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06308 June 6, 2006
Pilot program to focus on Dominican Republic
SDOP grants to spur new projects, improve lives, build communities
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE - Under a new three-year pilot program set to launch next year, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Self-Development of People (SDOP) (http://www.pcusa.org/sdop/)ministry will allocate $200,000 a year in grants to fund self-help projects in the Dominican Republic.
Money for the pilot program - which will run through 2009 - will be taken from SDOP's International Task Force budget.
SDOP hopes that setting aside funds for a particular region or country, such as the Dominican Republic, will lead to a new model for building long-term partnerships abroad that will better empower indigenous populations to take control of their lives.
The Rev. Joseph Johnson, chair of SDOP's International Task Force, said excitement is building around the pilot program because of its emphasis on building new connections.
"We feel like the establishment of long-term relationships will better enable us and the people there (in the Dominican Republic) to effect their circumstances in more positive ways then just simply sending a check once in a lifetime," said Johnson, who is pastor of Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Dothan, AL. "We are looking at systemic change. Helping them or partnering with them in responding to the issues around their lives so those issues don't become insurmountable."
Grants will fund economic and community development initiatives, food security programs, and affordable housing projects in poor and oppressed communities, as well as for projects addressing leadership development, health concerns and skills building.
Each project must be owned and controlled by those applying for the grants
and demonstrate potential for bringing about positive change for both the
recipient and their community.
"The investments are intended to help poor people reach their potential and gain independence," said Cynthia E. White, SDOP's coordinator. "We think because of its three-year commitment that the pilot program will have a serious impact on community development."
The pilot program's inaugural grants are expected to be awarded in May 2007 with SDOP spending the bulk of this year developing partnerships in the Dominican Republic.
White said grant amounts to be awarded to groups in the Dominican Republic
have not yet been determined.
She said that SDOP, which also provides funding for projects in the United
States, selected the Dominican Republic as the pilot program's focus for
two primary reasons.
"First is the overwhelming desire of the local people to work at making
themselves more self-reliant," White said. "The second reason is that to make this pilot a success, we need to form a network of PC(USA) churches that can have relatively easy access to visiting the region in order to support the efforts of the local people on many different levels."
An additional $300,000 will be dispersed annually as part of the pilot program to six intermediary partners in Egypt, Brazil, Argentina, India and Costa Rica, with each receiving up to $50,000 annually to spend on projects that meet SDOP funding criteria.
SDOP, which is part of the PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries Division, helps Presbyterians and others establish partnerships with oppressed and disadvantaged communities by providing small grants to groups that create
and manage projects promoting "human dignity, self-reliance and community growth," according to White.
Funded primarily through the One Great Hour of Sharing offering, the ministry has entered into partnerships with hundreds of projects around the world since it was started in 1970.
The recently announced pilot program, approved by SDOP's National Committee last September, will have an ongoing evaluation process beginning after the first year to determine if the initiative is worth pursing beyond 2009.
"If it's a program that we want to continue then we would identify another region to focus on for the next three years," White said. "We would review our intermediary partners to see if we would continue those partnerships or if we would establish new partnerships."
Projects funded in the Dominican Republic under the new pilot program will
join a variety of other efforts on the island already receiving SDOP support.
A 2004 SDOP grant led to the completion of new housing outside Santo Domingo for 32 Dominican families who had been living in an unfinished school after Hurricane George left them homeless in 1998.
"You could see the skin diseases," White said of health problems related to the desperate living conditions. "You could see the malnutrition. There was no water. It was just sad. We worked really hard with this group and were
able to assist these families by getting them into respectable homes."
Also in 2004, SDOP assistance helped a group of women in the small Dominican Republic town of Guerra expand a cramped, stuffy room in a tiny house into a spacious storefront building for a candy store they operate.
The improvements quickly led to increased business, an island-wide distribution system for their merchandise and enough income for the candy makers to support their families.
"You could see the growth and the development and the economic impact that this project was having on these women," White said of the candy store. "It's a wonderful project."
Since May of this year, SDOP has also been supporting a food security program in the southwest part of the country that's building silos for farmers to store grain, green beans, corn and rice. Without the storage capacity, farmers would be unable to preserve their stock long enough to sell it.
To increase awareness about the pilot program and the need for financial support for the Dominican Republic, SDOP encouraged congregations that observed "SDOP Sunday" on March 12 to submit a worship bulletin from their service.
Four of the bulletins were randomly drawn from a box of entries by SDOP at its national offices in Louisville. A representative from each winning congregation traveled with SDOP national committee members to the Dominican Republic last month to visit project sites.
In return, the randomly selected guests agreed to report on SDOP's work to Presbyterian congregations and groups after returning home, and also plan to post their personal reflections on SDOP's Internet Web site.
The Rev. Laurie Sponaugle, pastor of Bower Hill Community Church in Mt. Lebanon, PA, was among those accompanying SDOP, where she visited the candy store in Guerra and the family housing project outside Santo Domingo.
"You just got this impression about how transformed their lives had been by the ability to change their own future with our help," Spongaugle said. "That's what the adults' impression was. They were changing their own future with our help. And the kids, we're allowing them to have a new future."
The others randomly selected for the trip were the Rev. William A. Moses, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Havelock, NC; the Rev. Kathryn Keener-Han, pastor of Berkeley-Hillside Presbyterian Church in Hillside, IL; and Mary Clizbe, a member of Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church in Klamath Falls, OR.
SDOP is urging congregations interested in conducting ministry in the Dominican Republic to join a network of churches with similar interests. For more information email the Rev. Wayne A. Gnatuk, SDOP's associate for Churchwide Relations, at wgnatuk@ctr.pcusa.org.
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