the people of Haiti and externally with the international media.

FAVACA in collaboration with the US Embassy in Haiti was able to enlist Michelle Ubben, partner and chief operating officer of Ron Sachs Communications, one of the top independent public relations firms in Florida and one of the top 100 in the U.S., to volunteer her expertise in working with the Minister and her staff to craft a strategic communication plan. Ubben traveled to Haiti April 25-29, 2010. Despite remarkable challenges, including the need to operate the Ministry out of a series of tents on the perimeter of a tent community, the Ministry possesses a number of assets in their continued effort to inform Haitians and the international community on the progress being made toward recovery.

The State University of Haiti [Université d'Etat d'Haïti] (UEH) traces its origins to the 1820s with the establishment of the law school and the medical school. Since that time, the university has added a variety of other departments and institutions in Port-au-Prince and across the country. The January 12 earthquake damaged or destroyed much of the university's infrastructure forcibly closing the school and leaving students without an option for continuing their education. Seeing the need to create a sense of normalcy for students across the country, Jean-Vernet Henry, Director of UEH, contacted FAVACA to help reopen sections of the campus by having structural engineers assess some of the damaged buildings and to create plans and blueprints for a whole new campus. FAVACA, in collaboration with Florida International University's Department of Civil Engineering, Miami-Dade Public Schools and the Multicultural Educational Center provided first time volunteers Marie-Elsie Dowell, a Miami civil engineer and Vice-President of Parsons Brinckerhoff; Ronald Colas, a civil engineer from Pembroke Pines and the Principal and General Manager of Burns & McDonnell's Florida Office; and Terrence Lee, a structural engineer with Terrence Lee Consulting Structural Engineers in Santa Rosa, California, and a specialist with seismic strengthening and analyst, traveled to Port-au-Prince March 25-28, 2010. The team of engineers assessed and evaluated the existing buildings for structural damages. The engineers also evaluated a portion of land owned by UEH to house a new campus and temporary structures to allow for some departments to reopen. A comprehensive plan to create state of the art and environmentally friendly campus completed by April 12, 2010 and was submitted to funding agencies.