On July 19th, Dominicanos USA’s Young Voices went on a trip to the Dominican Studies Institute. As an organization, this trip was important for us to introduce our teens to academia because the earlier they are exposed to these institutions, the better their chances are to obtain upward mobility. Most of our teens are of Dominican descent, thus the trip to DSI was vital to the development and empowerment of the teens. We hope our teens felt empowered to make a difference and attend college in the near future. It’s important for our teens to know their New York history as Dominicans but also to make the connection to the island of Dominican Republic. Bridging this gap can encourage people to build coalitions between the different generations of Dominicans and Dominican-Americans. Field trips and experiences like this represent DUSA’s efforts to find and develop the next generation of leaders in and out of the Dominican-American community. With 868,173 Dominicans settled in New York, we believe the future of Dominicans is in this city. Special thanks to archivist Sarah Aponte and director Anthony Stevens-Acevedo and the whole Dominican Studies Institute at City College. 
The youth represents the future of our country in many ways. Teens from all walks of life are growing in population in general thus, our outreach is not limited to just Dominicans but also all Latinos who eligible. Some of the teens went through an interview screening and we selected the few we think can be mentees to some of our staff. Specifically, the teens will gain experience working closely with one of our staff members learning about data entry, graphic design, and phone banking. In general, the canvassers get a chance to speak to the community and gain experience on the issues affecting their community. Over the course of six weeks, we predict our young voices to register over 1,000 new voters. As we move into the upcoming elections, our initiative helps the political power we have as Dominicans and Latinos in general.
