Spreading Opportunities in the Dominican Republic

Many college and high school students in third world countries like the Dominican Republic do not know where to find available scholarship and job opportunities. This extreme difficulty in finding opportunities leads us to strive to broaden their access. We created OPT DR, Oportunidades Para Todos en Dominican Republic (Opportunities for all in English) to facilitate students’ access to opportunities. OPT DR is a networking system that streamlines opportunities right into the hands of high school and college students in the Dominican Republic who have minimal connections to the opportunities they hope to find. Job opportunities would consist of both entry-level jobs where certain trades would be learned and jobs for those who have completed a higher level of education. Scholarship opportunities would come from partnering businesses that would offer a scholarship in turn for work during or after a higher level of education degree has been received. These opportunities are not guaranteed to all applicants but are intended to make the job and scholarship opportunity search easier for these students. After paying a small activation fee, students will be able to browse jobs and scholarships effortlessly through the digital program we have created. Students will be able to access this program through a digital platform we plan to create. We will partner with local high schools and universities in the Dominican Republic to facilitate this simple process. By also partnering with businesses around the country that can provide opportunities for students or graduates, we can ensure that their job searches will be more successful. Our final goal is to scale this program to other third world countries like the Philippines and India that are exposed to similar issues.