Career Training

The Heartline Education Center

At our Education Center in Port-au-Prince, Heartline provides year-round career training to adults seeking income-generating skills like computer literacy or culinary arts.

Students have the opportunity to study sewing, advanced sewing, cooking, computers, cosmetology, and English. They study year-round in classes taught by fellow Haitians, and learn outcome-driven, employment-focused curricula designed on the ground by their teachers.  We focus on offering educational options that complement a developing nation's economic landscape and challenging job market.

The Education Center was established in 2007.

Courses Offered

  • Sewing & Advanced Sewing

  • Culinary

  • Computer Literacy

  • Cosmetology

  • English

Outcomes

  • Graduates of the Education Center primarily employ their skills to start small enterprises of their very own, meeting the financial needs of their families and offering useful services in their home communities.

  • The Education Center is staffed entirely by Haitian educators and support staff. We’re proud to employ over 70 Haitian men & women, 24 of whom make up the Education Center team.

    Some of these team members started at the Education Center as students themselves – a point of pride, as the Center becomes a pipeline of education and long-term employment.

  • Education Center graduates have increased income potential and self-confidence. In an unstable economy like Haiti’s, having income-generating skills of your own without depending on an unreliable employer is invaluable.

  • USAID reports that the average Haitian woman over 15 years old has completed less than four years of formal schooling. Illiteracy among this group nears 42%. Only one Haitian woman is enrolled in postsecondary education for every three men.

    At Heartline, we believe removing educational barriers for girls & women is an act of revolution – setting the stage for the future of an entire nation. The vast majority of our students are young women, who are getting an education at heavily subsidized rates, a precious rarity in Haiti.

  • In Haiti, the vast majority of children in orphanages have at least one living parent. But families living in poverty relinquish their children to orphanages, hoping that they will be better provided for there. That’s almost never the case.

    The increased financial security Education Center graduates experience help keep their families stable and together. The wages and benefits we pay our Education Center staff do the same for them.

  • At the Education Center, likeminded students get to spend time with their cohort and with accomplished professionals in their chosen trades. The value of this communal time is immeasurable and provides an intangible benefit on top of the hard skills students learn and economic impact they experience.