Outreach360 is grass-roots volunteer organization where International volunteers and donors work to transform the world by providing children living in economically disadvantaged areas with educational opportunities. Since 1994 we have worked with over 15,000 volunteers and through our Learning Center Model our vision is that children will grow up living a life of choice. That is to choose to pursue a college degree or be gainfully employed thereby ending the cycle of poverty. We offer a turn-key approach for individuals, teams and families to easily get involved in either the Dominican Republic or Nicaragua |
Program Plans
The focal point of our program is the work being done at our Learning Center. We use a well defined curriculum to provide children with English and Literacy education and there are opportunities to integrate community health and environmental education. Read more about our mission, vision and values, more about our programs.
A typical morning schedule at our Learning Center may look like this (this is a sample only - each week is a new/different/dynamic):
8:45 AM Depart for our Learning Center and set up 9-915 AM Free reading in English and Spanish with our students 9:15-10 AM English/Spanish Literacy class for the other group of students 10-10:10 AM English/Spanish Literacy class for the other group of students 10:10 AM Break 10:55 AM 10:55 AM – English/Spanish Literacy class for the other group of students 11 AM Debrief & return to Volunteer Center.
*In the afternoon we will depart at 2 PM and the schedule follows the same timing as our morning program.
**The week also includes a variety of activities for volunteers (both educational and recreational)
English Focus:
We are using Level 1 of “Backpack”, a professional English as a Foreign Language curriculum designed for children in primary school. This curriculum comes with a great teacher’s guide as well as additional resources including posters; audio CD; and picture cards. Each of our students in our Learning Center has their own copy of the Backpack Level 1 student book and workbook. You will be working alongside other volunteers to teach.
Spanish Literacy Focus:
We are using the Scholastic Guided Reading Program in Spanish as a base to work with our students on their Spanish Literacy skills. It is not necessary to be fluent in Spanish to work effectively with our students with this program. We have had volunteers with intermediate Spanish skills who have done a great job with our students and expressed to us how much they learned from our students! This program is a varied collection of books that are categorized by the kind and level of challenge they offer students as they are learning to read. The program has 60 books divided into 12 levels. All of our children have been assessed and are working to move their way up the program. Each book in the program comes with a teacher’s guide with ideas for words to work on, expansion ideas as well as activities. Our students are keeping a reading log as well as making notes on new words learning and writing/illustrating mini book reports. Our students who are in grade 1 are just learning how to read in their primary school. For this group we are working on basic reading skills such as simple syllables and writing skills. Whenever possible we try to focus on small groups of students with one or two volunteers or even 1:1 in our Spanish literacy classes since we have students at so many different reading and writing levels.
When can I volunteer?
Short-Term Volunteer ProgramOutreach360 offers a short-term volunteer program for Teams and Individuals to join us from 1-7 weeks any time of the year (starting and ending on a Saturday). Learn more about our short-term program.Long-Term Volunteer ProgramFor individuals who would like to join us for a period of time longer than seven weeks, we offer our "Caminos" Long-term Volunteer Program. Learn more about our long-term program.
We are both a volunteer and fund-raising organization; our volunteers commit to help raise funds for the programs we sponsor based on the length of their stay. We encourage volunteers not to pay any of their program donations, but instead raise funds through the sponsorship of family and friends. When you sign up, you will receive an on-line fund-raising page that will allow you to easily send out informative emails to family and friends, inviting them to sponsor you through donations on-line, or checks sent through the mail.
View program donation requirements | View our fund-raising guide