St. Dimitrie Foundation

Centre for Education and Community Support

About us

St. Dimitrie Foundation is a non-profit organization, was established in 1996 and has two major activities: a social centre for children and a protected workshop for disabled young people to work. Over 2000 children were helped by the Foundation, who invested more than 2.5 million euro in social and educational programs and also in financial support of the children and their families.

Vision
St. Dimitrie Foundation aims at becoming a recognized and reliable organization in the associative sector, both among its beneficiaries, and its partners (authorities, grant makers, donors, community), with well defined social programmes to increase its legitimacy and visibility, with high capacity of sustainable change in the community, with high standards management and professionals.

The mission of St. Dimitrie Foundation is to serve the community by offering social and educational programs and psychological assistance to children exposed to risky conditions. The Foundation also offers psychological and social support to these children´s families, so that the family could become an active part in solving the problems they have to deal with. Access to culture and education thus becomes an instrument against isolation and marginalization caused by poverty.

Approach
• A global approach of the child in need: family, school, community, Church. It is of great importance that all these aspects be considered, in order to avoid a sequential approach which would fragment the intervention into categories of different problems;
• Multi-disciplinary support: in school, artistic domain, cultural, civic, psychological, medical and social support.
• Creating a foster network for the child, which is not meant to substitute the parents, but to protect the child and help him regain self-confidence and courage. This network functions like an educational oasis offering stability and constant landmarks. It also represents a necessary break from a negative family background.
• Parental education, assistance in mediating and creating a partnership with the family, recognition of parenthood, lack of moralizing judgment which would prove useless in time of crisis anyway.
• Adjustment of the family´s expectations (which would be unrealistically seen as a rather general financial support), and making the family an active agent for the desired change.
• A positive mobilization of children and parents, activating the family potential (education and communication skills etc.)
• Social and educational activities realized by professionals having a strong personal commitment who can offer an active and mobilizing commitment for the community.

Our work:
• The Centre for Education and Community Support aims at the prevention of social exclusion of children and their families. People with high risk of social ostracism or families that cannot offer minimal conditions of subsistence, growing and education are offered a programme consisting of medical, psychological and educational services on a daily basis. St Dimitrie Centre for Education and Community Support offers: Welfare and care, education and supervision, psychological counseling for children and families, material and financial support for low income families.
• Protected workshop for disabled young people: Disabled young people are helped to acquire and develop professional competencies necessary for the integration in the labour market. This is attained by creating and maintaining employment within a protected work unit.

Adina Ihora is the Fundraising & PR Manager of the St. Dimitrie Foundation (Fundatia Sf. Dimitrie).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.