Former Cd'A Charter student's nonprofit aids Haiti

Nic Johnson was in Coeur d'Alene when a 7.0 earthquake devastated the small country of Haiti in 2010, yet the impact of the earthquake shaped his future in ways he never imagined.

"It's an interesting moment to have greatly affected my life when it also greatly affected so many people's lives in Haiti," Johnson said. "It was a moment where things became very real."

Lynda LeBlanc, a French teacher at Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy, saw an opportunity after the earthquake for her students to help the people in a French-speaking country. LeBlanc and her students hosted a fundraiser, making enough gumbo for 150 people and gave the money to Doctors Without Borders to benefit those in Haiti affected by the earthquake.

Johnson, 21, was a high school freshman at the school when the earthquake hit.

"I never dreamed this would affect one of my students so permanently," LeBlanc said.

On the fifth anniversary of the earthquake, Jan. 12, 2015, Johnson officially launched a nonprofit organization to help the Haitian community with development projects, and after asking LeBlanc to join the board of directors, the former student is now her boss.

The organization is called the AID Project. AID is short for Advancing International Development, a name Johnson said means he does not expect it to ever be a finished project or that the model is perfect.

"This is an ongoing challenge and project for us to also improve ourselves," Johnson said. "I want it to always be able to change and move and grow based on our experience and our research going forward. Our goal is to grow and move and work with the community as they need us."

LeBlanc said what makes the project different from other nonprofits is it does not dictate what the people in Haiti need. The members of the Haitian community dictate what's necessary, then Johnson and his three board members apply for grants and consult with experts in order to help with those needs. Another board member, Sarah Harrison, is also a graduate of the Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy and a former student of LeBlanc's.

The AID Project has an office located on Ile-a-Vache, a satellite island off Haiti's southwest peninsula, and an effort to get clean water to the island is currently underway. LeBlanc said there is a well and the water from that well is "very" gray.

"We don't want to rush into anything or provide too short-term of a solution," Johnson said. “By the time we submit a grant application, we don't want to promise too much and then have it fall through because we didn't have everything in place beforehand."

He said the group plans to start a formal process of research and development, bringing in water engineers and technicians to test current water quality, identify the resources needed to purify it, and then put together formal plans that have specific budgets and outlines for the implementation process.

Johnson said it is "powerful" to see how his relationship has grown with the locals he works with on Ile-a-Vache since he first approached the group to offer help and support in 2014.

"To be here years later and actually getting to the point where we are working on things is incredibly meaningful, and meaningful to them to have a real understanding that we are here for the longer term," he said.

LeBlanc said Johnson speaks Creole fluently, so he can conduct business with those on the island in their native language. She said there is a mutual respect between Johnson and the Haitian community he has come to know.

"These are more than just connections, these are friends," LeBlanc said.

Johnson began traveling to Haiti in 2012 and has traveled to the island seven times. Even in high school, Johnson knew his interest was international affairs.

He moved to Coeur d'Alene from Post Falls in 2008 and transferred to Charter Academy at that time. LeBlanc was hired at the school to start a French program in 2009 and Johnson was one of her first students.

"With the support of Lynda and other teachers I was really able to focus in on Haiti and I was able to bring it to so many of my studies," Johnson said. "I could bring very real world ideas and things that I had seen to my economics classes and government classes."

Currently a junior at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Johnson is majoring in international affairs with a concentration on international development. His second major is economics in an effort to pair the ideas formed through international development with the numbers to back up those ideas.

When he started college, Johnson's experience and independent research of Haiti gave him the opportunity to continue his work as a research assistant with a professor at the university who works almost exclusively on Haiti.

"It was a wonderful opportunity and something that not a lot of students get as a freshman coming into the school," he said, adding he started classes at junior and senior academic levels. "It was really a great transition to be able to step into an academic world at a high-level class and also be able to start a research position with a professor immediately. That was another pivotal moment because it's really fed into a lot of what I have done since."

The AID Project's founding grant donor was the Post Falls Rotary Club, and Johnson said the project board members are working with several other Coeur d'Alene groups on pending grants for the clean water project. Johnson said he wants to continue his relationship with Charter Academy and the Coeur d'Alene community that has supported him, although he plans to reside in Washington, D.C., because of his line of work.

"So many people in the community have helped me along the way and I am looking for opportunities to give back," Johnson said.

LeBlanc, who still teaches at Charter as well as working with Johnson, said it has been "deeply satisfying" to see Johnson grow into the leader he is.

"It is such a gift to see my student as my superior," LeBlanc said. "It is what teachers, I hope, dream of. We cultivate this interest and then to watch them do such amazing things. And to bring me along for the ride — it's an amazing gift."

Information about AID Project is available online at www.aidproject.org.