Global Reach: Past Grantees

Context:

Sao Paulo has approximately 600,000 people living in tenements in slum areas. These tenements are old houses that serve as collective housing for families (each pays monthly rent) and have poor sanitation. Domestic violence, sexual abuse and drug trafficking (especially crack) are common, with children and adolescents as the most vulnerable victims. Most youth are from families that migrated from other regions of Brazil or are children of immigrants from Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay, who work in sewing workshops in subhuman conditions. In some cases, children must contribute to family income, and therefore work informally. Students who live in slums are four times more likely to repeat a grade. The harsh conditions they live in and the situations of violence they confront negatively affect their school performance.

Organization:

Founded in 1992, Associaçao de Apoio as Meninas e Meninos da Regiao Sé (AAC), or the Association to Support Girls and Boys, works in defense of the most at-risk children and adolescents living in the slums of São Paulo, helping them exercise their rights as human beings and citizens. AAC forms part of the National Network of Centers for the Defense of the Rights of Children and Adolescents and is a reference for the care of street kids, adolescent pregnant girls, and young mothers. AAC seeks to reverse the cycle of poverty that puts children and adolescents at risk of abandonment and seeks to strengthen personal and social autonomy.