It Started With Baseball.
The Vision Is Bigger.
We're building programs for young people in the Dominican Republic that start with the sports they love and keep education in the picture.
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Chase the Dream.
Keep Another Path Open.
The Straley Project works with Dominican coaches, families and local partners to help young people chase their baseball dreams without making baseball their only plan. We run year-round baseball while expecting our players to stay in school and giving them more support off the field as our program grows.
This is a Dominican-American effort. Our Dominican staff handle the day-to-day work in Barahona. They know the players, know their families and know the community. The U.S. side raises money, builds partnerships and helps get the people on the ground what they need to do the work.
Baseball is where we started. The larger goal is to serve boys and girls through sports, school support, English, technology, mentoring and practical help finding their next step after high school.
A Personal Connection That Became a Mission
Brian Straley first came to the Dominican Republic in 1998 as a missionary. During the next two years he lived and worked in communities across the country, including Barahona.
More than twenty years later, he came back wanting to do something useful with the relationships and connection he still felt to the country. Baseball gave us a practical place to start.
In 2020, that idea became the organization that is now The Straley Project. What started as a baseball program has grown into three teams, Dominican staff, a local office and year-round work with more than 60 young people in Barahona.
Baseball Was Our Starting Point.
Baseball is everywhere in the Dominican Republic. For many of the boys we work with, it is the thing they care about most. So instead of fighting that, we use it.
We want a talented player to chase baseball as far as his ability can take him. At the same time, we want him going to school, graduating and knowing that there are other ways to build a life if professional baseball doesn't happen.
Local People.
Doing the Work.
The program doesn't run from the United States. The daily work happens in Barahona. Our Dominican staff coach the teams, work with the players, communicate with families and deal with the ordinary problems that come with running a youth program throughout the year.
Bernarda Acosta
Manager / Academic Supervisor
Uly Batista
Head Coach
Mendri Feliz
Coach / Academic Advisor
Charli Medina
Coach / Academic Advisor
Rosa
Program Support / Content
Baseball Is Our Foundation. It's Not Our Finish Line.
Our long-term goal is to build a Youth Center where boys and girls can come for sports, school help, English, computers, mentoring and other programs in one place.
We picture a permanent campus that could eventually include athletic fields, a clubhouse and training area, classrooms and study space, meeting rooms and the facilities needed to run programs throughout the year.
We haven't built that Youth Center yet.
Right now, we're starting with the programs and people we already have in Barahona. As we raise more money and find the right local partners, we can add pieces of that larger vision one at a time.
Barahona is the first community. If the model works and support is there, we want to take what we learn here to other parts of the Dominican Republic.
United in Purpose.
Our U.S. leadership and board support the work being done in the Dominican Republic and help raise the money, relationships and resources needed to keep it moving.
