Community empowerment and prosperity
The Villa Hermosa Community Transformation Centre by PBO is an innovative community centre combining experience, technology and active participation to foster social growth and prosperity. With a modern, functional design, the centre offers essential spaces and resources for personal and collective development. Its services and areas include coworking spaces, study rooms, meeting and conference areas, workshops, a Makerspace, a multimedia studio, a medical office and a gym. Through these spaces we seek to empower the community and drive its transformation from within, providing tools that advance both individual and collective progress.
In June 2024 we proudly celebrated our opening with a community cooking show that brought together more than 300 participants, marking the beginning of a new era for Villa Hermosa.
Our goals are clear: to reach 120,000 people with our programmes, including an estimated 2,000 adults taking part in workshops, 600 young people aged 10 to 29 involved in various activities, and 1,000 children and young people playing sport. Around 35% of Hogar del Niño students live in this community, which is built on a landfill site with a population density of 758 inhabitants per km², making it the most densely populated part of the area. The community also faces significant challenges, including a 96% unemployment rate and high levels of violence, crime and teenage pregnancy.
From September 2023 we have run a youth empowerment project aimed at reducing levels of crime and youth violence. The programme is delivered with strategic partners and is designed to offer personal, educational and social development opportunities to young people aged 10 to 29.
The project is backed by an Implementation Committee bringing together members of the public and private sectors as well as government institutions. Its main objectives are:
To strengthen violence prevention programmes through community activities aligned with municipal security strategies.
To boost youth employability through technical training and entrepreneurship programmes that fit local employment policy.
To promote civic engagement among young people and participation in community initiatives, fostering stronger local democracy and community ties.
With the Villa Hermosa Community Transformation Center by PBO we aim to give the community the tools it needs to overcome social challenges, creating a safer, more productive environment full of opportunity.
Patio Hogar Villa Hermosa
One of the centre's facilities.
Committed to the development of the Villa Hermosa community because of its high vulnerability and lack of basic services, in November 2019 the PBO opened and brought into operation the “Patio Hogar Villa Hermosa” in the Juan Pablo Duarte district — a multi-purpose court covering sports such as volleyball, basketball and futsal, thanks to the support of sponsors including Love Fútbol, the Pincus Family Foundation and The Sports Creative.
We also run training and empowerment workshops in this space, promoting the values the PBO firmly believes in — discipline, effort, solidarity and integrity — which we are convinced will shape both individuals and the community as a whole, and its development.
In pictures
Facilities, painting days and the innovation hub of the Villa Hermosa Community Transformation Center by PBO.
This programme exists because someone sustains it
The Patronato is funded by donations from individuals and companies, and by the income from its own self-sustaining projects. Every contribution turns into meals, classes and medical care that happen tomorrow morning.
