Pa. nonprofit gets partner for work in Haiti

Kristen Hertzog and her backers have already shown that a tiny nonprofit based in Pennsylvania's Amish country can change the job prospects of impoverished Haitians.

Haitian Connection Network, founded by Hertzog in 2010 and headquartered at her home in Ephrata, provides tuition-free online courses in computer science and business administration in Haiti.

On Wednesday, Hertzog announced a big step forward for the cyberschool. It will join forces with Life Connection Mission, a nonprofit based in Germantown, Md., that provides 500 Haitian students with primary and secondary schooling, a medical clinic, and social services.

Hertzog and Life Connection president Dale Moyers met at a fund-raiser and quickly saw the advantages of an alliance. The cyberschool's associate degree programs require English fluency, something Life Connection's schools cultivate. Life Connection, in turn, wants to help its graduates become employable.

The cyberschool will relocate from Tomassin, near the capital of Port-au-Prince, to the Life Mission campus in Montrouis, two hours away.

So far, Hertzog said, 10 students have completed training and are now employed in Haiti.

For more information, visit hcnlcmconnect.org.