Wyclef Jean Announces "Together For Haiti" - To Help Haitians Help Themselves

Haiti is once again plagued with strife and violence which culminated last month in a series of riots over food supply. Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean felt strongly compelled to help, so he created an initiative to raise funding for an expanded food distro, the creation of more jobs and assistance for struggling farmers. He calls it "Together For Haiti" and hopes to raise $48 million USD over the next 6 months. The initiative is backed by the World Food Program, the Pan American Development Foundation and Yele Haiti, the latter is Wyclef's existing charity org. Wyclef told Reuters:

"We want to give them the opportunity to set up a small business which they can live on instead of assisting them every time there is a crisis,"

Billboard reported the actual numbers this would translate to:

"Together For Haiti" plans to employ 1,800 people a day in poor areas, distribute food to 1.5 million people and provide fertilizers to 55,000 farmers. Grants will also be given to 9,000 families to support the development of micro-enterprises.

Wyclef and Paul Simon announced "Together For Haiti" at a news conference in Manhattan recently. Read more at:Rueters orBillboardFootage from the news conference:More vids from conference:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exUBdBxiE4shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLOVcAdDehY