SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — As the city of Springfield continues to find itself in the political spotlight, members of the Haitian community are working to make sure their stories are heard and their challenges are understood.
Springfield Ohio is a town where many people are born, raised and stay.
It’s a place with plenty of opinions when it comes to Haitian immigrants in the community.
Springfield is also a place where local leaders are working to dispel a lot of misconceptions.
“We tell our kids not to bully one another, and I hear adults in our community saying the most hateful things," Clark County Commission President Melanie Flax Wilt said. "The very things we caution our children against. That’s not the community we are. We are Clark County, Ohio, we are Springfield, Ohio, and that is not the community we want to be."
While the debate noise continues in public meetings and on the streets of Springfield, inside the Haitian Community Center you’ll find the sounds of preaching in Haitian Creole, pictures of Springfield’s first Haitian immigrants mounted on the walls and people like Viles Dorsainvil and Dolores Numa hard at work.
Numa is a volunteer and local college student studying medical billing and coding. Dorsainvil is the center’s executive director.
“With the rhetoric, the bad narrative out there, there should be people who are there to tell what the truth is,” Dorsainvil said.
He heard about Springfield from his nephew and came in 2020.
“Pure word of mouth. To my experience, I never know people who are paying people just to come here," he said. "Pure word of mouth. You are my friend, I tell you and you tell another friend, and the news spread out there and Haitians come to Springfield."
Like most Haitians, he came here for a good job, opportunities and safety.
“We are not refugees, we are just immigrants, so and we are not normally eligible for money as this if this money is really out there because we are not refugees," Dorsainvil said. "So I don’t know. Maybe they are misinformed."
As the debate continues in town, many are hoping respect and acceptance will prevail.
For Dorsainvil, while seeing rumors spread by national leaders has been one of the most shocking parts, in Springfield, his work will continue even when the spotlight has moved on.
“As I always say, every new beginning has its own challenges, so we have to face the challenges, and I think that at the end of the day, I think all of this is going to be behind us as we want to be a part of the solution,” he said.
Along with working to stop hateful rhetoric, Clark County leaders are also working to launch a new drivers program, stabilizing infrastructure and funding and finding ways to help newcomers feel welcome.
Leaders also agree that translation services are one of the biggest needs and that the influx of immigrants has put a stress on the local healthcare system.
