Pixote Literacy Fund
Through the Partners of the Americas Foundation, the Pixote Literacy Fund aims to help underserved children read and learn life skills.
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Inspiration
Founded in 2003 by Stephen Murphy and his family and friends, the Pixote Literacy Fund is named for pixote [or “little one” (pronounced pee-sho-tee)], as depicted in Hector Babenco's film depicting the life, dangers and difficulties facing street children in São Paulo, Brazil.
Pixotes across the Americas face many unique challenges and are often unable to attend school. If they do, they return home seeking help from parents who likely cannot read and are preoccupied with survival, making it difficult to acquire the basic literacy and life skills needed to end the cycle of poverty.
The Pixote Literacy Fund was designed to help pixotes throughout the hemisphere gain the literacy and life skills to build a better life for themselves, their families and their communities.
Purpose
- To help pixotes and street kids to read and to learn “life skills”.
- To forge alliances with groups of faith to reach pixotes.
What can you do?
There are two ways that you can help:
- Donate Support this fund to increase literacy in underserved children. You can donate in three easy ways:
1) stock donation
2) credit card
3) personal check
** Please make all donations payable to Partners of the Americas.
To insure that your donation is correctly allocated, please clearly
specify that it is for the Pixote Literacy Fund.
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Previous Subgrantees
In 2006 the Fund assigned a total of $9,500 dollars of seed money for projects that include:
- In Sonsonate, El Salvador, a project in conjunction with Alfalit El Salvador to work with illiterate youth from low income families that have been excluded from the formal education system;
- In Belmopan, Belize, a project with the Belmopan Baptist High School and 4-H to assist drop-out-risk youth with reading, writing, and overall learning to help build their self-esteem, toward the goal of keeping them in school. The project aims to engage families and communities in the learning process;
- In Medellin, Colombia, a project with Fundación Restaurando a Colombia to strengthen basic reading, writing and math skills, while simultaneously building values and employability skills, for 30 youth in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city.
In 2005 the Fund assigned a total of $8,700 dollars of seed money for projects that include:
- In Tolima, Colombia, a project in collaboration with a local parroquia to provide over 100 children with personal support to help them with reading and other schoolwork while at the same time providing them with lunch to improve their nutrition. In the first 15 days of the project alone, the program provided the children with over 1,000 lunches;
- In Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, a project worked with the Lar da Criançia nursery school and the Irmãs Franciscanas da Penitência e Caridade Cristã to bring volunteers and attention to at-risk children that leave the school when they turn six years old. Project in the news: PDF, 350kb.
In 2004 the Fund assigned a total of $4,000 dollars of seed money for projects that include:
- In Espirito Santo, Brazil, a project to combat victims of coffee plantation child labor. The project gives children, 8 to 14 years old, a chance to return to school and develop skills for a brighter future. Originally targeting a group of 52 children, this project blossomed and has benefited over 150;
- In La Paz, Bolivia, a project to support the efforts of the parroquia El Salvador of Alto Tejar to strengthen literacy and employment skills for at-risk youth in a detention center prior to returning to the streets. The project has successfully provided literacy and working skills that will help the youth gain employment in areas such as handcraft production and breadmaking;
- In Minas Gerais, Brazil, a project to give at-risk pre-teens, who live in the streets, an opportunity to better their lives by raising their literacy levels and helping them develop specific skills to ensure their rights to social inclusion and human dignity.
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