The Solidarity Foundation in Medellin, Colombia will use its 29 years of experience to educate thousands of children and youths from the most at-risk locations in the city, literally showering them with warmth and love. The installations are first class, with teachers and psychologists on-site at every location. Furthermore, we offer shelter and counseling to several thousand additional at-risk adolescents; and all of this in the middle of gang-controlled poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
According to certain international human rights groups, more than 20,000 children and adolescents in Medellin are at-risk of engaging in delinquent behavior.The youth living in these communities deal with drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and forced recruitment by illegal armed groups on a daily basis, making conditions for peace and coexistence difficult to obtain. This project will be carried out in four communities, stimulating resilient attitudes in more than 2,000 at-risk children and youths.
We will use educational recreation, along with training in resilience and the constructive use of free time, in order to prevent violence, crime, adolescent pregnancy, or any other type of delinquent behavior. The program will offer-aside from the open act of play in our youth centers (sports, games, reading)- training workshops in sports, dance, theatre, writing, and visual arts. These young people will develop abilities that allow them to transform themselves and their communities
The project will educate 2,000 children and youths, offering them training and support that contributes to their creativity and psycho-social skills. These activities will strengthen in them self-awareness, emotional recognition, decision-making, interpersonal relationships, empathy, communication, conflict resolution, and acceptance of differences. Ultimately, this will produce a change in the youth that will prevent risky behavior, allow them to break free from violence, and build peace.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
