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Marginalized youth in Brazil have no opportunity to integrate into society and the economy. At the same companies face an acute shortage of qualified labor. Youth in Brazil lack access to educational opportunities to can support their development to enter the knowledge economy, being relegated underemployment or informality. We created Pode Crer to break this vicious cycle.
Pode Crer happens across 3 educational tracks for different ages (11-14, 14-17, 17+). The main component of the program are workshops that happen over meetings twice a week. Each workshop has around 20-25 students and approaches a blend of topics on technology, civics and leadership. In addition the main educational program with meetings twice a week, there are activities that students can participate in other days which include:
Field trips to companies, educational institutions and civic organizations;
Advanced technology classes twice a week on ML and web design;
Robotics teams that compete in the First Lego League;
Arts classes an extra day a week;
A social innovation hackathon, in partnership with local technology companie;
The pedagogical emphasis is on socio-emotional development, and on developing youth skills in technology, civics and leadership in an integrated fashion and with project based learning. This is not common in Brazil.
Over the past 4 years we have piloted Pode Crer, serving over 300 youth per year. Now we are constructing a social innovation center to more than double program capacity and be a replication hub.
Our plan for growth is:
1) To create five social innovation centers in the greater Florianópolis region, implementing this broader array of social and educational activities geared towards the knowledge economy.
2) To establish the program as a replicable model for social transformation of Brazilian marginalized communities from the inside out through innovative education, and support other organizations that want to implement educational activities using its pedagogy and methodology.
3) To influence educational public policy towards fostering an inclusive knowledge economy.
Visit https://vilsongroh.org to see if Pode Crer is what you are looking for. Read the 2022 English Report at https://vilsongroh.org/2022report.pdf. Read the slide deck at https://vilsongroh.org/deck.pdf. Read this article https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/a-beacon-of-hope-for-brazil-in-a-pandemic-year/.
If Pode Crer sounds right, write to tainara@redeivg.org.br and eduardo@redeivg.org.br
