Ounavarra Foundation Partners with Mariposa DR to Support Education

New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/18/2014 --Joelle O'Reilly-Hyland, the co-founder of the Ounavarra Foundation would like to level the playing field worldwide for women and that is why Joelle O'Reilly-Hyland and the Ounavarra Foundation work with the Mariposa DR Foundation to create a safe haven for girls where they can learn to swim, speak English, play sports and learn life and training skills that also help keep them in school. The foundation has supported the creation of three academic study room, one for each of the family children and they are each also linked to a local woman of aspiration, educators and leaders.

In the United States of America, equality is still an elusive issue, but in the Dominican Republic and other places, keeping girls in school is a huge concern prior to dealing with equal employment. The primary purpose of this collaboration is to break the cycle of proverty which requires a social change and an investment in women, which begins at an early age and is essential in developing countries such as in the Dominican Republic.

Joelle O’Reilly-Hyland would like to see generational poverty in the domincan and elsewhere end with community based solutions that invest in girls. Generational poverty is a pervasive culture that is passed on from parents to children, and a much harder problem to solve than situational cause effect poverty. There is a sense of hopelessness that needs to be addressed and the whole family needs to be involved in the process.

If a girls stays in school, remains happy, healthy and gains skills, she will marry later, have fewer, healthier children and earn an income that she will invest back into her family and end generational poverty. Investing in the economic potential of girls by giving them access to quality education, health care and helping her feel empowered and in control of her own life can break the cycle of generational poverty.

People assume that girls are being reached through programs for women and youth. The truth is, they’re not. 99% of international aid is NOT directed specifically at girls. Children’s programs are often focused on early childhood education and youth programs generally focus on males. Women’s programs don’t typically include adolescent girls, which means their unique needs are not being addressed. To effectively lift entire families out of generational poverty we must invest in programs designed specifically for girls.

It’s not charity, it’s economic development.

“Investing in women is smart economics, and investing in girls, catching them upstream, is even smarter economics.”Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director, The World Bank

Joelle says, “Investing in the education, health and empowerment of a girl today means that she will have the tools to make smart choices that will better the lives of her boys and girls in the future. She will reinvest 90% of her income back into her family and her community, making her the most influential figure in today’s world. If you want to end poverty and help the developing world, the best thing you can do is invest time, energy, and funding into adolescent girls. It’s called the Girl Effect, the revolution begins with the girls.”

To see some of the statistics please see the following link.

http://www.mariposadrfoundation.org/docs/girl_effect_factsheet.pdf

When girls stay in school, the effects are straightforward. They are healthier, have fewer healthier children, later; reinvest the income they earn in their families and the economic impact is measured as “when 10 percent more girls attend secondary school, the country’s economy improves by 3 percent”.

With statistics as blatant as these, the Ounavarra Foundation seeks to bring economic change from its core, the girls. To that end Joelle O’Reilly-Hyland and her daughter Louisa are taking action to see these goals implemented. The new educational room in the Dominican Republic will be under Louisa's name. The room is dedicated to a local female education figure, Salomé Ureña.

Salomé Ureña was a renowned poet and pedagogist, as well as an innovator of women’s education in the Dominican Republic. Her poems are tragic and included themes of family and country. Salomé opened the first center of higher education for young women in the Dominican Republic called "Instituto de Señoritas.”

For more info about Joelle's Ounavarra Foundation please visit: http://ounavarrafoundation.org. Ounavarra Foundation and the Mariposa DR Foundation work hard to bring an equality to men and women in today's society. They believe it all starts with equal education opportunity between boys and girls. The new classroom they are building in the Dominican Republic will be under the name of Louisa O'Reilly-Hyland. Ounavarra Foundation has pledged to build more classrooms in the future.

Company: Ounavarra Foundation
Contact: Joelle O’Reilly-Hyland
City, State: New York, NY
Website: www.ounavarrafoundation.org
Email: jwp@ounavarrafoundation.org

Media Relations Contact

Joelle O’Reilly-Hyland
Joelle's Ounavarra Foundation
http://www.ounavarrafoundation.org

View this press release online at: http://rwire.com/462819