DREAM Project: Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring Project

The DREAM Newsletter
Summer 2005 Issue

A Message from Executive Director, Patricia Suriel

Over the past six months, the DREAM Project has continued to expand from a small working nonprofit to an endowed organization. Through continual networking, we have signed agreements and partnerships with the Secretary of Education (SEE), Open Society Institute's "Step by Step" Program, the United Nation's Millennium Project, and now the President of the Dominican Republic, honorable Dr. Fernandez, has added his endorsement for the DREAM Project. Many plans are on the horizon as we move forward with our partnerships to build a model school and teacher training center on our newly purchased property.

Rose Rodriguez, the senior advisor of New York State Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton, joined us as we closed our 2 nd Annual Guzman Ariza Summer Camp. This past summer we had the privilege to host 16 new volunteers and will have 9 full time volunteers to staff all of our schools starting in September.

We are continually developing at all of our sites and making progress in great strides. At the Caraballo Batey, we have opened a preschool with an expected 60 children that will attend in the fall, in addition to organizing our Youth and Women's Groups. We inaugurated the new computer lab and school building at CADIN, installed internet connections at the Puerto Cabarete School, and established a pilot reading program that will be initiated this fall at Libertad.

I hope that you will all read the entire newsletter, since our accomplishments are many, and it all is thanks to the support and hard work of our volunteers, staff, board members, partners, and donors alike. We all should take pride in our work that has helped better the lives of the children of the North Coast.

The DREAM Project Receives Endowment!

This past May, the DREAM Project became an endowed organization, thanks to a generous donation from Executive Board Member, William Friedman the president of Tarragon Corporation (www.tarragonrealty.com). Friedman has donated 10,000 of his shares in Tarragon Reality estimate valued of US$250,000 to start the DREAM Projects endowment fund. Contact DREAM President Michel Zaleski if you are interested in adding to our endowment: mz300@aol.com.

2005: Stepping into the Millennium

This past April, the DREAM staff had the privilege to meet with Jeffrey Sachs, head of the United Nation's Millennium Project, as well as receive the endorsement of John Gagain, Executive Director of President Leonel Fernandez's Millennium Commission.

A conference was held in Santo Domingo in effort to raise awareness and support for the Millennium Goals, the set of internationally agreed upon targets for eliminating extreme poverty by the year 2025. The DREAM Project will join President Fernandez to create sustainable primary education and to achieve the Millennium Developmental Goals in the Dominican Republic, as one of the UN's eight pilot countries (and only pilot country in the Western Hemisphere).

The message at the conference was clear- urgent action is needed in 2005 if we are to achieve universal primary education. The DREAM Project is closely following the Millennium Project's Developmental Goals to bring quality education to the Dominican Republic.

Please visit: http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/ to find out more.

Step by Step

The DREAM Project is proud to announce our new initiative in conjunction with George Soros' Open Society Institute (OSI) and the Step by Step Program (http://www.issa.nl/). Step by Step is an education reform program that introduces child-centered teaching methods and supports community and family involvement in preschool and primary school. The program promotes the right of all children to a quality education and provides materials and training to ensure equal access for children living in poverty.

The DREAM Project has purchased land, thanks to DREAM President's , Michel Zaleski', generous donation that will allow for the construction of a new DREAM teacher training center and model school. Step by Step will provide an innovative and comprehensive three-year training program to our all of our teachers so that DREAM schools will provide the model for the rest of the Dominican Republic.

Montessori Preschool Opens at Batey!

This April, the DREAM Project was proud to open the doors to 30 children at our new preschool at the Caraballo Batey. The DREAM preschool, which was constructed by the students of Lawrence Academy in March 2004, was selected as the sister school of the Elizabeth Ann Clune Montessori School of Ithaca, marking the first Montessori School to exclusively reach impoverished children or a batey community.

This fall, 60 preschool children will attend the new Andrea Riddle Montessori Program at the Caraballo Batey. Andrea Riddle, the current principal at Elizabeth Ann Clune spent a week at the Caraballo last April in order to develop a specialized Dominican curriculum to meet the needs of the Caraballo community.

This fall DREAM will also welcome our newest volunteer, Donyan Shadions, a Montessori certified teacher from Elizabeth Ann Clune, who will work in the preschool to initiate as well as train teachers in the Montessori method. Donyan will also bring suitcases full of Montessori supplies generously donated by the Elizabeth Ann Clune School in Ithaca.

If anyone is interested in becoming involved in this growing project and helping with the planned expansion please contact: tricia@dominicandream.org .

Second Annual Guzman Ariza Summer Camp: Huge Success!

On August 18th, the 2005 Guzman Ariza Summer Camp ended festively with a meringue tipico band, cake, juice, tears, and many hugs goodbye- a celebration to conclude 6 weeks of what was an incredible experience for kids and counselors alike. The work and dedication devoted to executing the six-week summer camp in the Callejon de la Loma community of Cabarete paid off as the counselors witnessed the significant growth of the campers as well as themselves.

With a staff of 17 American, Canadian, and local Dominican volunteers as well as 4 Dominican teachers, the 120 children of the 2005 Guzman Ariza Summer Camp were all able to experience a summer program comparable to that of a first-world camp. Highlights included: 10 field trips all over the North Coast including Ocean World and the Sosua Glass Bottom Boat, an Olympic Week (Asia won!), an apprenticeship program with local businesses for our oldest group of children, and a parade through downtown Cabarete .

The camp succeeded in adding some responsible and well-rounded citizens to the community. Topics as serious as racism toward Haitians, economic disparity (i.e. Batey Caraballo and Playa Dorada), globalization and peaceful cooperation were introduced and discussed and it was amazing to see the kids grasp and respond to complex novel ideas.

Despite the many obstacles and blazing sun, this year's summer camp could not have turned out better. DREAM is especially proud of the 120 kids that made the camp a reality - the accomplishment and success of the camp is theirs. Viva el campamento!

A Special Thank You to Our Volunteers!

This year our summer staff was privileged to include: Robert Baca, Jessica Lawson, Caitlin O'Shea, Andrew Bennett, Alex Jackson, Elizabeth Aronstam, Lee Evans, Candace Panchyshyn, Becky Guthrie, Emily Shepard, Vandana Verma, Sandra Prunkl, Jenny Nunez Perez, Manuel Espinal, Felix Santos ,Ben-Yam Barshi, Elah Barshi, Maria Mercedes Profriguez, Profesora Paulina, Profesora Tata, and Profesor Jose. A sincere thank you to all of our volunteers who made this camp possible!

A sincere thank you to our major donors for this year's Summer Camp. On behalf of the children DREAM would like to thank Ocean World, who provided complimentary tickets for all 120 campers (over US$8000 value) and Dick's Bakery, who generously donated all the bread 5 days a week for both breakfast and lunch. DREAM would also like to thank everyone else that donated or provided their services to make this camp an incredible experience.

Once again, none of this would have been possible if not for the continued support of the Guzman Ariza Law Firm and the dedication of Fabio Guzman.

Volunteer Fellowship Fund Brings 8 Volunteers to DR!

The DREAM Project is pleased to welcome 6 recent Cornell graduates, 1 Dartmouth College student, and 1 Montessori certified teacher to our volunteer staff for the upcoming 2005-2006 school year. All five of our school sites will now be staffed with full time DREAM volunteer.

All of our volunteers will be on DREAM Fellowships, made possible by the generous donations received from the Dartmouth College Tucker Foundation, Dunn Charitable Family Foundation, and the John and Leslie Taylor Foundation.

Volunteers are crucial to the success of the DREAM Project, as they work directly in the schools and with the communities to improve the education of the children. If you are interested in sponsoring a volunteer and adding to our fellowship fund, please contact: tricia@dominicandream.org .

New Addition to the DREAM Team

DREAM is very excited to add Caitlin O'Shea to our staff here in the Dominican Republic. Caitlin is a recent graduate of Cornell University and has worked closely with DREAM Executive Director Patricia Suriel for the past three years in the Ithaca office. Caitlin is supported by the DREAM Fellowship Program and will take over Robert Baca's position as Program Coordinator. DREAM has been fortunate to receive a two-year commitment from Caitlin. Welcome to the team Caitlin!

Debbie's DREAM Fiesta

The Debbie's Dominican Republic Children's Foundation honored the DREAM Project with a check for $8,000 Canadian dollars at their annual fundraiser in St. Catharine's, Ontario this past July. DREAM Director of Dominican Operations, Jon Wunderlich, was on hand to accept the generous donation and talk with participants about DREAM's new initiatives in the DR.

This amazing group is not only skilled at the arts of the "Dominican Fiesta," they are also greatly responsible for over $80,000 of scholastic materials being brought down by visiting tourists. Their presence on the www.debbiesdominican.com web site has attracted over one million visitors to the DREAM Project message board. DREAM would like to thank all the DDRCF members all of their supporters that have joined our cause.

Inauguration for CADIN

This past April, the DREAM Project inaugurated our first two-story school building at the CADIN School in Islabon. The construction was made possible through the generous donations of Michael Chazen, Art Tarlow, Allene Klass and Richard Josephs.

The students of CADIN put on a performance to mark the occasion and presented the donors with gifts of appreciation. The structure now holds a fully operational computer lab and has allowed an additional 100 children to attend the school. CADIN is now able to educate their students in computers and maintain a 25 to 1 student to teacher ratio.

DREAM News Updates & Upcoming Events

This past March, Lawrence Academy returned to the Caraballo Batey to build a baseball field, complete with bleachers and backstop, paint the inside of the DREAM Caraballo Community Center, and help put together the new Andrea Riddle Montessori Preschool. DREAM would like to offer a special thanks to the students of Lawrence Academy and looks forward to hosting them again 2006!
Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA) generously donated four used computers to our Puerto Cabarete Computer Lab. New York City Councilman, Robert Jackson, Assemblyman, Adam Powell, and New York State Senator, Efrain Gonzalez Jr. joined our distinguished guests in a ceremony to celebrate this new addition to the lab.
The DREAM Project is proud to announce the new initiative taken on by 4-T (www.4tdomrep.com) has now committed to donating US$1 per every client to the DREAM Project. Contact Richard Weber if you are interested in this program : richard@4tdomrep.com
DREAM has joined Diverse Community's "Shop with Purpose" campaign. Diverse Community is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting other NGOs through an online shopping fundraising initiative. Please refer to www.diversecommunity.com to help contribute to the DREAM Project.
This May, thanks to the support and hard work of the local parent teacher association at the Puerto Cabarete School, DREAM helped to complete construction of our new science laboratory. This will be the first science laboratory in our schools, and a full time DREAM volunteer will be placed in the lab to train local staff.
Advisory Board Member, Shelia Harmon, has recently been elected to the DREAM Project's Executive Board. Shelia's extensive experience in all levels of academia brings a critical educational perspective to the organization.
This year, DREAM was pleased to collaborate with Harvard graduates Chris Cowan, Alex McQuoid, and Zach McComsey to produce a comprehensive manual detailing the value of primary education in the Dominican Republic.
On behalf of the children of the 2 nd Annual Guzman Ariza DREAM Summer Camp, DREAM would like to thank the children of CDCH, Portledge, and Roslyn Middle School for the money and water bottles donated.
This spring, DREAM welcomed back ophthalmologists Dr. Desmond Parkin, Dr. Bryan Brause and Dr. Mike Mastrov for their third annual visit. The doctors examined 500 children and teachers in the Callejon de la Loma School. They supplied new glasses to over 20 children.
A special thank you to Board Member, Shelia Harmon, and husband, Ed Esposito, who organized their 5th group of volunteers to come to the DR to assist the children of the CADIN School. DREAM would also like to thank Olivia Carmichael, Ruth Baderian, and everyone else who assisted in their efforts.
DREAM also received a generous donation from New York City's Mayor Bloomberg for the two DREAM computer labs.
The Guzman Ariza Summer Camp received a special visit from Senator Hillary Clinton's Senior Advisor, Rose Rodriguez. She has been instrumental this past year and helped celebrate our Guzman Ariza Summer Camp goodbye party.

A Very Special Thanks to Our New Ambassadors

Thanks to the initiative of Sea Horse Ranch, our Founding Ambassador, DREAM has been fortunate to add three more Ambassadors.

We would like to offer a special thanks to Robert Martell, DREAM Advisory Board Member and Business Consultant, as his real estate company Ocean Sands signed up for the Ambassador Program this year, in addition to his ongoing contributions.

DREAM would also like to thank Health Plus for their generosity. Their dedication to community projects is a huge benefit to the children of the Dominican Republic.

Last, but not least, DREAM thanks Fabio Guzman of Guzman Ariza and Associates. His selfless pro bono work and financial contributions have created the Guzman Ariza Summer Camp.

Please email tricia@dominicandream.org if you are interested in joining our efforts!

Please Support our 2005 Partners!

Ambassador

Guzman Ariza and Associates

Health Plus

Ocean Sands

Sea Horse Ranch

Supporting Partners