In Southeast Queens, a group of longtime Haitian neighbors is running a nonprofit called Frè Ak Sè, “Brothers and Sisters” in Kreyòl, to bring health programs, financial education, food aid and immigrant support directly to their community, Epicenter NYC reports.

The founders, among them Marco Solomon, Katia Celifie-Aime and Phillipe P. Titus, grew up together in the 1970s and 1980s around Sacred Heart Church. They got their first jobs there as camp counselors and learned about civic duty from elders who had fled the Duvalier dictatorship.

They founded Frè Ak Sè in 2022 and moved into an office on Hollis Avenue a year ago. Solomon, the group's president and a retired social worker, describes the approach as “konbit,” the Haitian tradition of mutual aid.

The first event was a health fair, with volunteer nurses and mental health providers. The group also holds food pantry events and financial literacy sessions, and it refers neighbors to partners such as Haitian Americans United for Progress for immigration legal aid.

The work has become harder since the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, a move that left more than 5,400 Haitians in New York City vulnerable to deportation. “Right now the community is scared to death. People are not coming out,” Solomon said. “We're being persecuted here and yet we can't go back home.”

The group is also helping to build a chicken farm in Haiti to support a village's self-sufficiency. “Culture is the glue that keeps us together,” Celifie-Aime said.