Summer Program

Every camp classroom pairs a local Dominican public-school teacher with international volunteers, so children are always with adults who know both the curriculum and the community. Volunteers must be at least 18, arrive with previous experience teaching or working with children, and complete a background check before they are accepted; they then spend a full orientation week in training and professional development with DREAM staff before the first camper walks in. Because classes are run in Spanish, adults working with the children are required to have intermediate to advanced Spanish, which keeps communication with campers and their families direct and clear. DREAM also runs its own Psychology Department, which follows up on psychoemotional situations that come up inside its educational spaces, offers guidance sessions to participants and their families, and refers children on to specialists when a fuller evaluation is needed.

Rather than one enclosed campus, the summer camp is hosted inside the communities it serves: DREAM is based in Cabarete, a north-coast town of roughly 25,000 residents, and the camp reaches five communities along that coast so children can attend close to home. Learning spaces are stocked with the high-quality materials that public classrooms often lack, and DREAM's community libraries put thousands of circulating books within reach of campers, which is why reading is such a visible part of the day. The surrounding town and coastline double as a classroom, with local field trips built into the four weeks.