Project Esperanza, Inc.

Project Esperanza primarily (but by no means exclusively) serves the Haitian immigrant population of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic in the areas of education, social aid, and community development. Our volunteers work with us on a range of projects that are rooted in the communities we serve.

As a volunteer, you could work on projects including teaching workshops in our grass roots schools, helping our fair trade artists develop their skills, helping construct necessary facilities for the Batey community, and more. We also have several other projects that can be tailored based on your background, such as health clinics for volunteers with medical backgrounds, etc.

A survey of 169 homes in the batey community of Muñoz found that:

• The average weekly income of residents was $41.21
• 78% do not have access to an indoor or outdoor toilet
• 31 homes did not have beds
• 566 residents live in an area that is smaller than 1.5 American football fields
• The biggest requests for aid were more work, bathrooms, and documentation

Through serving the most marginalized population in the area, we are serving the entire community. We work to bring together the service with the parts of the developed world we come from, creating lasting, deep, and genuine relationships, which is where we believe true change begins.

If you would like to get involved, please send an email to Volunteer@EsperanzaMeansHope.org for further information.