Brief History | Board of Directors and Staff
How can we really help street children?
Training leaders to transform a nation...
Over 1 billion of the world’s population live in slums (or favelas as they are called in Brazil), on the outskirts of huge cities. In Brazil, one third of the population live on less than $1 a day. There are 8 million abandoned street children and millions of others who are at risk from gang violence, abuse, prostitution, disease and a culture of complete hopelessness. We believe that slum communities can be changed, quality of life improved and hope restored AND we are seeing this happen, today, in Brazil. HOW?
The answer is to provide real opportunity and restore dignity through education and service. The Channel seeks to do this through the University of Life, our project in a favela of Fortaleza, Brazil, that works directly with the local community. Over the past 25 years, we have steadily built trust and a strong reputation, encouraged participation and shown results.
In Brazil, the public school system only offers students 4 hours of education daily. Only 16% of all children will finish primary school, 9% will finish high school and 6% will go to college. In the slums, over 50% of children stop going to public school before they are 11.
Through a commitment to quality education, the University of Life project steps into the gap to help support and supplement the public school system in Brazil. The project provides an additional 4 hours of education for children in the slums which is engaging and inspiring. Staff also work with parents, encouraging them to help their children learn. We offer parents practical tools to help them build a strong family unit and improve their quality of life, physically, spiritually and economically.
The University of Life is about transforming the nation of Brazil one child at a time and creating the next generation of Christian leaders dedicated to service.
Brief HistoryThe Director of The Channel is Marcondes (Marc) Marques (see photo on left). Marc was born in Fortaleza, Brazil and grew up with the reality of rich and poor right on his doorstep. Although he came from a middle class family, Marc’s best friends were from the favelas.
As he grew up, Marc noticed the distinct differences in opportunity available to him compared with his friends and his frustration grew seeing the poverty and discrimination they faced. Not knowing what
else to do, Marc used to sneak out of his house with groceries for his friends. At Christmas time his heart broke as he tried to understand why Father Christmas (who, in traditional Brazilian Catholic culture, represents God), gave presents to him but not to his friends.
As a young adult, Marc moved to the United States where he studied Social Science and became director of a men’s home for Youth Challenge in Virginia. His real passion was still with the children in Brazil, so after generating support for a trip back to Brazil to document the conditions and lifestyle of street children, Channel to Brazil for Christ (CBC) was established in 1983. Along with Marc, the four founding members were Rev. Troy Collier, Dr Roger and Nadya Denis and Pastor James Cheshire.
Marc and his first wife, Lois (who passed away in 2003), took on the challenge of fundraising as well as establishing a program back in Fortaleza, Brazil, to care for the city’s needy children. Today, almost 25 years later CBC has assisted thousands of children with their education, vocational training and determination for a better life.
With his faith in Jesus Christ as his foundation, Marc has dedicated his life to finding effective and sustainable ways to bring opportunity to the poor, releasing their untapped potential through quality education and training. His focus has always been the children. He fights injustice and strives to prevent their suffering. But more importantly, Marc believes all children deserve to do more than just survive; they deserve to dream, explore, flourish and reach their highest potential.
Through this vision, the staff of CBC seek to give their students the hope for and the means to build a better future, for themselves and the entire country of Brazil. a young adult, Marc moved to the United States where he studied Social Science and became director of a men’s home for Youth Challenge in Virginia. His real passion was still with the children in Brazil, so after generating support for a trip back to Brazil to document the conditions and lifestyle of street children, Channel to Brazil for Christ (CBC) was established in 1983. Along with Marc, the four founding members were Rev. Troy Collier, Dr Roger and Nadya Denis and Pastor James Cheshire.
Board Members
President
Art Block
Vice President
Rev. Troy Collier
Treasurer
Betty Merritt
Dr Ray Dail
Lee Lamb
Austin Block
Dorothy Swartz
Bill Freeman
Staff
Executive Director
Marcondes Marques - marc@thechannel.org
Development Manager
Ruth Marques - ruth@thechannel.org
Office Manager
Ann Harrison - ann@thechannel.org
Director of Strategic Development
Alan Clark