consistency. love. creativity. this is the yinsa foundation.
We give children in residential care three things that most of them have never consistently had. Adults who stay. Adults who share their language and their heritage. Adults who take the time to see who they truly are, rather than reducing them to what they survived.
This past summer, we tested that promise for the first time with ninety six children over five weeks, working alongside six bilingual educators at Fonicris in La Romana, Dominican Republic. It worked, and now we are asking for the support that will let us take it further.
we spent our own money first
Yinsa Foundation is the charitable arm of the Yinsa ecosystem. Before we ever asked an outside funder for a dollar, our sister company, Yinsa, Inc., funded an entire five week research immersion at Fonicris using our own resources. We wanted to know, honestly, whether the model worked and where we were getting it wrong, and we wanted that proof in hand before we made a case to anyone else. That decision is the foundation of the case we are making to you now. We are not asking you to take a leap of faith in an untested idea. We are asking you to help fund something we have already demonstrated works.
the fonicris summer fellowship
Fonicris, Fundacion Ninos y Ninas de Cristo, is a residential care facility in La Romana, Dominican Republic. Most children arrive through the Dominican Children and Family Court. Our teachers, all bilingual NYC public school educators of Dominican heritage, spent five weeks asking them what they think, what they feel, and what they want to become.
Where We're Headed This Year
Cohort 1 proved the model. It also showed us the limit of a five week visit. Four shifts define what we are building toward next.
From Borrowed Space To Our Own
Move from teaching inside a host facility's space to a Yinsa led learning environment, with full control over curriculum, safety, and schedule.
From Seasonal To Year Round
Replace a single five week summer visit with continuous engagement year round, including virtual check ins and holiday programming, so support does not disappear for eleven months at a time.
From General Fund To Direct Giving
Pay tuition and documented needs directly, so every dollar has a traceable destination and a receipt.
From Ad Hoc To A Trained Bench
Build a real teacher training pipeline in healing centered pedagogy, plus dedicated early childhood and literacy specialists for the students who need them most.
i am here
What makes me who I am right now. The opening week, grounded in the present.
i feel
What do I feel, and why does it matter. Naming emotions and where they live in the body.
i believe
What do I stand for. Personal manifestos and the beginning of a voice.
i create
What do I make, and what does it say about me. Self portraits, emotion masks, a community mural.
i am
Who am I becoming, and what do I deserve. The closing week, and a community showcase of everything made along the way.
Training The Teachers, Not Just The Kids
Before the fellowship began, our six educators spent a Professional Development Immersion Day together at Altos de Chavon, studying Taino and pre Columbian Dominican history at the regional archaeology museum, then working through a hands on pottery session, filling out a Lesson Idea Card connecting what they made to what they would teach. It closed with a written reflection on Yinsa's five core values.
Museum and History
A guided visit to the Regional Museum of Archaeology grounded our team in the Taino and pre Columbian history of the island before they ever stepped into a classroom with the kids.
Pottery and Practice
A hands on pottery session became a working lab. Teachers left with a completed Lesson Idea Card tying the day's technique directly to a lesson plan for their students.
These five values are what we hold our own team to, not just what we teach the children.
Real Work From Real Kids
Every piece stays anonymous. No names on faces, no identifying details, just what they made.
This is what five weeks of consistent teaching made possible. Consider what a full year of that same consistency could do.
Handmade paper dolls, each one dressed and named by the student who made her.
A paper mosaic butterfly, pieced together one fragment at a time.
Every student's own journal, decorated and claimed as theirs for the summer.
She was highly engaged from the very beginning. Comics were her way in, so I would sit beside her, and sometimes even under the table with her, to read them aloud. At the conclusion of the program, she wrote me a heartfelt letter expressing her gratitude to Yinsa.
Anabel Ramirez, Cohort 1 teaching fellow
From hacer creatividad lindos. From Dios, siempre delante, ir adelante. From ayudar en momentos de desesperación.
From making pretty, creative things. From God, always ahead, moving forward. From helping in moments of desperation.
From an “I Am From” identity poem, written by a student in Cohort 1
DG was extremely disruptive at the beginning and would not complete any activity. He slowly started to become more engaged, and by the end of the program he was acting as one of the leaders of his age group.
Pamela Estrella, Cohort 1 teaching fellow
what your gift buys
The entire five week program, flights to paintbrushes, cost roughly $260 per child. We are building toward funding a full year of learning and support for every child on the Fonicris roster.
help us reach the next child
A five week visit followed by silence is not enough for children who need consistency more than almost anything else. Ninety six children just learned, for the first time in many cases, what it feels like to have an adult who stays. Your gift will decide whether that feeling lasts for five weeks or becomes the shape of the rest of their year.
