Refugee Center more than refuge -- it's job source

For the past four months, the center has quietly placed 20 Haitian immigrants in the work force, mainly in hotel-related jobs.

``If the purpose of the center is to promote the well-being of Haitian refugees, then we cannot limit ourselves to legal representation,'' said Guy Victor, executive director of the center, 119 NE 54th St. ``For a long time, the center has been like a one-stop shop -- although we never provided that service, people were always asking us where they could find work and we would give them referrals.

``This is something that the center has been doing for a long time. Now, we're getting paid for it.''

Metro-Dade County's Community Action Agency is giving the center $16,000 for the start-up program. The money goes toward the salary of the center's new job counselor, Joseph Rosier.

But Victor said the center has no plans of stopping with job placement services. He's hoping to implement other assimilation services, because money for legal aid services has dried up, Victor said.

Public and private agencies ``figure [former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand] Aristide is back in Haiti, so Haitians don't have legal immigration problems,'' he explained. ``But that is not the case.''

Hundreds of Haitians still are making their way to the center and the Pierre Toussaint Haitian Catholic Center for legal representation on political asylum cases.

But the center has hit financial hard times, and other funding sources must be pursued, Victor said.

Yvonette Merat is grateful for that. Last month, the center matched her with a Haitian restaurant in North Miami. So is Jean Baptiste, who spent last year unemployed. Two weeks ago, he found a cleaning job at a Hialeah company.

``This is not what I want to do for the rest of my life, but it's a start,'' said Baptiste, 29, who attends English classes at Toussaint L'Ouverture Community School.