Offer professional opportunities for young people, ages 15–29: That is the goal of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA). In partnership with the Government of the Federal District, through the Youth Secretariat, the organization will offer actions that favor the personal and professional training of this age group to the communities of Samambaia and Recanto das Emas. The youth center also had a parliamentary amendment by the vice-president of the DF's legislative chamber, Deputy Rodrigo Delmasso.
Ana Vitória Venceslau, 16, wants to study medicine and join the Military Police. Mateus Alves, 19, is preparing to take the engineering course. The common thread in the lives of the two young people is the entry into professional courses at the Samambaia Sul Youth Center, opened on the afternoon of March 21.
Reference and Training Spaces
Even before the official opening, the place already had lines of young people who, like Ana and Mateus, found a way to fulfill their dreams there.
In addition to the Samambaia Sul Youth Center, on Thursday, March 24, the Recanto das Emas unit was inaugurated. The centers serve young people ages 15–29.
Jeconias Neto, ADRA director for Brasília and Goiás, who is also a youth ambassador for the United Nations (UN), stresses that these spaces come to provide an opportunity for young people who are in vulnerable situations. “The centers are important because we have a high rate of youth unemployment, homicide, and drug use. These locations are an answer to that reality. Our goal is to help them face this sad reality. As ADRA, we want these spaces to be a reference for young people from the periphery and an extension of the home of each one of them,” emphasizes Neto.
Initiative for Individual and Professional Training
The two ADRA centers will host the youth centers, which are living spaces for leisure activities, sports, culture, and professional training for teenagers and young people. Such centers were created to keep adolescents and young people away from situations of risk and social vulnerability, with actions that favor personal and professional training.
More than 1,000 young people and teenagers will be served at the locations. The courses offered at both units are on employability and future professions, domestic economy, hair removal, eyebrow design, hair stylist, computing, digital marketing, futsal (scaled-down, indoor soccer), Jiu Jitsu, functional training, massage therapy, and bakery and confectionery.
“These youth centers have provided young people from the Federal District with a differentiated coexistence, as well as reception, training, and qualification. Today, more than 10,000 young people are assisted in the three existing centers,” reinforces Luana Machado, secretary of Youth of the Government of the Federal District.
Courses Will Benefit 200 People
Subscriptions are free. In the first half of this year, around 200 people will benefit from the courses. The students are from the Samambaia social assistance network, young people referred from CRAS, CREAS, social institutions, community groups, and public schools.
The ADRA Development Center also works to integrate needy individuals into the community through projects that stimulate the socio-economic growth of the region.
The actions are in partnership with the Secretariats of Youth (Sejuv), Social Development (Sedes), Science, Technology, and Innovation (Secti), and administrative regions of Samambaia and Recanto das Emas.
This article was originally published on the South American Division’s news site