9 December 2009 - The Major League Baseball Dominican Development Alliance held its year anniversary with a cocktail at the US Ambassador's residence in the Dominican Republic to celebrate the achievements in its first year and to communicate a very important message - We are counting on the MLB teams and Dominican players in 2010.

Those in attendance included Pedro Martinez and his wife Carolina Cruz, , Rockies star pitcherUbaldo Jimenez, the 2004 National League Silver Slugger Adrian Beltre, relief pitcher Roman Colon, Stanley Javier, and the first Dominican player in the MLB Osvaldo Virgil.  Also present were the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Craig Kelley, the Chargé d' Affairs of the US Embassy Christopher Lambert, and the Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID)Richard Goughnour. 

The event highlighted the alliance's achievements of the past year.  Together with Pedro Martinez, the Players Trust from the MLB Players Association, the New York Mets, the San Diego Padres, and the Chicago Cubs, the MLB-DDA has channeled over US$482,000.00 to support six community development projects across the Dominican Republic.

"For 2010 we have programed projects with the Cleveland Indians, the Pittsburgh Pirates, Manny Mota and his family, Jose Reyes, the Red Sox, and Manny Act", stated Richard Goughnour from USAID.  USAID contributed US$1 million to establish an incentive fund that matches donations made by players, teams, and groups of fans to support community development initiatives in the Dominican Republic.

"We also want to unite efforts with the Dominican teams.  We are going to match a contribution made by the Licey Tigers and Escogido Lions thanks to a golf tournament that they recently carried out", sustained Goughnour.

Contributions from the Community

Pedro Martinez and his wife Carolina were the first to support eh Alliance through their Project "Hay Poder en Aprender" (Knowledge is Power) in the community of Manoguayabo.  Later, with the support of the Players Trust, represented in the country by Stanley Javier, a micro credit project was launched in two marginalized slums in northern Santo Domingo.  Through the Banks of Hope project, poor women in these communities have access to micro credit to start micro family businesses.  Together with the Mets, the alliance supported a program to provide health services and a Banks of Hope program to people that live with HIV/AIDS through the Clinic Esperanza y Caridad in San Pedro de Macoris.  The Padres also teamed up with the MLB-DDA to improve the quality of education in the community outside of their Dominican Baseball Academy.  Finally, the Cubs made a donation to expand a recovery room in a medical center in Santiago, Dominican Republic and improve the sanitation facilities in a school in Caobete.