Foundation

Foundation

Our History

The Abriendo Camino Foundation is a secular nongovernmental organization founded in 2003 in the neighborhood of Villas Agrícolas, in the Dominican Republic’s capital city of Santo Domingo.

It was founded by Nelia Barletta, Mijo Leurent and Elisabeth Puig, three women from civil society who began with a small project based around educational and recreational Saturday activities at a site owned by the San Mateo Apóstol Parish in the Dominican Republic. The ever-growing attendance of neighborhood children and teens led the three women to reflect on the need to widen the reach of their activities while increasing the coverage and quality of their interventions.

Thus arose the idea of creating a foundation, with its own building on a plot of land belonging to the Church in the heart of Villas Agrícolas, Santo Domingo. They commenced their work with the opening of a library and the development of technical-professional training courses in collaboration with INFOTEP (the National Institute for Technical-Professional Training) to facilitate the entry of neighborhood youth and adults into the labor market.

Soon the Up to Grade Level (a program to bring students up to grade level) was added to the initial project, to improve the math and literacy skills of children and teens in Villas Agrícolas. Little by little the Foundation has discovered its identity and blossomed into a center where children and young adults can develop their potential through educational and recreational activities removed from the risky and often violent circumstances that reign over the sector.

Among the institution’s strategies for growth, a predominant characteristic has been the constant evaluation of the work we’ve completed, giving us the capacity to adapt to the necessities of the sector of Villas Agrícolas by listening to community members and defending their rights.

“Thus arose the idea of creating a foundation, with its own building on a plot of land belonging to the Church in the heart of Villas Agrícolas, Dominican Republic.”

Mission

To offer alternatives for protection and holistic education so that children, teenagers and families in vulnerable urban sectors of the Dominican Republic may develop their potential and enjoy a life of dignity.

Vision

To serve as a reference in the development and implementation of innovative proposals for the protection and holistic education of children, young people and families in vulnerable urban sectors of the Dominican Republic.

Values

  • Solidarity
  • Inclusion
  • Innovationn
  • Integrity
  • Responsibility
  • Culture of Peace

years serving

projects in progress

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Students in -Up to Grade Level- Program

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psychosocial interventions

Why Villas Agrícolas?

Villas Agrícolas belongs to District 3 of the National District, which stands out for being one of the most violent sectors of the city of Santo Domingo, according to the Security Diagnosis of the Citizen Observatory of the National District.

It is one of the neighborhoods in the Dominican Republic that has registered the highest population growth in the 2010 census, reaching a population of 26,866 inhabitants according to the report Distrito Nacional en cifras 2013/14 of the ADN.

Life for the majority of families in Villas Agrícolas is marked by conditions of poverty and precariousness, linked to the difficulty of obtaining a permanent source of income, which creates survival strategies based around the informal labor sector. The majority of families are characterized by a single-parent structure or that of an “extended family” where some of the members are to be found abroad.

Poverty is reflected in the style of housing, particularly in the alleyways, housing a number of small residences, and in the deterioration of living conditions that translate to overcrowding, electrical service failures, and lack of direct access to potable water, among other basic necessities. Furthermore, Villas Agrícolas is under-resourced urban neighborhood that lacks accessible social services, considerably shrinking the opportunities available to residents and aggravating the violence that afflicts the sector.

There is only one sports club, and the absence of further cultural activities cannot satisfy the wide demand of the youth in Villas Agrícolas.

Moreover, one of the main avenues intersecting the under-resourced urban neighborhood, Nicolás de Ovando, and its surroundings are known for their high number of motels and bars where sex work takes place, creating an environment of enhanced risk for sexual exploitation of minors in Villas Agrícolas.

School desertion is quite high in early adolescents (11-12 years old). Teen pregnancy, for example, is one of the principal causes of female school desertion.

Overall, Villas Agrícolas is a vulnerable, marginalized zone featuring sharp inequality.

Testimonies