Mission

The mission of the Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc. shall be to serve as a resource, a forum, and advocate for Garifuna issues and a united voice for the Garifuna community.

The Garifuna Coalition USA (GCU)serves as a resource, forum, advocate and united voice for the Garifuna immigrant community. The Garifuna are an ethnic group of mixed ancestry - descendants of Carib, Arawak and African people living along the Caribbean Coast in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. A seafaring people, they arrived in the United States as merchant marines during World War II. Today, New York City is home to the largest Garifuna population outside of Central America with an estimated 200,000 living in the South Bronx, Brownsville and East New York in Brooklyn, and Manhattan's Upper West Side.

            In March 2009, GCU opened the Garifuna Advocacy Center in the heart of the South Bronx on East 149^th Street. The Center’s volunteers open doors six days a week to provide information, educational services, networking opportunities and cultural events for the Garifuna community. Most first-generation Garifuna immigrants work long hours in home health care, housekeeping and construction. Garifuna women work in factories and as home attendants. Like other working poor, Garifuna families have significant social service needs. Through an agreement with Phipps Community Development Corporation, a 35-year-old multi-service provider of educational, vocational and community development programs, the Garifuna Advocacy Center makes referrals and avails community members of English-as-a-Second Language and GED classes, and other critical services. 

The GCU also supports smaller Garifuna organizations and has brought ten with specific youth and women constituencies into the coalition. GCU provides organizational capacity building workshops in topics ranging from fiscal management to media communications.

GCU’s voter registration campaign seeks to engage communities in the political process by registering and mobilizing new voters to the polls. The organization provides voter education and registration information at local areas where Garifuna gather, including parks, festivals, social events, and small organizations.  GCU is also partnering with the U.S. Census to ensure an accurate Garifuna count in 2010.    

In 2009, GCU successfully petitioned the Bronx Borough President to proclaim March 11^th through April 12^th as Garifuna Heritage Month to recognize the contributions of Garifuna Americans to the fabric of New York and pay tribute to the common culture and friendship bonds that connect the United States and Garifuna countries of origin.

Who We Are

The Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc. is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization headquartered in New York City. It was founded on May 9^th, 1998 and was incorporated as a Domestic not for Profit Corporation on May 28, 1999.

The purpose of the Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc. is to serve as a resource, a forum, and advocate for Garifuna issues and a united voice for the Garifuna community.

Officers