Gurises Unidos

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Gurises Unidos

Uruguay
Project Stage:
Scaling
Budget: 
$1,000 - $10,000
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

Mora Podestá is aiding Uruguay's street children and helping keep at-risk children from leaving home. Her work is strengthening society's awareness of street children's problems and building a sense of responsibility at the community and individual levels.

About Project

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

Mora Podestá is educating middle-class Uruguay to the problem of street children in an effective program that mobilizes adult volunteers as mentors to and advocates for the street children. Mora's efforts also enlist the children themselves in helping change the public's perception of street children. She helps people understand why the kids are on the street, and she promotes public murals, dance and handicraft sales to show that these children have something positive to contribute to society.Mora's key insight is that street children instill fear and denial in the middle-class public, and she has developed several mechanisms that transform this fear into purposeful concern. In so doing, she is beginning to address the larger problem of the deepening rift in Uruguayan society between rich and poor.