Mission Statement

Artists for Peace and Justice, established in early 2009, is a fundraising effort founded by Paul Haggis and friends that encourages peace and social justice and addresses issues of poverty and enfranchisement in communities around the world. The organization’s immediate goal is to build schools to serve the poorest areas of Haiti, providing an education, hot meals, clean drinking water and regular medical treatments to the children living in the slums.

About Father Rick Frechette

For the past 22 years Father Rick Frechette has worked in the slums of Haiti. He came to the country as a priest and soon saw that what they needed more was a doctor. He began studying for his degree and continued working in the slums of Port-au-Prince on the weekends. APJ is committed to supporting the community outreach programs led by Father Rick in the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

A letter from Paul Haggis

It was on a trip to Haiti that I first met Father Rick Frechette, an American doctor and community organizer who'd been working in the slums of Port-au-Prince for over two decades. He and his small team have built an orphanage, medical clinics, street schools, and a pediatric hospital and the only free hospital serving the children of one of the largest slums in the western hemisphere. They have done all this with little support and a lot of imagination, succeeding where many bigger and better-funded organizations have failed, largely by empowering the people with whom they work.

Thanks to their efforts, families in the slums have clean water to drink, children can look forward to a meal every day, and people in one of the poorest countries in the world have the opportunity to become self-sufficient.

Artists for Peace and Justice is dedicated to helping them achieve their goals. We give grants for specific projects, where every penny has an impact, and every dollar goes to the help the children of Haiti.

Paul Haggis
for the Board of Artists for Peace and Justice