They’ve been an amazing organization that have helped curate better lives for all those involved. They allowed me the opportunity to grow in my career and as a leader. Meeting the people they served was a life changing experience that I could
Never have gotten annywhere else. Puente is a special organization!
Puente provides tangible resources and onsite support in local communities across the Dominican Republic. Their technology and expertise in water sanitation and construction positively impacts hundreds of families.
The passion this team has to help others improve their daily lives is really commendable♥️
Clean water, toilets, cement, floors, coordinating medical missions… healthier lives going forward
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We had the opportunity to visit some of the communities “enabled” to live a better life due to the work of the Puente team. The people were so thankful and truly empowered to continue to improve their environment (Bathrooms, Cement Floors, Clean Water) and health for generations to come. So many lives changed forever, I couldn’t be more proud!!
My first experience with Puente was so impactful that as soon as I left I knew I wanted to come back and continue to help. I have assisted with everything from bathroom construction to medical missions. The team is very professional and caring and they go above and beyond to make volunteers feel both comfortable and needed in their communities.
10/10 authentic safe experiences
From my brief time volunteering with Puente, it was obvious their work was very much animated by their mission statement. They were clearly serving as a “bridge” between people that needed help in the community and the organization that could provide that help. I assisted with a medical mission as a Puente volunteer that worked alongside an organization from the US. Since Puente’s staff is almost 100% Dominican nationals and community members, they have a solid pulse on what is happening on the ground and could quickly provide meaningful assistance to the organization from the US. For example, in the medical mission healthcare professionals from the US organization were able to provide effective medical care with the help of Puente staff translators that knew the local area and community well, which enabled the translators to facilitate helpful communication between community members and healthcare professionals. Additionally Puente staff could document relevant medical information on site using Puente data software on smartphones. This model allows for possible future follow-ups for patients from the same medical mission, builds continuity in medical coverage for community members, and fosters a higher chance for patients to receive quality care in the future. I was impressed with the caring, genuine, professional work done by Puente to provide the best assistance they could to the visiting organization.
Lastly, everyone I interacted with from Puente was extremely friendly and welcoming! I am currently learning Spanish and everyone I interacted with was excited to help me and patient as I progressed with the language! I hope to return to volunteer with Puente again in the coming year.
I have had the pleasure of working closely with Puente over the last couple of years on our partnership in improving sustainable in-community access to healthcare and health promotion in Constanza, Dominican Republic. Puente employs members of the communities it serves, which is a vital part of their evidence-based and sustainable model. Puente learns from and listens to the community, and is guided toward the highest-impact projects by its members who know the community intimately and know best what it needs to succeed.
Working with Puente, you will also be working with some of the kindest, open-hearted, and open-minded folks you will ever have met, and the work they do is of the highest quality. I am looking forward to continuing working with Puente into the future.
I am thrilled to share my experience with Puente, a remarkable nonprofit organization making a significant impact in the Dominican Republic. Puente’s dedication to empowering communities and fostering positive change is truly commendable.
Through their tireless efforts, Puente has transformed countless lives in the Dominican Republic. Their commitment to education, healthcare, and sustainable development has brought hope and opportunity to individuals and families in need. By focusing on key areas such as access to quality education, healthcare services, and vital infrastructure, Puente has been instrumental in creating a brighter future for many.
One aspect that sets Puente apart is their deep understanding of the local communities they serve. By collaborating closely with community members and actively involving them in decision-making processes, Puente ensures that their initiatives are tailored to the specific needs and aspirations of the people they aim to assist. This approach fosters a sense of ownership and empowerment among the community members, leading to sustainable and long-lasting transformations.
Furthermore, Puente’s commitment to transparency and accountability is highly commendable. They prioritize responsible management of resources and maintain open lines of communication with donors and stakeholders, ensuring that every dollar is utilized effectively and efficiently.
Having witnessed firsthand the impact of Puente’s work, I can confidently say that they are making a profound difference in the lives of individuals and the overall well-being of communities. Their dedication, compassion, and innovative approaches make them a beacon of hope and a catalyst for positive change.
I wholeheartedly recommend supporting Puente and joining their mission to create a better future for the people of the Dominican Republic.
Puente is an incredible organization that truly maximizes the impact of each dollar they receive. I love their emphasis on data collection & community buy-in, as it gives me confidence that they're solving verified problems in a way that can be sustained by local residents. I am always blown away by the impact they manage to create with a relatively small budget.
The Puente team is remarkably impressive and easy to collaborate with. The founders served in the Peace Corps and have built a team that is almost entirely comprised of Dominican natives motivated to help their home country. We were so impressed by everyone we interacted with and hope they continue to grow throughout the DR & beyond.
Finally, I should mention that Puente actually built its own technology for data collection, and it is amazing!! It is difficult for international nonprofits to find data tools that fit their specific needs and work reliably in remote areas, so Puente took iniative to build their own software (which is now available for other organizations to use too). The mobile app they created for data collection is extremely intuitive and easy to customize -- it tags each survey you collect to specific geo coordinates, is available in multiple languages, and works without cell service or wifi. The data you receive on the back-end is super clean and easy to analyze -- I imagine it is helpful not only for project planning & impact monitoring, but also donor/grant reporting. Highly recommend that other nonprofits take a look at Puente's solution before settling for pen & paper, DIY survey tools, or more expensive/complex software.
Puente is a top-notch nonprofit! They are great people doing spectacular things to make the world a better place. I am a huge supporter of Puente and can’t wait to see what they do next!
Puente has changed the way i view the world. They have allowed me to get involved in their wonderful mission and affect those in critical situations. My view of the world was much more closed off prior to joining, helping build a great product, and seeing the impact it has on the people of places like the Dominican Republic. My life has been changed thanks to this organization, they will be a long lasting impact in the world.
I had the pleasure of volunteering through Puente for a summer as a water engineer, assisting them with their ongoing water quality and sanitation projects. My biggest concern doing volunteer work overseas was doing "white savior" or charity work - this is not what Puente does. Puente has designed and engineered a mobile app that allows communities to use smart phones to identify needs and priorities within communities. Puente utilizes this tool on the ground using 100% Dominican volunteers, trainers, and leaders. Their trainers and volunteers are all Dominicans and that network is only growing.
Puente's approach has allowed them to assist with various community needs and ultimately help community leaders voice their concerns politically. I hope to work with Puente again and look forward their future efforts.
I was introduced to Puente through a young man who served in the Peace Corp in the Dominican Republic. He worked on water projects to help local residents.
This inspired him to get his Masters degree in engineering so he could go back and continue the great work that Puente is doing.
I am very impressed with the programs that Puente has developed including hand-washing stations, rainwater collection, latrines, dirt floor reconstruction and clean water filters. Puente has developed a software system for data collection that enables them to identify households that are in need of these life changing products.
The educational programs teach local residents how to use data to plan and implement the programs within their communities.
Puente is a valuable partner in enabling residents to have improved sanitation thereby improving health outcomes.
This is a non-profit organization worth supporting!
The Puente team is full of passionate individuals that have truly made a difference in their communities. They have provided many communities with the tools they need to thrive. I look forward to seeing Puente grow across the globe.
Puente is on the ground and in the communities in which they work, making them safer places to live, inspiring the residents to do more, and enabling outside parties to help more effectively. Simply amazing!
I have done volunteer work with this group and they are outstanding. They are hard working and have fantastic relationships with the people they are doing the work for!
Para mi es un placer ser parte del equipo de Puente. Me encanta el animo y pasión que tiene la organización para apoyar comunidades en mi país.
Scott, Hope, Jon, and Paul are true innovators who are dedicated to improving M&E in developing countries and catalyzing global progress.
They have dedicated their lives to the conquest of reducing global inequity, and I have the utmost admiration for them and their impeccable work ethics.
Beyond their dedication, their strategy is defying industry standards. They genuinely think locally and act globally. They are scaling the processes and data collection methods they perfected as grassroots development workers so that the entire developing world can utilize them.
If more international development nonprofits operated like Puente, maybe we would have arrived at a more just world sooner, instead of being content with extremely marginal progress that has been made.
Puente staff recognize the importance of community-led projects to drive change at the grassroots level while simultaneously innovating the public health nonprofit industry. They also take care of their own including staff, volunteers, and the greater community they serve.
I have worked with Puente both on-site and virtually for years. It’s impact on the community is incredible!
Been to the DR with my family twice and the highlight of both trips was working with Puente! Their hands on, grass roots connections in their communities makes the experience so real, so authentic, so impactful and so rewarding. Great organization!