The Transnational Community as an Agent for Caribbean Development: Aid from New York City and Toronto to Carriacou, Grenada

Small island economies of the Caribbean have traditionally relied on remittances from family members working abroad to sustain them in their limited circumstances. The responsibility to provide for those back home has evolved as the communities of Afro-Caribbean people in North America have prospered. For some islands, like Grenada and its dependencies of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, the present transnational network has become a complex and sophisticated vehicle for initiating and completing development projects in the Caribbean. Community social organization abroad, as well as access to the Internet as an organizing tool, allow transnational connections to flourish and provide much needed aid to the home community. Although these islands have a long history of migration and remittances, the transnational network fosters an organized and effective way of providing development aid at a larger, community-wide scale. This article uses examples, including interviews, from New York City and Toronto to give voice to these connections and projects.