Programs

The center seeks to facilitate creative and cultural development in children by offering the opportunity to work with passionate and experienced professionals in art, dance, music, and more. Current workshops include:

Music - Under the supervision of professional musician Quique Valdez, beginner and advanced groups of children are learning to play la zampoña, a traditional Andean flute, and el cajón, a percussion instrument with Afro-Peruvian roots. They have also done work with guitar and violin!

Dance - With the help of our resident dance teacher, Martín Ramos, local children have been able to participate in workshops teaching various traditional Peruvian dances and educating participants on history and style.

Visual Arts - In this workshop, participants work with the local artist Hugo Espinoza to develop skills in drawing, painting, and the plastic arts, all with an emphasis on creativity, individual expression, and making full use of found resources.

Crafting - A resident of La Encantada, Clida Echevarría, leads children in sessions on sewing, scrapbooking, candy-making, and more!

Sports - Jhon Ruíz lets kids release their energy and develop skills in cooperation with weekly games of a version of soccer specifically designed to build teamwork and healthy interpersonal skills, which local organizations have been working to spread in the neighborhood. Participants also face up to challenging obstacle courses and complete routine group exercises.

Gardening - Encantada resident Silvia Ruíz teaches children about how to care for plant life and green spaces, while also taking the opportunity to talk to them about nutrition and the importance of various plants to a healthy diet.

In addition to workshops for children, the center also offers a variety of other resources to meet the needs of the community. These include open homework hours to provide children with a quiet and supportive space to do their work, a small library for public use, free access to computers and the internet, evening computer classes for adults, and an individualized tutoring program to help children maintain on-track development of math and reading skills.

Voices of Youth - Known locally as Voces de la Juventud, this program reaches out to young people, helps them cultivate leadership skills, and provides them with a forum to address the problems that marginalize their community. Workshops focus on human rights, self-esteem, teamwork and leadership. Youth learn skills like advocacy, planning, and goal-setting, and then make use this knowledge by designing and implementing community service and local development projects.

Barrio Nuestro - Our most recent development project, Barrio Nuestro (Our Neighborhood) is an initiative to beautify public spaces, increase safety, and strengthen the structure of community organizing in La Encantada by means of a project to build a new community park through 2018 and 2019. Building Dignity and local leaders seek to take this opportunity to spark a dialogue with families as to their concerns and hopes for the neighborhood and foster greater community investment. By rallying around the creation and maintenance of a safe and beautiful central space, the hope is that La Encantada can better equip itself to cooperate on other, longer-term issues.

El Colectivo para Seguridad Ciudidana (Coalition for Citizen Security) - In 2017, Building Dignity joined a coalition of eleven nonprofits and the National Police to develop community policing strategies to reduce crime. The coalition also works to coordinate community projects and strengthen cooperation between organizations. We value this as a continuing way to broaden impact and deepen ties!

Building Dignity is proud to have a long history of supporting development. Past partnerships with citizen-led development initiatives have included installation of lighting to improve safety, the creation of a public playground, the replacement of a roof on a preschool, the establishment of a community kitchen for families coping with food scarcity, and the installation of paved roads.