Prevent Youth Involvement in Drug Trafficking

With the arrival of the cold season in May, the government of the city of Rio de Janeiro has been busy continuing COVID 19 vaccinations, and rolled out a complementary influenza vaccination campaign. As we have done for the past several years, the community center once again funcioned as a vaccination central for the Julio Otoni community.

Over the month of May, employees of the municipality came to the Center to give influenza shots to the population, making use of our space and relationship with the community to efficiently deliver them. As other health-related campaigns roll out, such as COVID booster campaigns, we will continue to work in partnership with the municipality.

A big thank you to our donors who have helped us support this community in such an integral way, not only providing a safe space for its children, but as a health hotspot for the community. Stay tuned for more updates and photos!

Our activities continue at the Center, and on top of our regular tutoring, capoeira, computer and science classes, we host "playdate" sessions in the afternoons for the children to enjoy the court and release energy playing games like tag and sack races. 

As travel restrictions have loosened up, we are planning to reintegrate our volunteer program for teaching English this year as well. Thanks to your support, the Center never closed its doors as a safety hotspot for the community: during the worse of the pandemic, it became an information center, basic basket distribution center and vaccination location, and as public regulations allowed, we began hosting families again. We are excited to bring back this year if restrictions allow, our traditional family gatherings such as Festa Junina! these are important celebrations of culture in Brazil and have been a tradition of our Center and our community as a whole.

Thank you to our donors for sticking with us through thick and thin! Stay tuned for more stories of our community center.