Geography: Brazil
Founded: 1996
About Bahia Street
Bahia Street's mission is to break the cycle of poverty, violence and inequality through educational projects for women and girls by supporting them to complete the education cycle, from illiteracy to university. The organization's infrastructure has an international partnership that integrates the knowledge and dedication of a grassroots organization with international tax liability.
Bahia Street's goals are to:
- Encourage at risk young women to pursue their academic potential by helping them develop cognitive and critical thinking skills;
- Promote health and physical well being of young people, offering them medical care and hot meals daily;
- Promote the development of creativity and strengthen the sense of identity and self-esteem in young people;
- Supporte the families and communities of their students;
- Educate and encourage the involvement of people committed to finding solutions to the issues of poverty and racial discrimination, social and sexual.
The Bahia Street Center provides 75 young women and girls (aged 6 -14) from impoverished neighborhoods in Salvador with a quality education. Located in Salvador’s city center and led by educators and staff who themselves come from economically impoverished backgrounds, Bahia Street provides a holistic approach to education that includes a comprehensive academic curriculum supported by leadership training, social education, and extra-curricular activities that range from capoeira to dramatic arts. Bahia Street provides transportation to school, school uniforms, school supplies, two meals a day, and health care on a consistent basis. In addition, Bahia Street provides free university entrance exam preparation evening classes for high school-aged girls and older women. Center activities further extend to the local community; parents, caregivers, and other partner organizations receive educational and resource support. The local community is directly connected to the Center because they see and experience its benefits.
Although learning is challenging within their underfunded public schools, the girls are becoming leaders in there, rising quickly to the top of their classes, and gaining self confidence and leadership skills. There they teach and mentor their classmates.