PROJECTS WITH OUR PARTNERS

(Click on the logos below for more information on our partner organizations)

Educar, Integrar y Crecer  (Educate, Integrate and Grow)

This project  provides academic, cognitive and social support to children in one of the shantytowns, or “villas” in Buenos Aires.  Their homes are made out of  scrap materials and have limited water and electricity, with dirt floors and small rooms.  The children come to the center and receive after-school academic support, social stimulation and reinforcement of cognitive skills.  The center is operated by certified public school teachers  committed to helping and supporting these children.

La Usina (The Power)

This project will provide blind and physically disabled high school dropouts the opportunity to complete their high school studies through a distance learning module developed specifically to accommodate their disabilities. The schools in Argentina currently do not provide the necessary support disabled children need in order to learn and be successful. This project will include fifty students working directly with an adult mentor over a period of two years.  Once they receive their high school diploma, we will provide them with support to secure employment and become self-sufficient.

Haciendo Camino (Making Inroads)

This project will provide food and nutritional stimulation to babies and young children suffering from malnutrition because they do not receive the basic food and nutrition necessary for developing into healthy children.  The project will focus on educating their mothers in basic child health care issues and supporting them with the appropriate food so that they can meet the nutritional needs of their young children.  The main goal of this project is to end the cycle of malnutrition in this remote village in northern Argentina.

Teatro Ciego (Blind Theatre)

Teatro Ciego is one of the only theaters in the world comprised of blind and partially blind performers, staging productions in total darkness, giving the audience a sense of what the experience is like to a blind person.  This project will enable sixty blind and partially blind adults to enroll in free classes at Teatro Ciego in sound production so that they can become self-sufficient and eventually make a living through working in other entertainment venues.  Staff at Teatro Ciego will apprentice them and will gradually include them in performances in order to give them the experience they need to work independently, secure employment, and live a life of dignity and respect.

Fundacion Natalie Flexer (Natalie Flexer Foundation)

This is a project to provide health advocacy for children undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer, as well as health education for the entire family. The children come from very poor families and live in rural areas where cancer treatment is non-existent. They come to Buenos Aires to receive medical treatment at public hospitals and find themselves in completely unfamiliar surroundings.  This project will allow the staff at the Foundation to expand  services with a new innovative instructional program, Captain Chemo.  A certified social worker and registered nurse will use this tool to help the families understand medical problems and the responsibilities of care giving.  With this unique educational tool, the families will be more informed and in a much better position to provide adequate care giving to their children.

Escuelas del Bicentenario (Bicentennial Schools)

This is a project to expand a school improvement model implemented successfully in several public schools in Argentina to two public schools in an extremely impoverished area of the country.   A team of educators goes into the schools and implements a comprehensive four year school improvement model, with the goal of improving school management and academic rigor as well as the health care of the children.   The project was originally sponsored by UNICEF in conjunction with a local university, and succeeded in making improvements in the academic achievement and health care status of the children enrolled in the schools.  Although there are hundreds of schools in Argentina that could benefit from this project, we have selected four schools in an impoverished, isolated part of the country that have no access to a university or professionals capable of providing the training.

Rock y Vida (Rock and Life)

This is a project to provide a home in Buenos Aires for children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.  Rock y Vida is a progressive HIV/AIDS organization which promotes  rock concerts in order to increase awareness and promote HIV prevention.  Rock y Vida has identified a unique problem of non-HIV children orphaned due to parents with AIDS.  The solution would be to provide a home for  these children, and already there is a growing wait list made up of children who are currently wards of the state. The project will provide day to day supervision and support for the children, hiring staff to live in the home with them and take care of them.  The overall goal of the project is to provide a nurturing environment and to create a normal home life for children whose lives have been devastated by the AIDS epidemic.

L.A.T.E.- Liberando Argentina con Trabajo y Educacion (Liberating Argentina with Work and Education)

This is a project with L.A.T.E., a Christian organization in Buenos Aires that advocates and provides social services to the homeless and people living in poverty. The project provides a home to “street children” who have been abandoned by their parents.  The children are identified by local social agencies and religious organizations and places them in this home on a temporary basis.  The goal is to provide a nurturing environment for these children and ultimately to search for a permanent home with a stable family. Currently the home is provided by the local government on a temporary basis and this project would provide a permanent home for these children.

Tzedaka

Tzedaka is a non-profit organization in Buenos Aires dedicated to providing a vast array of social services to approximately 11,000 poverty-stricken members of the Jewish community.  The financial crisis of 2001 disproportionately impacted the Jewish community, and many families are still struggling to get back on their feet.  Most of these were small business owners who were bankrupted by the financial crisis.  This project will provide scholarships to 200 Jewish students to attend private schools in order to improve the quality of their educational experience.  In addition, the students will receive free lunches and snacks, transportation to and from school, health screenings and other support to encourage them to stay in school.  Their parents will also receive periodic seminars on nutrition, effective health practices, and other useful information to enable them to better support the needs of their children.  There are approximately 190 children currently receiving this support from Tzedaka, but there is a wait list of over 200 additional students that cannot participate due to lack of funds.

Fundacion Buenos Aires SIDA (Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation)

Buenos Aires SIDA is a widely known HIV/AIDS foundation in Argentina which provides awareness workshops and education to thousands of young, vulnerable people throughout the Buenos Aires region.  Specially trained staff members provide services annually to 20,000 public school students living in the poorest neighborhoods in the city with limited access to social services or medical facilities.  They also provide awareness, education and counseling at traveling information booths in local establishments in vulnerable neighborhoods with high rates of HIV/AIDS. Although HIV/AIDS  has declined in the more affluent neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, the opposite is true in the poor neighborhoods.  Funding for this project will end in January 2011, and we are seeking funding to continue and expand services for 2011 and beyond.  The Buenos Aires SIDA website is currently under construction.