(NEW YORK): Utilizing a significant donation from Joelle Wyser-Pratte, the Mariposa DR Foundation today took a major step in its process of getting the Mariposa Center for Girls in Cabrete, Dominican Republic ready to open in 2013.

“To have a place where girls can come for tutoring, library and computer access and job and skills training – this is a project worth supporting,” said Joelle Wyser-Pratte, Chair of the Ounavarra Foundation, an organization supporting girls education causes around the world.

Wyser-Pratte’s donation will provide the resources to build an academic classroom inside the new complex, which is scheduled to open in three phases, with phase one coming on line this summer. In the coming years, Wyser-Pratte has pledged to provide the funding for two additional academic classrooms rooms under the names of her two other children, Ogden and Oliver.

“Thanks to donations like those from Joelle Wyser-Pratte, many girls will have their own space in which to develop healthy relationships with mentors and other girls in the community, and feel empowered to make a difference in their lives, their communities and the world,” said Patricia Thorndike Suriel, Founder and Executive Director of Mariposa DR Foundation

Founded in 2009 by Suriel, Associate Director Jessica Lawson and a group of caring volunteers and children who were inspired by past works and the urgent need for community-based solutions to end poverty, Mariposa’s mission is inspired by the United Nations’ Millennium Develop Goals including:

• eradicating extreme poverty and hunger;
• achieving universal primary education;
• promoting gender equality and empowering women;
• reducing the child mortality rate;
• improving maternal health;
• combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases;
• ensuring environmental sustainability; and,
• developing a global partnership for development.

For more information about how to donate to the Mariposa Center for Girls, please visit: http://www.mariposadrfoundation.org/programs/the-mariposa-center-for-girls/

The Mariposa DR Foundation is a U.S. 501(c)3 and Dominican not-for-profit organization that educates and empowers girls to create sustainable solutions to end generational poverty. The mariposa (butterfly) is a universal symbol representing transition, freedom and peace. In the Dominican Republic, it was the code name given to the Mirabal sisters who fought social injustice and gave their lives for freedom. More information can be found at http://www.mariposadrfoundation.org/

Joelle Wyser-Pratte and the Ounavarra Foundation work to support girls’ education all over the world, particularly in India, Africa, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. For more about Joelle and the foundation, visit, www.ounavarra.org and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joelle-wyserpratte/