Empowering Families, Transforming Futures
Join Kate Schuenke-Lucien, Director for Haiti and Senior Associate Director for Strategic Planning, Father Lou DelFra ’92, M. Div. ’03, Director of Pastoral Life, Alliance for Catholic Education, and Makenzy Voltaire, Project Coordinator, Haiti for the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child for a conversation about the intersection of faith, science, and how faith communities can nurture and support families with young children. Take a deep dive into the importance of integrating the science of early childhood development with the Catholic Church’s teachings, and how Haitian parishes can empower parents. They explore the GC-DWC’s work in the home and what it means when we say that parents are the “first teachers,” and how that aligns with what we know from both Catholic Social Teaching and the latest scientific research.
Experience the Event
Thursday, May 1, 2025 12:00 pm
Notre Dame’s involvement in education in Haiti began 2006, with support for Catholic schools. When the 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti, Notre Dame responded by helping to rebuild Basile Moreau, the Congregation of the Holy Cross’ flagship K-12 school, as well as broader engagement with Haiti’s Catholic schools in rural areas of the country. The Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child’s strategic education partnerships now extend to over 300 school communities—over 200 of which are Catholic. Listen in to a conversation focused on school-based work which began with the implementation and study of the impact of an early grade literacy program in Catholic schools in Haiti.
The University of Notre Dame’s Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child works to create pathways out of adversity for the world’s most vulnerable children in 25 countries around the world, leveraging evidence-based innovations to develop effective Whole Child Development (WCD) approaches to not only advance children’s academic achievement, but also create safe, supportive, and equitable family, school, and community environments. Join Kate Schuenke-Lucien, Director for Haiti and Senior Associate Director for Strategic Planning, Father Lou DelFra ’92, M. Div. ’03, Director of Pastoral Life, Alliance for Catholic Education, and Makenzy Voltaire, Project Coordinator, Haiti for the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child for a conversation about the intersection of faith, science, and how faith communities can nurture and support families with young children. Take a deep dive into the importance of integrating the science of early childhood development with the Catholic Church’s teachings, and how Haitian parishes can empower parents. They explore the GC-DWC’s work in the home and what it means when we say that parents are the “first teachers,” and how that aligns with what we know from both Catholic Social Teaching and the latest scientific research.
Forging a Future in Haiti is sponsored on ThinkND by the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child, located within the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame.
MoreMeet the Faculty: Fr. Lou DelFra, C.S.C. '92, M. Div. '03
Rev. Louis A. DelFra, C.S.C. ’92, M. Div. ’03, serves as the director of pastoral life for the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE). He writes and publishes in the fields of religion, literature, teacher education, and spirituality. Fr. DelFra resides in Keenan Hall on the Notre Dame campus. Fr. DelFra has also served as associate pastor at Holy Redeemer Parish and School in Portland, Oregon, and as a middle school and high school teacher at Malvern Preparatory School in Philadelphia. He received his undergraduate and master’s of divinity degrees from the University of Notre Dame, and he was ordained a Holy Cross priest in 2004.
Meet the Speaker: Makenzy Voltaire
Makenzy Voltaire is a Pedagogical Manager for the Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child in Haiti. He works as a trainer in literacy and social and emotional learning in various projects that the GC-DWC operates in Haiti. He also works as a trainer-supervisor in the Early Childhood Program (L3) and Innovation Communities in Cap-Haitien, Haiti.
Prior to joining the GC-DWC, Makenzy worked as an SEL supervisor with the Read Haiti-Porticus project in Gonaïves. He has also worked as a pedagogical supervisor in Port-au-Prince and a literacy assessor for 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students. Makenzy has his basic training in Social Work at the Faculty of Human Sciences of the Université d’Etat d’Haïti. He has worked as a Social Worker in several orphanages in Port-au-Prince where he provided psychosocial care for the reintegration of children into their families. He is currently completing a master’s degree in education at the Haitian Institute for Training in Educational Sciences (Institut Haïtien de Formation en Sciences de l’Éducation/IHFOSED).