Secretary of State Colin Powell visits Digital Garage partner

Here are the remarks of Colin Powell during a visit to a Digital Garage partner, Meninos do Morumbi program for at-risk youth in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He mentions the computers donated by Hewlett Packard but emphasizes how the program -- though focused on music -- engenders discipline and teamwork.

This page from a music website in the United Kingdom Maroon Town helps clarify how and why kids come to Meninos dos Morumbi. According to this website, kids from favelas (squatter settlements) agree to attend their public schools full-time in exchange for the chance to attend this music school.

The Brazilian version (in Portuguese) of the Meninos do Morumbi website. It is much more artsy and exciting than the English version that I found.

According to this abstract of a course in architectural design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Sao Paulo has experienced significant globalization over the past 40 years. Television watching, for example, has grown from 5% in 96% in 2000.

One of the NGO partners in the Digital Garage project is Cidade Escola Aprendiz Association. Their website is not in English. Cidade develops the educational methods used to present programs.

The third NGO associated with this project is the Abrinq Foundation for Children’s Rights, which provides organizational services to ensure proper administration of financial resources. The Shine-A-Light website offers insight into the methods that NGOs in Latin America take to addressing child homelessness. Pages of interest in this site are about the Abrinq Foundation; Current Conditions of Street Life in Brazil; Understanding Street Kid Services in Latin America; Lessons Learned from the Brazilian Experience. A profile of the Abrinq Foundation is found at the
International Youth Foundation's website with a link to the foundation's website/.