be elected for the city council of the Village of El Portal. He was unsuccessful. He ran for city council again in 1991 and was unsuccessful for a second time. With two years of unsuccessful attempts of securing a position in the public office, Derose changed his strategy when he ran for city council for the third time in 1992. In the first two years he had campaigned, he concentrated solely on Haitian-American voters. When he re-developed his campaign strategy in 1992, he realized he needed to gain the support of the Anglo and Hispanic voters, so his new strategy included targeting all ethnic groups. In 1993, after a strong campaign with this new strategy, he was the 1st place elected (obtaining the most votes) member of the Village of El Portal City Council becoming the first Haitian-American elected into public office in the United States. After serving as Mayor of the Village of El Portal for one year, Derose voluntarily vacated his seat and was elected to the North Miami Beach City Council. Political career in North Miami Beach As a Councilman for the City of North Miami Beach, one of Derose's major platforms was the beautification of the community, especially the planting and healthy maintenance of trees, shrubs, and greenery. A nature-lover, Derose commemorated Arbor Day by orchestrating community initiatives to plant trees and to distribute seedlings to residents. Derose served on the North Miami Beach City Council as Councilman between 2003 and 2013. Earthquake in Haiti A catastrophic earthquake (with a Richter score of 7) occurred in Haiti on January 12, 2010. Less than two weeks after this devastating act of nature, Derose traveled on a private plane to his homeland of Haiti with a delegation of government officials, some of which included other notable Haitian-American officials. Upon arrival in Haiti, a sad Derose looked at the unrecognizable places that once appeared familiar and noted, "What man took many years to build, was gone, wiped out in a matter of seconds." Once the delegation reached the ravaged island-nation, they met with the central government in Haiti, consisting of Haitian and local officials including Parliament. Also included in this delegation was Patrick Gaspard, the Director of the Office of Political Affairs for President Barack Obama's Administration, and Vice-President of the United States, Joe Biden. Along with these officials, Derose assisted in the expedition of the process to obtain