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Mission, Vision, Values

The Need: Throughout the world, children are born in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Basic opportunities, especially educational opportunities, are lacking. Because of this, children reach adulthood without the education necessary to be accepted to a good university, and without the vocational training necessary to obtain a skilled job. These children then have no job or a low-paying unskilled job, turn to crime or prostitution to survive, have more children, and the dead-end cycle continues.

Our Vision—The Future We are Pursuing—External Focus: Our vision is a transformed world in which every child is able to pursue a college degree or to be gainfully employed upon reaching adulthood, enabling them to live a life of choice. Each child will become an active citizen, committed to serving those less fortunate, and be an active friend of the environment.

Our Mission—What We Do to Bring that Vision to Reality—Internal Focus: Our mission is to be a world class provider of international service-learning opportunities, providing a consistent and predict-able volunteer experience, surprising and delighting our volunteers with a powerful cultural experience and the ability to make a significant difference, resulting in a 100% enthusiasm rating - volunteers want to join us again and/or are willing to encourage their friends and family to join us. The cultural interchange (intercambio) is a significant outcome of our efforts.

Our Goal/Primary Aim—Release the Hero Within: The Goal of Outreach360 is to transform individuals, families, communities, countries, and the world through the education and development of disadvantaged children. As we release the hero within these children, we release the hero within each person involved with Outreach360.

Objective: By the year 2030, 2500 children are enrolled in our 1st grade program. Over 200 children will be completing their Out-reach360 GED Training or Vocational Training, choosing to attend the university or be qualified for a skilled job. Over 50,000 international volunteers will be involved with Outreach360 each year. Outreach360 will be working in 10 countries, with a total of 30 Community Centers supporting 150 Neighborhood Centers.

Our Strategy: Neighborhood Centers: Outreach360 will adopt specific disadvantaged neighborhoods. In each neighborhood we adopt, we will staff an Outreach360 Neighborhood Center. The Neighborhood Center will provide training from pre-school through high school:

Pre-school: Early Childhood Development Activities and Nutrition Program Grades 1-8: Literacy and English Grades 9-12: GED and Vocational Training All Levels: Community Health, Environmental Education, Life Skills

Community Centers: Neighborhood Centers will be supported by an Outreach360 Community Center. The Community Center will be a larger facility than the Neighborhood Center. Volunteers will be housed at the Community Center, and specialized educational resources will be available at the Community Center. Summer camp facilities will be available at the Community Center.

Sustainability: Service and Skills: Each student will be required to serve other students in the program, with their time and skills. The parents of each student will also be expected and invited to serve the program, but the parent’s service will not be a require-ment for the child to participate. Neighborhood residents will be given priority for permanent jobs, when qualified.
Natural Resources: Each Outreach360 facility will promote caring for the environment, being sustainable in the areas or power, water, and food production.

International Volunteers/Donors: Outreach360 is grass-roots volunteer organization. International volunteers and donors will provide the primary source of teaching and funds for new centers; transitioning to local teaching and funds as each cen-ter matures. Outreach360 is an opportunity for all people to volunteer and contribute—to Release the Hero Within.

Outreach360 Ten Principles

People usually sign up for an Outreach360 trip to make a difference. And you will make a huge difference during your trip and through your contribution of time and money to Outreach360.

But there is also a lot available for you yourself to learn and gain from the trip. It's why volunteers often say they gained more from the trip than they gave.

To maximize the experience, we have assembled 10 principles. Please take some time to review these now. Your team leader in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua will discuss these with you during orientation, and refer to them throughout the week.

Hopefully, you will view the world and yourself a little differently after your trip; reflecting on and embracing these principles will help you do that.

  1. Acknowledge Yourself Acknowledge yourself for the difference you are making. Very few people are willing to do what you have done; raise or donate funds, take a week or more of your time, give up other options you had for this time (skiing, the beach, work, etc)- to go to another country for the benefit of children in a community you don't know. And many of you had to overcome fears and obstacles; a different language, not knowing anyone, only knowing Outreach360 from the internet, parents concerns, etc. It's a big deal that you are here. Celebrate the difference you are making! 
  2. You Are Outreach360 There is no big staff of Outreach360 doing work. Nothing happens without you; the majority of funds and labor come from the volunteers. You aren't here to "help" Outreach360, "you are" Outreach360.
  3. It's Not About You As generous as you are, sometimes your time here can become about you. "What difference am I going to make?" "How can I optimize the use of my time", "I can't speak the language", there's too much free time", "When will my donated items be used?" Focus on the big picture, the difference you are making as a group. Take the focus off of you, and enjoy the impact the kids are receiving. For example, reading a story to one of the little boys may not be the best utilization of your skill, but it means the world to the boy.
  4. This Is It Most of the time, Americans and Canadians are living in the future. Kids are waiting for high school, high-schoolers are waiting for college, college students are waiting to graduate and get a job, single people are waiting to get married, etc. etc. People don't live that way in the Dominican Republic or Nicaragua; they live much more for each day. This is a unique opportunity to really live in the present and forget about worries at home, forget about tomorrow, quit thinking about what lasting impact you are having; just enjoy the present moment.
  5. Communicate Love It is not necessary to know Spanish to be involved with the kids and to make a difference. We've had many volunteers who spoke no Spanish make a huge difference with the kids and had a great time; we've had other volunteers fluent in Spanish get frustrated because of the unique Dominican or Nicaraguan words and expressions. The experience is totally what you make of it. No matter how much Spanish we know, we always wish we knew more. What you know is what you know, so make the best of it. Don't let your lack of Spanish be an excuse to not get involved.
  6. Poco a Poco (Little by Little) You can't change the world in a week. But, you can make a world of a difference in one or more of these kids lives. Don't be frustrated by the slow progress; great things happen little by little. Your contributions this week, along with those volunteers who came before you, and those volunteers who will come after you, are making a huge difference.
  7. Jump Right In You've got a short period of time here. Don't spend a day or two getting to know what is going on. Jump right in, be assertive, do what you came here to do. If you wait till you get it all figured out, your time will be over.
  8. Serve, Don't Help There is a subtle difference between serving and helping. We're here to serve, not to help. These are not poor, sick, helpless people who need our help. We're here to serve. We share our strengths and blessings with them, and they share their blessings with us. It's a two-way street.
  9. Be Flexible/Creative Living and working here requires flexibility and creativity. Practice it, enjoy it! You have all the skills you need to be effective and productive at the orphanage.
  10. You Are Responsible The experience you have here is up to you and you need to take responsibility for your experience. Do not look to the team leader to make the experience for you. Use the team leader as a resource. Communicate with the team leader. They will support and facilitate your work. But you are ultimately responsible