MLB-DDA

In October 2009, the San Diego Padres teamed up with the MLB-DDA, IDDI, and Sur Futuro to launch the Space to Grow project in the community of Najayo, where the team's Dominican Baseball Academy is located.  The program specifically targets at-risk children in the elementary school La Playa providing after school programming that reinforces the material covered in regular school hours and helps to provide alternative creative learning for the children.  The Space to Grow also targets the community at large to emphasize the importance of education by involving parents and community leaders in the education project.  

Within the first quarter FY2010 reporting period, the Space to Grow successfully selected a building in the community to use for the afterschool center.  The project implementers held meetings with the community to present the project and motivate involvement.  With the volunteer labor of community members, the building was renovated and painted.

The project funded teacher training sessions for its new staff as well as for teachers working in the local elementary schools and successfully hired and trained the teaching staff for the after school programs.  In total ten (10) teachers received training in Quantum Learning Techniques, that promote interactive classroom participation and different learning methodologies to improve the classroom experience.

The new teachers worked with the six local elementary schools to identify at-risk children that would greatly benefit from the additional education programming.  They conducted surveys with potential students, which will serve as a baseline to measure the impact of the program.  Together with the teachers and the community the project selected and enrolled 62 children (36 boys, 26 girls) in the Space to Grow Program.  

The Space to Grow project implementers began providing after school programming in October and currently offer full programming in two shifts – morning and afternoon.  The morning shift is open to students that receive regular elementary school classes in the afternoon and vice versa.  

Throughout the project development process the parents and community members have been integrally involved through parent and community meetings.  The meetings serve as a platform to increase the participation of parents in their children’s education as well as to inform the parents about the rights of children and the importance of education on the development of children.  The project also conducted 120 house visits to address outstanding needs of children and to increase parent and community participation.  

The Space to Grow project is working to strengthen its relationship with the Dominican government with hopes of receiving financial support for the services it provides and subsidized snacks.