Manolo Prince, a former Dominican basketball star, is in charge of the San Lazaro Model Community Project, which has brought new hope to the uptown urban slum with a population of around 35,000 people, as reported in the Listin Diario. Prince won many games for the Club San Lazaro basketball team and now is coordinating an effort that brings together the sports club, neighborhood juntas, the chuch and residents to keep delinquency in the barrio low and enhance living standards at the same time. Club San Lazaro has a membership of 2,000 athletes, of which 60% live in San Lazaro. Club secretary, Fernando Osorio attributed the reduced delinquency in the area, compared to other nearby city slums, to the availability of sports programs for its youth.
The San Lazaro Model Community Program will soon offer courses in computer sciences, tourism business training, clay modeling, and printing. A medical dispensary will be open to residents as well as a fixed governmental Inespre low-cost food items store.
Osorio explained that in addition to basketball, they encourage the practice of volleyball and taekwondo. He also said that the community is involved with the Tourism Police (Politur) in neighborhood surveillance groups.
Professor of taekwondo Francisco Antonio Guzman says that there are always outsiders who try to cause trouble, but community integration, such as frequent parties and cultural activities, has served to counteract the negative influences.