The Diplomat
Nearly 13,000 people, mostly adolescents and young people, received youth violence prevention lessons during 2023, as part of the comprehensive programme implemented in Madrid neighbourhoods by the Dominican Foundation for the Prevention of Youth Violence (FUNDO), sponsored by the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Spain.
The programme included massive support for sports activities in the districts of Tetuán, Villaverde, Usera, Puente de Vallecas, Carabanchel, Alcobendas and Latina where the Dominican community is concentrated in the Spanish capital. Numerous artistic and cultural activities were also carried out, including concerts, plays, conferences, art exhibitions and folkloric dances, with the participation of the Dominican Ballet in Europe.
In the second year of implementation of the FUNDO programme, 10,140 minors and young people participated in violence prevention workshops carried out in coordination with primary and secondary schools and with the collaboration of various social and community entities. Also, 2,220 technicians and professionals received training to prevent and treat youth violence. A total of 210 training workshops were held.
Also, 2,850 people benefited from various community activities, and direct care was provided to 26 families. The total number of participants last year was 12,996, almost tripling the 4,536 in 2022, when the project started with limited resources.
The programme involved a massive promotion of sports in the neighbourhoods with the largest Dominican presence, and included the delivery of 500 uniforms to some 42 basketball and volleyball teams. The Canasta de la Integración was sponsored with the participation of 240 young people from 20 basketball teams, and the participation of three teams from the Dominican Basketball League of Madrid in the Municipal Sports Games of the province.
The activities also included concerts by Diomaris la Mala, Bonyé, Vicente García and Riccie Oriach, as well as three theatre groups, all brought from the Dominican Republic.
The support programme for young people in vulnerable situations included psycho-affective and socio-educational interventions, contacts with leaders of two youth street groups to work on pacification processes and participation in the ‘gang tables’, among others.
FUNDO’s work helps the regeneration of Madrid’s neighbourhoods affected by the activities of street youth groups, and it is one of the few that works directly with its members, offering support to technicians and professionals who need help in this type of work. Its programmes and contents are based on numerous anthropological studies that start from the idea that gangs are not the cause of violence, but the consequence of a situation of exclusion.
The project is supported by the Spanish police authorities, the Community and City Council of Madrid, as well as Spanish social and educational institutions and the Dominican government and its institutions.
