In Fortaleza, on the North East Coast of Brazil, the public school system only offers 4 hours of schooling per day.
For the poorest children in the slums, education gradually becomes less and less of a priority as schools are unreliable, overcrowded and uninspiring. Over 50% of students drop out by the time they are 11 years old.
We work with children on a daily basis, filling up the school day by providing an extra 4 hours of classes to help children succeed in their education.
We have students in the morning who go to public school in the afternoon and vice-versa.
It has taken many years to establish and develop CBC into what it is today. We began by working with street children but then changed our approach to help prevent children from spending time on the streets. Today, CBC is well respected by the community as a center of hope and opportunity, committed to the welfare and needs of children starting at age 7.
We offer support all the way to the end of high school. In 2003 we celebrated the high school graduation of our first three students, the first in their community to ever achieve this level of education.
Since then, many more have followed and in 2009 we celebrated again as our students began to graduate from college – another first for the community. As we see results like this we are inspired to replicate this educational model by starting more projects in more communities. In 2013, we employed our first alumni as a member of our staff. Today we have a team of over 20 staff who are all local Christians with experience and knowledge of the specific needs of our students.
CBC provides counseling for parents, food parcels, evangelical outreach, bible studies and special events throughout the year.
There is also much more that we are ready to do to expand our services when the resources become available. Including vocational training and small business development. In the meantime our goal is to increase the student and staff numbers and expand our current facility so that we can help 500 children everyday. Our waiting lists are full and we need your help!
