Mundo Real Fundraiser Party in Astoria, New York City

On SUNDAY JANUARY the 11th, 2009 at 2:00pm Mundo Real will hold a party fundraiser to benefit our education and sustainable development programs currently taking place in the favela of Rocinha, in Rio de Janeiro.

The event will take place at Santa Rita’s Church, in Long Island City in the event room next to the Church parking lot. The benefit will feature live Brazilian music, food and drink, as well as a presentation by Mundo Real.


Tickets are $15 and can be purchased in advance by calling Marcos (347-617-9069) or Ricarte (646-306-4510) or you can purchase online here:

click on the link below to purchase a ticket online:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2191517

Here are directions to the event:

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There will also be an after Party at CHATEAU BRASIL!!!!!! at 38-o2 29th Street. L.I.C., N.Y. 11101
(718) 729-3300



All proceeds will go to Mundo Real community programs.

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Read more about our community programs below

Addressing The Needs Of The Community's Most Vulnerable Residents

Mundo Real engages in educational and sustainable development programs within impoverished communities of Latin America and the Caribbean. We strive to reduce disparities in health, housing, education and employment while improving living and environmental conditions in local communities. In doing so we work alongside and support local organizations and residents. Mundo Real is an independent organization, with neither religious nor political affiliations.

Education

• Mundo Real conducts educational programs designed for community and individual empowerment. Our most recent educational endeavors have been centered on public health and information technology training. We have lead workshops in disease prevention, administration of prescription medication, how to access available resources, and other community health concerns in order to empower local residents. We also provide IT training for residents who are involved in community betterment initiatives.

Research

• Community-based collaborative research (CBCR). Mundo Real uses this method in order to effectively adapt research-based interventions for use in our Education and Sustainable Development programs. With two years intensive field research in Latin America, particularly in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, three scholarly publications in US Academic Journals and Encyclopedias, and two articles awaiting publication (Fall 2009) Mundo Real remains dedicated to research based action.

Sustainable Community Development

• Working at the local level alongside residents Mundo Real develops inclusive programs aimed at addressing the most pressing needs of the community. To address these needs we arrange home visits, food/aid delivery, and public health organizing as well as other direct services. Since early 2007 we have been conducting routine home visits to special needs residents. We have also been helping residents gain access to basic supplies of food that are provided by the local residents association. We have helped secure donations of critical resources such as oxygen tanks, diapers, milk, wheel chairs, and medical supplies. In addition, we have been organizing direct services such as scheduling doctor’s appointments and arranging transportation for residents who are unable to do so as a result of the challenges of living in an urban slum.

First Steps new services...

The community project of Primeiros Passos (First Steps) is now providing two new services to those in need in Rocinha.

1. First Steps members have been taking residents with hearing problems to receive free hearing aids in Duque de Caixias, RJ. The journey is long and far, many residents are unaware of this service available to them. First Steps has been publicizing within the community about the service as well as providing transportation.

• The other service now offered by First Steps is domestic physical therapy, available to those who have suffered from a stroke. This service is much needed as so many residents have difficulties leaving their homes (watch our documentary about primeiros passos and transportation within Rocinha) and thanks to the cooperative of motorcycle taxis in Rocinha, Solange Oliveira can provide the service and receive a small salary to do so.

March 1st Benefit at Rocket Club in Asheville, NC

We want to give thanks to all of those who have supported us thus so far. A special thanks to those who came out to our March 1^st event in Asheville, NC to support the project First Steps.

JANUARY / FEBRUARY Report and Special Fund Raising Event on March 1st.

On March 1^st Mundo Real will host an informative and festive fundraising PARTY for the First Steps project in Asheville, North Carolina, at the Rocket Club in West Asheville. If you happen to be in the area please come join us at 8pm. Musical entertainment will include live performances by Jar-e, Banana da Terra, Zambumba, and Jonathon Scales. The event is certain to raise your awareness of our efforts in Brazil as well as get you in the dancing mood. In addition, there will be a silent art auction. Works provided by local artists will help raise funds for the efforts of First Steps in Rocinha. The evening begins at 8:00 PM and their will be a $10 cover at the door.

To date, First Steps has succeeded in coordinating basic services and assistance for 100 special needs residents in Rocinha. To reiterate, special needs residents are those with incapacitating mental and physical disabilities, the chronically ill, and the elderly. It is also important to repeat that most of these individuals, and their families, are unaware of their universal human rights, as well as those bestowed upon them as citizens of Brazil. This is evident from the sheer number of residents who have never received proper health care, and in some cases received no health care whatsoever.

To aid us in finding and identifying these individuals, in a community as heavily populated and complex as Rocinha, First Steps utilizes a list of over 600 special needs residents that we obtained from a local public agency. Our team has been working tirelessly to verify whether the list is accurate, up-to-date, and representative of Rocinha’s special needs population.

With this objective in mind First Steps is meticulously developing a complete and updated list of those with special needs. The numbers continue to increase well beyond those collected by the public agency, and as a result the need to provide basic services to these individuals increases as well. First Steps anticipates that its list of those with special needs will grow to over 1000 by the end of 2008.

First Steps and Mundo Real have conducted 75 in-depth interviews with these individuals and their families as part of an intensive research initiative intended to assist First Steps in organizing a comprehensive program plan built around education, prevention and direct assistance.

The services provided by First Steps continue in the area of transportation, advocacy, house visits, and health related education (including citizen and human rights training).

Mundo Real’s 2008 goals for the First Steps Project:

1. Continue to sustain, expand and improve upon our current work efforts.
2. Obtain a van adapted for disabled individuals. Having one specially equipped van would meet the first requirement of our transportation goal of eventually acquiring several vehicles for transporting special needs resident and thus vastly improving their ability to move.
3. Acquire a storefront office space along Rocinha’s main road in order to better serve the needs of Rocinha's special needs population. This would allow us to become better known, significantly improving our presence in the community and our ability to inform locals of our project's activities. An office would function as a concrete location where we could enhance our capacity to organize advocacy-based services for community residents by providing educational workshops. We estimate, based on official census figures that as many as 5,000 residents in Rocinha could directly benefit from and utilize the support, educational, and organizational services that First Steps aims to expand/create.
4. Prepare and distribute First Steps provided family food packages to those residents in most need of them.
5. Initiate an increasingly prevention oriented movement that would include working with high risk youth, pregnant teenagers, and young mothers among other vulnerable groups in the community.