Our History

Our history, our founding and our impact.

In the Fall of 2015, three gentlemen by the names of Sledge Leonidas, Jean Michel Celestin, and James Pierre came together to organize and establish proper representation for the rapidly growing Haitian community in Houston, Texas. These gentlemen recognized the ever-growing gap amongst people of Haitian descent, elder Haitians, young Haitians, the Haitian churches, Haitian businesses and the distance between fellow Caribbean islands here in the city.

Celestin was the former Chair of La Nouvelle Generation- Haitian Community of Houston (LNG_HCH), he continued to lead the efforts to celebrate Haitians Flag day with the support of many local Haitian compatriots. Later Leonidas and Celestin of the musical duo LaFamille Royal continued to host Haitian Flag Day events as well as other social events, and performances geared towards the celebration and promotion of Haitian culture. As the population of Haitians in Houston grew they realize the need for a more unified voice and representation to help strengthen the community. We called out the first meeting at the Starbuck near the Galleria and many people responded to the call to unite and strengthen our community.

Simultaneously, Pierre, an accountant, had aspirations of establishing Young Adult Haitians United for working professionals in the city. Together Celestin, Leonidas, and Pierre agreed to have the joint meeting at the then Caribbean Fingers, a Haitian-American restaurant in Katy, Texas. The turnout was exceptional and a series of other planned meetings took place so that everyone could voice their opinions and concerns on the current state of our community. The great sense of pride and togetherness present became the fuel needed to accomplish great things for our people. In every movement, timing is everything and these sets of meetings ignited this movement! 

On September 14, 2015, at the office of HHU Legal Counsel Mac-Pierre Louis, Houston Haitians United was named and formed. It was created out of the strong desire to unify all Haitians in the greater Houston area and committed to keeping strong ties to our beloved island of Haiti! So, with the Heavenly Father’s blessings, and with courage and strength, our journey to fulfilling our mission statement had begun!

Our founders