Mission: To create a network of communities with access to education, social, and economic capital, we will support bateyes and other marginalized communities in the dominican republic.
Programs: Learning center: provides out-of-school time literacy instruction for over 120 children between the ages of 4 and 15 in batey libertad
university scholarships: provides full scholarships for 3 high achieving young adults from batey libertad. One scholar graduated in july 2015.
intern/service-learning: service-learning trips gives u. S. College students week-long immersion experiences in the dominican republic to learn about the situation facing dominicans of haitian descent. Interns spend 2 - 3 months living and working in esperanza and batey libertad to support and learn about yspaniola's work.
documentation project: yspaniola partnered with local and international institutions, including the un high commissioner for refugees, to help over 120 residents of batey libertad register with the dominican government to help protect them from deportation and expulsion.
outreach: efforts to publicize the human rights crisis in the dominican republic and promote yspaniola's work and programs
outreach: efforts to publicize the human rights crisis in the dominican republic and promote yspaniola's work and programs
Visited Batey Libertad and witnessed students engaged in language arts, music and art lessons. This organization is providing a much needed service and giving hope to the children.
Yspaniola provides scholarships to Dominican and Dominican of Haitian descent students in the DR to attend university. They also have a very successful summer camp and learning center for children in Batey Libertad that provides them with educational opportunities to break the cycle of poverty. I worked with them as an intern for 6 months and the experience changed my perspective on development and education. Their board members and directors are extremely committed individuals with lots of experience and passion. Development in Batey Libertad through Yspaniola is a participatory process with community leaders, which you don't usually see with NGOs here. They are very invested in the future of the community and train many local youth to serve as teachers in their center. Overall, I'm very happy with their work and recommend this organization to everyone.
For years, Haitian workers haved been toiling on Dominican Republic sugar plantations, called Bateys, without basic workers' rights allowed to native Dominicans. Generations of Haitians have been born on the bateys, but no one has been allowed to register as a Dominican national. Hence these workers and their families have no rights and are kept on these bateys, forced to pay some of their wages back as room and board . This organization is attempting to provide batey families with some sort of future, even as the Domincan government ignores its own constitution and UN findings that anyone born in the DR must be recognized as a citizens and afforder all rights thereof.
