Casa Weekly

CASA: Mission Accomplished!

2008-02-15T10:31:00.011-05:00

Big news, folks!

During our latest Board meeting the Catalytic Communities (CatComm) Board of Directors decided our five-year experiment of launching and running the "Casa" community technology hub for leaders in downtown Rio has accomplished its mission! The Casa community technology hub accomplished its mission and a cycle in our organizational history is now coming to an end.

We are very satisfied to be able to proclaim that the Casa's mission -- to create networks in order to strengthen community-based social programs and support digital inclusion of community leaders, has been successful and that a large number of community leaders from Rio de Janeiro and beyond, found in the Casa the possibility to articulate themselves as a network and strengthen their local projects using digital tools.

Over the past 5 years, the Casa has served 1050 community leaders from 215 neighborhoods across the city of Rio de Janeiro. An additional 400 journalists, university professors and students, NGO activists and others have also shared in the space. And people from 23 of Brazil's 26 states have attended events, not to mention 22 nations.

We met our historical mission also thanks to improvements in access to technology in Rio deJaneiro. Today, Internet access is much more inexpensive and widespread. Given the fact that this evolution has occurred in relation to Internet access and also given the comfort of local leaders today with digital tools, Catalytic Communities realizes it is the right moment to cease activities at the Casa.

It is the right moment to celebrate the Casa's success and move on to focus our resources and efforts on our core and initial program: the building of a virtual, global network with everything technology today offers in order to empower community programs via an unlimited worldwide network.

With this, in 2009 CatComm will launch a new version of our website http://www.catcomm.org/, where, in addition to searching for local projects from the four corners of the globe to serve as inspiration... community organizers will be able to participate in the likes of a "virtual Casa" – an online space for sharing experiences, capacity-building, fundraising opportunities, and dialogue with other leaders and volunteers the world over.

Don't forget to keep your email up-to-date in the CatComm mailing list so that we can inform you of the latest news! And, until then, continue posting and making use of our award-winning Community Solutions Database (http://www.catcomm.org/).

Read more about the week of closing ceremonies we're organizing for the Casa (coming soon!).

See our page with stories and victories from the Casa (coming soon!).

Check out our photo archive of all photos during the Casa's history (coming soon!).

Radical Changes in Store

2007-12-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

Radical Changes in Store as We Transition to 100% Sustainability and Community Control in 2008 and Beyond...

Dear Friends,

Here is an exerpt from our latest e-newsletter:

So much to share since our last e-newsletter a year ago! Catalytic Communities has shifted gears in a major way this past year. I don't get the chance to fill you in often, so I hope you'll have a close look at this newsletter to learn what we've been up to and where we're headed next!

Last Fall our online Community Solutions Database won us one of 25 2006 Tech Awards, out of a pool of over 950 initiatives around the world "using technology to benefit humanity."

Similarly, our Casa community networking hub was recognized by UN Habitat's World Urban Forum as one of 12 "actionable ideas" in the area of slum upgrading.

Our community networks are expanding at an increasing pace, and this Fall we launched our first ever "Call for Projects," doubling the number of nations represented in our Community Solutions Database and bringing in new projects in a variety of areas. To help with the posting and translation of these projects, we've also counted on the critical help of several new volunteers.

In 2008 we will be reaching out across Latin America planting the seeds of network expansion by word-of- mouth through initial face-to-face encounters.

That said, we have decided we are not doing good enough! Catalytic Communities is now undergoing a historic, radical, and unique transition process that will make good on our dedication to community empowerment and peer networks.

Our Board of Directors has recently approved the separation of Catalytic Communities (CatComm - USA) from Comunidades Catalisadoras (ComCat - Brazil). CatComm will be uniquely responsible for developing our multilingual website http://www.catcomm.org/ along a Web 2.0 (highly interactive online community) model. We're lucky to have gained Michael Maranda, experienced in community organizing and online communities and previously of CTCNet Chicago, as our new Strategic Director to undertake the remaking of the site to make it more robust, interactive and extensible and keeping at the core mission. By mid-2009 CatComm's site will be a highly interactive online community of local organizers from around the world, all supporting each other through a site requiring minimal staff involvement and developed by a network of volunteer website developers, translators, and community organizers.

Equally exciting, ComCat (Brazil) will take over full responsibility for our Casa community networking hub. With this, we are now transferring leadership and ownership of the Brazil organization to the community leaders who have used the Casa since it was first opened almost 5 years ago. Community organizers in Rio are meeting weekly as they determine the leadership structure, calendar of events, and fundraising approach to grow the Casa in 2008. By 2009 the Casa will be 100% directed, managed and funded through the efforts of volunteer community leaders in Rio.

What all of this means is that by mid-2009 CatComm will be 100% self-sustaining! We have a small endowment that will cover maintenance costs from that date forward. But until then, we are still counting on your support. And Rio's community organizers may also seek your support in the future to grow the Casa's efforts locally there. To make your 2007 year-end contribution please click here or choose among the "year end giving" options to the left. I want to personally thank you for your encouragement of our work in the past and to ask you to support CatComm as we move forward with this bold transition plan. Please write a check or make an online donation today, and throughout 2008, to support us in the home stretch of our goal in achieving financial sustainability and leaving CatComm with the right footing to grow on its own for many years to come...

Poetic Afternoons @ the Casa

2007-10-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

“Poetry, Stories and Encounters” is a monthly meeting being held at CatComm's Casa in Rio. The idea for this event came up during one of the “Open Space” meetings held monthly at the Casa. The idea ties CatComm into Rio's Port Zone Cultural Corridor as one of the area's cultural activities. Among many suggestions that came up at the time, it has been made reality. Initially the participants were writers from the city's low-income communities, but today anyone who has a relationship with literature is welcome.

There have already been four encounters. The first was on August 23, the second and third were held on September 6 and 7 and the most recent on October 18.

Objectives of these encounters:
To bring together and connect poets, story tellers, and writers to share their writings through readings and appraisal of the work. In the future the group plans to take this work to the street and who knows? ... perhaps one day publishing a collection. The direction it will take depends on the group's participants.

Talent is certainly not missing.

The organization of the meetings is the undertaking of Waldir Candido, actor and theatre director.

Join us!

Date of the next Encounter: November 8, 2007, 3:00 pm, in CatComm's Casa.
(see how to get here)

Visit the group's blog (in Portuguese):
http://poesiascontoseencontros.blogspot.com/

Note: Thank you to CatComm translator Meg Kidd for translating this blog entry from our Portuguese blog (http://casarj.blogspot.com/).

UBUZIMA: gender and race

2007-08-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

The CatComm Gallery Presents: Ubuzima - Body and Soul, Braids Collective

During August and September 2007, CatComm's Casa is hosting a photography exhibition depicting the work of Ubuzima, a group that joins, shares, and creates opportunities for people and groups dedicated to art and work involving the Afro-Brazilian population. The name Ubuzima means "the union of body and soul," and is a Collective of African Art and Braids, formed by six you women from Porto Alegre, Brazil, now living in Rio de Janeiro.

The exhibition "Ubuzima – Body and Soul" presents part of the work of this group through photographs by community photographer Marcelus Pequeno. The exhibition's very lively launch was held on August 10th, counting the presence of a group of Canadian youth participating in a cultural exchange with Ubuzima. Check out two of the videos from the launch celebration:

VIDEO 1 (Google Video)
VIDEO 2 (YouTube)

The party was lively and music ranging from Hip-Hop to samba was played. Now, in the weeks following the launch the exhibition is hosting several activities, including a Braiding Workshop, film screening, and parade.

Want to participate? Visit the Casa Calendar to learn more!

For more details about this project, visit our Community Solutions Database online, or simply click here.

Experimenting With Open Space

2007-06-28T12:20:00.001-05:00

Since April CatComm has introduced monthly Open Space meetings at our Casa community technology hub in Rio. We were first introduced to Open Space by Michael Herman at an Omidyar.net community conference in Chicago in 2005. Since then we've been thinking up ways to incorporate this free, creative and constructive methodology in our work.

Approximately 25 community leaders have participated in the three Open Space meetings thus far, each one taking place on the third Wednesday of the month. Each meeting starts with participants quickly introducing themselves sitting in a large circle. The methodology is explained by CatComm staff. Large sheets of paper are distributed to each participant, and all are invited to suggest a topic that's on their minds or that's of interest to them. Anything from personal concerns to organizational issues they are struggling with, societal challenges, and so on. Because of the short nature of these meetings (we have 3 hours set aside for what might normally last a day or two), each suggested topic gets a 30-minute period assigned to it by its presenter. The posters are taped to the wall, with their suggested times, and participants sign up for those topics that interest them. Each person then participates in 3 30-minute topics. At the end, each group's presenter summarives his/her group's meeting.

The topics that have surfaced during the three preliminary Open Space meetings include:

Violence against the elderly;
Violence in general;
New activites at the Casa: how to make the Casa into a cultural center?;
How to impose limits for one's kids;
How to involve kids' families in activites run by community programs;
How to organize a particular community group called "Nosso Espaço," or "Our Space;"
Poor maintenance of public schools;
School councils - do they work? What's the alternative?;
Trying 16-year-olds as adults.

To read, in Portuguese, some of the direct quotes from the discussions that ensued, visit our Portuguese blog at http://casarj.blogspot.com/.

One exciting new project has come out of the first Open Space meetings: a community poet, Waldir Gallo, suggested launching monthly poetry readings at the Casa, inviting community poets to present. This project, "Café Com Verso," will be launched in late July or August.

Community Advisory Board Launched!

2007-06-03T20:34:00.000-05:00

I want to preceed this post by apologizing to readers for not posting as often as promised... Please don't take this to mean little is happening, for the very opposite is true! So much is going on at CatComm we are having a hard time keeping on top of it! As a result, we are rethinking and restructuring staff roles to accommodate this exciting growth!

One of the exciting new additions to Catalytic Communities, both as an activity in itself and as part of this rethinking, is our Community Advisory Board. Here's a translation of Neuza's post on our Portuguese blog at casarj.blogspot.com:

______________________

We are very happy to announce the launch, on March 2, 2007, of our new Community Advisory Board! This Board was created per suggestion of CatComm's Board of Directors with the objective of bringing community leaders active at CatComm's Casa in Rio the opportunity to propose ideas and make decisions to improve CatComm's actions in support of community projects in Rio and to engage increasing numbers of active community leaders in CatComm's Casa and website. The Advisory Board is formed of community leaders who've shown concern for CatComm's actions and effectiveness over the years, on various occasions proposing ideas to improve our actions.

Ten community leaders were invited to form the initial Advisory Board. Care was taken to ensure diversity in gender, age, geographic region and thematic focus:

Celso Vergne - Alfazendo, Estimativa, and Terrévida;
Cristina Quadro - Feito Por Nós;
Deley da Cunha ("Deley de Acari") - Fifth Element;
Jana Guinod - Estimativa;
Leidimar Machado - Adolescente Um Passo à Frente, Caixa de Surpresa;
Leilah de Souza Neto - Patchwork Quilt do grupo Mulheres de Pedra;
Márcio Hermínio ("Graffitti") - Cinema Com Batuque;
Monica Xavier ("Combattente");
Pedro Paulo Portela - Projeto Telheiro Cultural;
Reinaldo Santana - Projeto Entrou Por Uma Porta.

Actions Taken:

The Community Advisory Board meets the first Wednesday of each month. During the two meetings following its creation, in April and May, decisions were made and actions taken. Among them were:

(1) The Advisors developed a questionnaire that will be emailed, at the beginning of June, to all community leaders who've used the Casa over the years, with the intention of learning what has brought leaders to the Casa historically, why some have ceased coming, and why others have remained so faithful.

(2) The Advisors made a decision that CatComm should return to its previous policy of allowing community leaders to use computers in its telecenter for an unlimited time, abandoning the 3-hour rule. They reached this conclusion because they decided it is not viable for many leaders to leave their communities to come all the way downtown to the Casa being limited to 3 hours on the machines. A campaign will be run simultaneously: "Free Connection: Cede Your Turn."

In its next meetings the Advisory Board will focus on results from the questionnaire and developinng a communications strategy to bring increasing number of community leaders to the Casa. There have also been ideas about how new meeting styles and debates could attract and support community projects.

Basic Governing Principles

Community Advisors' positions last two years, with the possibility of renewal for two more. The criterion for advisors to maintain their position is active participation in at least 8 of the 12 annual meetings. At the present time, the Community Advisory Board is not a legal entity. The decision to change this will be made down the road by the organization's Board of Directors, depending on how this initial Board evolves and its results. However, the Community Advisory Board has been given autonomy to bring up, discuss, and make decisions during its monthly meetings. These decisions are to be respected by CatComm staff. When differences of opinion exist, the issue will be taken to the Board of Directors. CatComm's staff participates in all meetings, but with time its participation will be reduced and its presence will mainly serve the purpose of supporting the Advisory Board in any ways deemed necessary and accompany the process and results.

A HEARTY WELCOME TO OUR NEW ADVISORS!!!

UNC in Asa Branca Year 3

2007-03-20T16:01:00.000-05:00

Today marked the third year we've received visitors from the University of North Carolina's school of business (Kenan-Flagler Business School) during their quick Spring Break trip across South America. Finishing their trip in Rio, the group of 15-20 students often speak of their visit with Catalytic Communities as "one of the highlights of the entire trip" which includes visiting with some of the largest businesses in the hemisphere.

This was the first year that UNC students visited CatComm's Casa in Rio. Some 2/3 of the group spent two hours at the Casa touring the space, seeing a presentation of Catalytic Communities, and looking at slides taken over several years in Asa Branca, the favela in the city's quickly expanding West Zone where the Pan-American Games will take place later this year and which we then went to visit. The entire group of students and professor joined in for the Asa Branca segment of the visit.

As a city planner I always find this visit fascinating. Firstly because of the changes I've observed in Asa Branca over the 6 years I've been going there (normally 3 times a year). But also because of the development surrounding the community, and the impacts this has there. And finally, because we drive back through Barra da Tijuca, a newer section of Rio that shows what development looks like when led by developers rather than planners. Skyscrapers without shops. Traffic yet no pedestrians. Barra is the section of Rio that has devised a way to live with plenty, without having to coexist with those without.

Asa Branca is a 20-year-old neighborhood with roughly 8000 residents. This is very small by Rio standards. As such, the community has been able to develop effectively and keep drug traffickers out. Only recently has the President of the Neighborhood Association, Carlos Alberto ("Bezerra") stepped down. He did so, he explains, because as the community grows it is "harder and harder to get anything done collectively." He says that residents no longer work together to solve common problems, as was once the norm when the community was smaller -- and tighter. This was reiterated by a resident I ran into in the neighborhood's younger section, a part of Asa Branca that is only 5 years old where, just a few years ago, I was amazed at the common bathroom and kitchen spaces they'd developed to meet their collective needs while they worked on one another's homes.

As a result, Bezerra has decided to dedicate himself to creating a community library on a parcel of his own land that he can oversee and develop. He is also planning to run for the local school district council. As you peer away from Asa Branca you see the buildings approaching. With the Pan-American games have come millions of dollars in investment in this part of the city.

Residents of Asa Branca benefit from construction jobs nearby. Another reason this community is so different from others in areas distant from new and manual jobs.

At the end of their visit the UNC students gave Bezerra and his born-leader son Ciro gifts thanking them for the visit. Bezerra warned his son not to forget the people who believed in him when the group nominated little Ciro as Brazil's future president.

Casa's 4th Birthday

2007-02-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

Last night, February 15th, 2007, we celebrated into the night the 4th birthday of CatComm's Casa technology hub for community leaders.

About 75 friends joined in the fun, with local community leaders from projects as diverse as Fifth Element, Argilano Clay Works, Asa Branca Community Sewerage, Estimativa, The DotCom Health Agency (community radio project), Community Trash Collectors, Samba Republic, and Patchwork Quilts.

A dozen college students from the US-based International Honors Program also joined us, as did Washington, DC activist Zein Elamine of the Campaign to Save Our Schools and Omidyar.net member and founder of GlobalLives, David Evan Harris. Alfie Hanssen, a University of Pennsylvania Graduate student also joined in. Alfie is in Brazil using Catalytic Communities and the Casa as a home base from which to do research for his computer simulation game -- a game to simulate the choices made by a young person living in a favela as they work to own their own home.

Party activities included mask-making for carnival, partaking of foods, drinks, and blowing out the birthday candles, along with reveling in the carnival celebrations happening below, in the historic square outside the Casa's windows. Every year, the local street carnival in Rio is kicked off by the first of many neighborhood blocos, which happens to be Escravos da Mauá, which congregates and marches from our local square below.

Over these past 4 years, Catalytic Communities has carefully built an environment at the Casa capable of supporting community organizers from across Rio's favelas, or squatter communities. Many lessons have been learned, and much success has been achieved. For a sense of how our network works at the Casa and beyond, click here for a flash demo. In 4 years over 1400 visitors have been to the Casa, 1000 of them local organizers from over 160 neighborhoods.

On March 2, 2007, we will be launching our Community Advisory Board, comprised of 10 leaders who frequent the Casa. The objective of the CAB is to formally collect, harness and implement ideas by concerned leaders as to how the Casa can be best used to serve and attract more community organizers. Leaders were selected by staff based on their diversity (geography, age, gender, etc.) and, more importantly, their demonstrated concern for the wellbeing of the Casa and Catalytic Communities over the years. The March 2nd meeting will bring these 10 leaders together with staff for an official launch of the group, discussion of initial topics and concerns to highlight during future meetings, and setting up the framework for future meetings. We expect to meet monthly. One of the group's early topics will be organizing for funds expected from Rotary International mid-year that will allow us to set up permanent community radio and documentary film production workshops!

Tech Awards Week

2006-11-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last week was the week!

After six years devoting our energy to building Catalytic Communities, winning one of this year's 25 Tech Awards was the first major public recognition of our effort and it was exhilarating.

Before going into the details of the week, I want to thank everyone who's helped get us this far. From the hundreds of people who've helped fund our work to date, to the Omidyar Network that nominated us, and André Urani and Greg Murray who provided recommendations -- this victory was a group effort. This is a true turning point and we expect development to pick up speed and our network to grow in important ways as a result!

The Tech Museum of Innovation is a unique museum in San Jose, CA, where kids of all ages explore innovation and creativity using technology. From strolling around on a segway to making 3D images of one's own head...

Every year The Tech delivers 25 Tech Awards to the "best of the best" initiatives using technology to benefit humanity. Panels of experts from local universities like Stanford and Santa Clara help select each year's winners. This year, out of over 900 projects nominated, Catalytic Communities was one of five winners in the Equality category.

As a result of this honor, we were invited to San Jose for 4 days of events surrounding the award.

On Monday, November 20th, a welcome meeting allowed us to briefly meet other laureates and learn what to expect in the coming days. This was followed by a category dinner, in our case sponsored by the Swanson Foundation which funded the Equality category. The dinner was held at the Silicon Valley Club in downtown San Jose. This was our opportunity to meet our fellow category laureates and learn about their projects, as well as get to know Judy Swanson and her friends. This year's Equality award was in honor of Katherine Swanson, Judy's daughter, who, before passing away a year ago (in her early 20s), shared with her mother her wish to dedicate her life to reducing inequality. It was an absolute honor to receive an award associated with a human being who planned to dedicate her life to a noble cause. It was also refreshing to receive the award from this admirable woman two nights later...

Tuesday was focused on developing our skills and preparing us for what would come: Jack Franchetti of Franchetti Communications offered a workshop to help develop our "elevator pitches" -- what we'd say if we had a short elevator ride with someone we wanted to "pitch" our work to. It was incredible to watch the transformation of fellow Laureate Peter Hansen's (of PointCare Technologies) pitch during this session. PointCare has developed the means to do HIV monitoring in remote areas so as to improve the effectiveness of HIV treatment around the world. People with HIV no longer have to travel distances to large cities to be monitored on expensive equipment.

In the afternoon we saw the videos The Tech had prepared of our individual projects. I was rushing out in intervals to nurse my new daughter, but caught 90% of these. They were fabulous. The Tech counts on help from Mediatrope Interactive Studio to develop these compelling 1-minute videos. I can't wait until ours is available online to share with everyone! When the Catalytic Communities video came on, I was so busy looking at the images and missing the community leaders and our staff depicted, that I didn't even hear the description they gave of our work! Ha! Fortunately we saw the video once again at the Gala...

Tuesday night was our opportunity to practice our pitches during a funder's reception where we met people from other organizations and potential funders interested in Tech laureates' work. It was great to hear about the World Bank Development Marketplace from folks met there, and to share ideas with fellow laureate Wayan Vota of IESC Geekcorps, that developed a rugged computer for use in remote areas of Africa.

Finally the big day arrived - Wednesday the 15th. We spent the morning sharing our work in a Showcase to 125 visitors at The Tech who had signed up to learn more about our efforts. The Tech provided a booth with visual equipment and backdrop. Laureates brought computers and materials for distribution. Some 50 stopped by our booth, from a group of women associated with the Global Women's Leadership Network, to Charity Focus and Stanford's Digital Vision Fellows. At the showcase journalists from both local newspaper and radio interviewed me. The night before I'd been interviewed for a European podcast.

That afternoon we had rehearsals for the big night, and then it arrived: the Gala. This mega black-tie event brought together 1500 people, the first full-house at a Tech Awards Gala. Individual tickets were available at $500 and tables of 10 for $5000-15,000. The evening began with the Global Humanitarian Award being presented to Bill Gates, who'd also stopped by the Showcase in the morning to meet with health projects (including Gustavo Junqueira and Álvaro Eiras of Ecovec, fellow Brazilians developing the means to use GPS mapping to halt the spread of dengue fever).

After dinner, the awards were called out. Category by category, each group of laureates was invited onstage following the showing of each project's 1-minute video. Within each category, one laureate received a cash prize of $50,000. In our Equality category, the winner was Daniel K. Davies of AbleLink Technologies. Daniel started off his acceptance speech by saying "This feels alot like the Oscars. Except at the Oscars people only pretend to do great things." That was a great speech to end a fabulous evening. At the end of the evening, the Skoll Foundation's Social Edge's Global X met up with me, which he mentions in his weekly blog.

The week came to an end on Thursday with speaking engagements planned. Eleven of us were invited to the Silicon Valley Challenge Summit at Santa Clara University -- specifically those of us working internationally. There we ran booths describing our work and participated in some fabulous discussions. During the opening ceremony, Geoffrey Bowker, the head of Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology and Society, talked of the importance of the work of several Tech laureates. When he described CatComm's approach, he added an "I love this!" We were thrilled with the news!

Once Friday came around, my daughter and I were back on the plane, prepared for an 18-hour journey back to Rio and the faces that brought on the tears in the video...

Once again, thank you to everyone who brought this amazing opportunity about. We hope to make good on the promise and exposure, and grow in incredible ways in 2007!

Eyes Wide Open

2006-10-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

Last December, we raffled off two round-trip tickets to Rio amongst CatComm supporters, signers onto our 2006 fundraising campaign at PledgeBank!

Jason and Justin Yax, two physicians from Michigan, won the tickets and recently joined us for a week in Rio, from October 4-11.

When their week was up, Justin offered to write a narrative detailing the most memorable part of their visit for us to publish in the Casa Blog.

Here is what he sent us...

_______________

Catalytic Communities (CatComm) offers an entirely new way of thinking about Non-
Governmental Organizations (NGOs) or “nonprofit organizations.” Seven dedicated employees make up this amazing organization based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which provides resources and support for over 1000 community based projects - some of them other NGOs - each one with its own independent focus and goals. When one does the math, taking into account that each community project reaches at least 40 people, CatComm today positively impacts the lives of over 40,000 individuals either directly or indirectly. Its potential to affect hundreds of thousands worldwide is limited only by its public exposure.

Passively hearing what CatComm is and actively seeing what it is are two very different experiences. I’m enthusiastically putting off other assignments in order to write this entry into CatComm’s blog and share my experience of seeing the effect CatComm had on two particular grassroots projects based in one particular favela in Rio de Janeiro. The changes that CatComm affects are as extraordinary as the individual people the organization is designed to help.

Our adventure began at the end of a train ride into the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, a place many worlds away from the tourist areas Rio is famous for. I had traveled here with my brother, Jason to witness first-hand what CatComm was about. Both doctors, we wanted to see what sorts of community health programs were out there. Two other Americans, Perry and Monica, a couple from New York City, a marketer and journalist, had heard of the great things CatComm was accomplishing as well and joined us on the visit. The suburban train clamored along its tracks as we neared our stop at “Parada de Lucas” – it was both the name of the train stop and the favela we were to visit -- our adventure begins at that moment:

I leaned over so Rose, CatComm’s Portuguese website editor and our guide that day, could hear me over the screeching breaks,

“How do you pronounce her name again in Português?” I asked.

Rose looked at me smiling, knowing I had a difficult time with the phonetics of the Portuguese language and its nasal characteristics. It was the 4th time I had asked her for the correct pronunciation of Neuza’s name.

¨Neh-ow-suh,” she slowly repeated the sound for me to imitate.

I practiced silently saying the name over and over, complete with the nasal ‘ow’ that gave Neuza’s name such a beautiful tone. My brother Jason was on the other side of the train talking with Perry and Monica, who were just as curious as Jason and I about what Catalytic Communities was all about. Rose and Rosa waited patiently with us as the train came to a stop at Parada de Lucas.

Rose had worked for CatComm since its first staff was hired in 2002. She, along with Rosa, a Chilean, are both site editors for CatComm’s award-winning website. Rose runs their Portuguese site, Rosa the Spanish. They had offered to introduce us to Neuza and her community NGO, “CIACAC,” which is a Portuguese acronym that translates to “Integrated Center of Support for Children and Adolescents of the Community.” Neuza started her organization after she went with her 9-year old son to a local favela-based “funk ball.” These are parties generally geared towards youth, given by the dominant drug lords of a favela to curry favor with the community and its individuals. Drugs and sex are commonplace which commonly beget violence. CIACAC provides the youth of the community with, among many other things, extra help with school, and field trips outside the favela to steer them away from these ‘funk balls’ and show them that a world free of drugs and poverty exists.

The train door opened to a typical inner city train station - a cement platform elevated above the streets of Rio from which the familiar noises of rush hour traffic came. We began walking down a zigzag ramp to reach street level. At the end of the ramp, we saw a disheveled older gentleman seated cross-legged on the ground next to a tattered woolen carpet. Upon this carpet he carefully displayed articles he was selling: a nearly new camera, watches with broken straps, a new video recorder, and three empty leather wallets. As we passed by, I instinctively reached for my front pocket of my Levi’s and felt comforted feeling my own wallet still present in the front pocket. Soon, we passed underneath a highway overpass which created a dry shelter for a sprawling marketplace selling everything from expensive furniture to fruits and vegetables. A few dozen steps more and we reached the opposite side of the overpass and the entrance to Parada de Lucas, home to 30,000 residents, 8,283 of them reported to be between the ages of 4 and 17. This is where Neuza lived.

A modest playground marked the entrance of Parada de Lucas. As we approached, despite all our attempts to appear inconspicuous, we immediately became the center of attention – we were clearly outsiders and a group of 10 children approached us. An assertive child no more than 11 years of age emerged from the group and approached us. I was to find out later his name was Roberto. Rosa spoke to him in Portuguese asking him where we could find Neuza. As they spoke, I observed this child clearly had a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 40, which placed him in the category of morbid obesity (one of the many consequences of poverty) – and he wasn’t yet a teenager! Paradoxically, children like him commonly are malnourished, taking in many calories, but few nutrients. I then noticed a very characteristic pigment in the crease of his neck. It was unmistakably acanthosis nigricans – a skin finding commonly associated with insulin resistance. But I had only seen this in adults! This child was in the first stages of developing type 2 (adult onset) diabetes – as a pre-teen!

Roberto looked at me as he spoke in Portuguese and pointed to the direction of Neuza’s house and offered to take us there. We began walking along a river of open sewage, 50 feet wide that began just behind the children’s playground and ran through the center of the community as far as the eye could see. During our walk, we were joined by a svelte young boy of 13 named Victor, who was quite a bit thinner (and shorter) than Roberto. Before we knew it, we had reached our destination.

Neuza’s house was marked by a whitewashed wall punctuated with a colorful mural of children playing under the rays of a bright yellow sun. It was a stark contrast to the earth-colored and cinderblock walls that were the homes of her neighbors. Rose knocked on the brightly painted wooden door which was the entrance to her home and Neuza answered. Her eyes were strong but gentle. Upon seeing Rose, they immediately twinkled with recognition. Then, with a smile and vigorous hand waving she invited us into her home.

Neuza’s home was also the home of CIACAC: the brightly colored murals with children’s colorful handprints and photos of multitudes of children on fantastic field trips were a testament to this. When CIACAC began, it encountered many obstacles, both financial and social. First, local banks would not perform a site visit in the favela so CIACAC was unable to open a bank account. Her organization was also too small to qualify for social support through local social programs. CIACAC’s lack of Internet capabilities also limited its access to resources and visibility to the world. It was Catalytic Communities, with its established status as an NGO and greater visibility that acted as a fiscal sponsor for CIACAC so it could receive the funds that enabled it to formalize itself as an NGO. Then, when CIACAC placed itself on CatComm’s Website, it became visible to the world, which, among other things, brought her project to the attention of a generous Periodontist from Italy who donated enough funds for Neuza to double the square footage of CIACAC’s home. The bank also used CIACAC’s listing on CatComm’s website as a substitute for a site visit, enabling her to finally open a bank account. Catalytic Communities was, well, a catalyst that helped CIACAC blossom into the successful organization it is today.

When it was time, we left Neuza’s house. Neuza walked with us to meet Sergio, the man I had heard so much about and, as a physician, wanted to meet. Sergio was another community leader, like Neuza, who had started a community project on the other side of Parada de Lucas. During our walk, I began thinking about Victor and remembered the significantly short height he had for being thirteen years old. Though I didn’t know his parents height or family genetics, I speculated about chronic malnutrition secondary to intestinal parasites among the children in Parada de Lucas. Undiagnosed asymptomatic parasitosis is not uncommon in poorer communies throughout the world and can lead to malnutrition, anemia and learning deficiencies. The open sewage we were walking beside certainly placed this community’s children at risk for many diseases -- intestinal parasites being one.

Suddenly Rose nudged my ribs. Her voice was low and soft, “Keep walking and don’t take your camera out,” she instructed.

This was, of course an invitation for my eyes to wander to my left, where I saw a shirtless man my age, standing in front of the door of a local convenience store with the barel of his semi-automatic pistol tucked into his jeans just under his navel. It was unclear to me if this man was a vigilante or part of the drug cartel. I didn’t ask. But this was a sobering reminder of what world I was in, and how very different it was from my own.

Rose was always beside me as we walked, and with a simple smile and a few words, quickly brightened the mood of the whole group again. Both Rose and Rosa possess this amazing gift of lifting spirits – and they used their talents wisely, and often. Positive attitudes are contagious, especially where they are needed. We were soon coming to the place where we were to meet Sergio.

Thirteen years ago, at the age of 30, Sergio started an organization called “Amor Pela Vida” (Love of Life) which brings physical rehabilitation services to individuals suffering from physical disabilities brought about by stroke, accidents and, not uncommonly, gun shot wounds. Sergio, like Neuza, was born and raised in Parada de Lucas. When Sergio was 28, he was the victim of a hit and run accident and suffered a shattered right femur. He was taken by ambulance to the government hospital where he waited 47 days before surgeons had a space in their schedule to operate. He eventually underwent a successful operation and subsequently spent two years on crutches while receiving physical therapy through the public hospital system. He was so impressed with his results, and was so sensitized to his predicament that, when he recovered, he started visiting residents that had similar disabilities to help them how he could. His dream was to open a rehabilitation clinic. How he got to that point, though, is a truly brilliant example of resourcefulness and dedication.

We saw Sergio standing in front of his rehabilitation clinic waiting for us to arrive. He appeared younger than his age and was of solid stature. To my surprise, he had no noticeable limp when he walked, but had the surgical scar to prove his story. We walked up a ramp from the sidewalk to the entrance of his clinic, which consisted of a modest desk where patients were checked in and, further back, the main therapy room, consisting of a simple patient table and the most basic pieces of physical therapy equipment. Upon entering this clinic, I was struck by a carefully constructed display case within the wall, in the most prominent part of the room. The case contained three shelves, upon each of which several ink cartrages were carefully displayed. A plate of glass was secured over the display and backlighting was installed proudly displaying its contents. I was unsettled. My myopic perception could not fathom the purpose of this. What was the significance of a display such as this in a physical rehabilitation center?

The answer was quite simple. Before companies began refilling their own ink cartridges, empty cartridges could be re-sold to the manufacturer for refilling. Sergio saw this opportunity and had gone to local companies to ask them to donate, to his cause, their empty ink cartridges. He was able to gain the support of 56 local companies. He asked several churches to help him collect empty cartridges as well, which they did. He would collect the cartridges once a month, and his son Ariel would clean them and carefully place them in egg cartons for safe storage. He would then resell the clean, empty ink cartridges to the recycling company – over 8000 of them, which raised over R$12,000 (US$6000)! With this money, Sergio was able to purchase construction materials. He tore down the shack that was previously on this property and built the clinic we were all standing in. He had money left over to purchase a small plot of land next to the clinic which he is planning to use for expansion.

Sergio had created a sustainable rehabilitation clinic for his community where a licenced physical therapist oversees the physical rehabiltation needs of over 276 patients in over 6,700 clinic visits over the past 3 years. In 1991, Sergio had no place in his community to offer this service. Now, patients with physical impairments from stroke or trauma, who receive recommendations from their physicians for rehabilitation services have a place to receive this service for a nominal fee (which is only charged when they can afford it).

Sergio is now actively raising money to purchase more physical therapy equipment and expand his clinic building using the adjacent land he recently purchased. The positive effects “Amor pela Vida” has on his clients’ lives and the lives of their families cannot be overstated – it gives hope and encouragement to those who have suffered physical trauma in their lives. It helps treat not only their physical body, but their spirit as well.

Despite “Love for Life” existing within Neuza’s neighborhood for 13 years, Sergio met Neuza by chance only one month prior to our arrival! Through Neuza, Sergio was introduced to Catalytic Communities and placed his project and its extraordinary history in CatComm’s online Community Solutions Database so others could learn from his experience and ideas. Our very visit was a display of the power Catalytic Communities has bringing people and ideas together. Perry, Monica, Jason and I were the first international visitors to “Love of Life” in its 13-year history. We were worlds apart just one short month ago. Now we are part of a joint network that links us in support of community change.

Through Catalytic Communities, Sergio´s idea of recycling ink cartrages to help finance a grassroots health project can be posted and read by commuinty leaders in Brazil, Africa, or even India through the power of the Internet -- and the road goes both ways! This is the function of CatComm. It is a unifying force, a network for these otherwise independent heroes to help them accomplish even more amazing and powerful projects for good.

The idea behind an NGO such as CatComm is as revolutionary as the Internet. In Rio de Janeiro alone, CatComm has already brought over 1000 individual project leaders together, like Sergio and Neuza, and its potential for growth is limited only by its public and financial support.

Heroes do not wait for the world to change - they change the world. In amazing people like Neuza, Sergio, Rose, and Rosa, we see what we can become, what we can do, and who we are capable of becoming as individuals. We need only to pay attention.

Justin Yax, D.O. is board-certified Internal medicine physican currently doing his fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He has particular interests in international health, medical resource allocation in developing nations, and malariology. This is his frist humble attempt at narrative writing. justinyax@hotmail.com

CatComm Wins TechAwards!

2006-09-21T08:00:00.001-05:00

Great news! Just yesterday it was announced that Catalytic Communities is one o 25 winners of the 2006 Tech Awards, a prestigious award given out to a small set of organizations each year, each identified as "a leading technology innovator whose contributions have greatly benefited humanity."

The announcement was made by The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, CA. Catalytic Communities was chosen among 951 applicants from 58 different countries as a leading technology innovator whose contributions have greatly benefited humanity in the area of equality. The organization, along with 24 other Tech Laureates, will be honored at The Tech Museum Awards on November 15th at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.

It was a double honor because, in addition to receiving a prestigious award like this, we were also honored it was from the Tech Awards due to their specific focus on identifying and supporting individuals and organizations applying technology in innovative and practical ways to solve global humanitarian issues, a specific focus so close to CatComm's heart.

Tech Awards honored "Catalytic Communities of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for creating a database of community organizations with experience in dealing with problems common to many low-income populations throughout the world."

They summarize our work in the following way:

"This organization uses two complimentary technologies to make it possible for communities to share their own solutions for local problems with other communities facing similar problems. The first technology is an interactive website called Community Solutions Database (www.catcomm.org) that allows visitors to explore a database of searchable, detailed, community generated solutions to common problems across three languages (English, Portuguese and Spanish). The purpose of this database is precisely to share the knowledge of solutions that have worked for local community organizations with a worldwide audience. There were 126 project cases available with another 100+ awaiting completion before posting on the website. There were about 22,000 visitors to the website each month from 65 different countries. The other aspect of this project is a physical center in Rio de Janeiro that acts as a place for local and regional organizations in Brazil to meet and discuss among themselves as well as have access to the database. The basic idea of the project is for community leaders and organizations to document their experiences and successes and to share this experience with others who face similar situations. With a planned expansion of more languages for the Community Solutions Database, more countries could benefit from these experiences."

“The Tech Museum Awards are an incredibly important way to call attention to some of the most meaningful innovations in science and technology in the world, and to the often unsung heroes behind them,” said Peter Friess, President of The Tech. “The Laureates who we honor serve as great role models to future generations of inventors and engineers, and their work reminds us that innovation can be applied in profound ways to benefit humanity and the world.”
James Koch, executive director of the Global Social Benefit Incubator at Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society commented, “Each year’s award submissions give us a glimpse at global trends and issues that we might not have had insight into otherwise.” Koch further noted that the prevalence of East/West alliances between Europe, North America, and Asia have been replaced with North/South alliances linking developed countries of the Northern Hemisphere and developing nations of the Southern Hemisphere.

“Catalytic Communities represents the ‘best of the best’ technologists whose innovations benefit humanity, and we are thrilled to welcome them into our community of Tech Laureates,” said Amanda Reilly from The Tech Museum of Innovation. “We aim to raise public awareness on how technology can significantly alleviate many of the critical issues facing our planet and champion those innovators who are leveraging technology to provide resolution to both local and global problems.”

To read the press release The Tech sent out click here.
To read CatComm's release click here.

We'd like to thank all our supporters over the years for believing in us and investing in our vision to the point we've reached now, where recognition is now coming from around the world!

CatComm's E-News #2!

2006-08-28T10:00:00.000-05:00

Catalytic Communities launches it's latest e-newsletter!

Check it out here: http://www.comcat.org/docs/e-news/english/02.htm

Youth Leaders at the Casa

2006-08-18T19:00:00.000-05:00

How can a space like the Casa support youth leaders from Rio's favelas (squatter communities)? Today we had a wonderful afternoon of learning and exchange among youth leaders, and may even have inspired some young people to lead in the future.

A group of four youth leaders from communities scattered in Rio's West and North Zones partnered up at 2 pm with Thais Corral, General Coordinator of the capacity-building NGO REDEH (Network of Human Development) and Teresa Keohane, an independent young Brit who has been volunteering with REDEH in Rio. Over two hours, the youth participated in a creative process that led them through three activities. First, they broke off in groups of two to relay their dreams to one another, then presented each other to the group. Next, they traced memories that shaped them back to their childhoods, each sketching their life until the present on large sheets of paper, and shared their trajectories verbally with the group. Finally, each identified three positive, and three negative experiences or charactertistics that had shaped them. Positive characteristics were posted on an outlined young person on the wall. Negative characteristics were posted on another.

As a result of this meeting, the four youth present learned about one another, focused their thoughts on their trajectories and where they were headed, and learned some creative techniques for their own future work. They also decided to meet up with Thais again next month: this time for a debate and movie showing, and to call other youth leaders.

Following this meeting, at 4:30 pm, students from the Jucelino Kubitchek public high school, a technical school, came with their teacher, Nilda, to meet the youth leaders. The theme? What is a "gestor jovem" (youth manager)? "A youth manager realizes that ultimately he is responsible for directing his own fate, and that due to his special position as a leader, realizes he has not only an opportunity, but a responsibility to set an example for other young people," explained Pedro Paulo Portela, a youth leader from São João de Meriti, a neighboring municipality. Pedro Paulo is currently organizing with other young musicians and activists in his area to occupy an abandoned building with a range of cultural activities in support of youth and social development.

The students also sat down for a discussion with Márcio Hermínio, who learned the art of film-making thanks to a partnership between CatComm and Nós do Cinema, a local NGO that trains youth from the favelas in film production. They shared with Márcio their intention to make a film about the elderly for one of their classes. "We have all the equipment we need, and the editing tools, but we have no skills," they shared, "The person who was going to help us is no longer available." Márcio quickly offered his services: "My goal is to make film production possible among youth throughout the favelas, helping them to use simple, available technologies like cell phones and digital cameras to produce short films." As a result, it was only natural he would take the time to work with these youth to help them produce a good film.

Both youth leaders were met with multiple rounds of applause and cheers as they spoke with the youth from JK High. "This space is yours," their teacher explained to them, "as you become young leaders and pursue a better society."

National Radio

2006-08-08T18:30:00.000-05:00

Five minutes on public radio goes a long way! Today, André Urani, a new commentator on Brazil's national public radio (Rádio CBN), in his program called "Mais Rio" (More Rio), highlighted Catalytic Communities!

André is Executive Director of IETS (Institute for the Study of Labor and Society) in Rio, an economist and ex-Secretary of Labor for the City of Rio.

His piece, featured as an interview in the morning and as a monologue in the afternoon, attracted a large number of new visitors to CatComm's site, from across the country.

To listen to his morning interview (10:35 am) click here (Portuguese only).
To listen to his afternoon monologue (5:10 pm) click here (Portuguese only).

Here's a translation of what André shared:

Whoever said solutions can only come from above? It's because of her belief that things don't have to be that way that Theresa Williamson, daughter of an Englishman and a Brazilian raised in the United States, where her parents worked in international institutions, packed up and moved here to Rio de Janeiro, in 2000. She was completing her doctorate in city planning at the University of Pennsylvania and became fascinated by an experience that was being born here in Rio: that of a network of community managers of social programs. People who had been trained by the City or Doctors Without Borders to formulate diagnostics and implement actions to improve the quality of life in their communities.

Theresa decided to bet on this idea, setting up an NGO, called Catalytic Communities, or CATCOMM, to multiply the potential of these capacity-building initiatives. NGO about which, in the end, she wrote her award winning dissertation.

CATCOMM has a double objective. On the one hand, the organization offers, online and in three languages (Portuguese, English and Spanish) a Community Solutions Database; on the other, they run a model technology center, the "Casa do Gestor Catalisador," in Rio's downtown, that serves as a space for exchanges among local leaders. The Community Solutions Database is visited by more than 20,000 people a month. Today it features 118 projects from 8 countries. In addition to Brazil, the range of countries includes the United States, Canada, Nigeria, Togo, Sudan, India and Israel. Motive of pride for all of us is that 80% of these projects are right here in Rio de Janeiro. And not only from the 4 corners of the Capital, but from various municipalities in the Metropolitan Region, like Itaguái, Mesquita and Maricá. The themes are diverse: from community radio to recycling, adult literacy to odontology. This proves that there are lots of people getting mobilized, pulling up their sleeves, coming up with ideas to escape the hole they're in, without waiting for our politicians to resolve things. The site's address is simple: www.comcat.org (Portuguese).

The Casa, in turn, has already received, since it was launched, visits from some 1000 community leaders, coming from 159 city neighborhoods, 7 municipalities across the state, 19 Brazilian states and 19 other nations. It is located at Beco João José #7, in Saúde, near Praça Mauá in Rio. But that's not all: Theresa's work is supported by a vast network of volunteers. With this, in addition to being charismatic and efficient, this work is very inexpensive. The NGO's annual budget doesn't surpass R$200,000 per year (~US$100,000).

If you'd like to know more about CATCOMM, write me at maisrio@cbn.com.br.

Until tomorrow.

A Busy Friday at the Casa

2006-07-21T22:00:00.000-05:00

Today - Friday July 21st - CatComm's Casa was boiling over with activities typical of the range of possibilities for the space. We started the afternoon at 2pm with a question-and-answer session, and goodbye gathering, for the youth from Denver's Odyssey Institute who had been interning during two weeks with two community members of Catalytic Communities' local network.

Over the previous two weeks, the 9 young people, coordinated by Laryl Hutchin, Odyssey's founder, had been interning with Neuza Nascimento's community group, CIACAC, in Parada de Lucas favela; and Deley Cunha's group, Fifth Element, in Acari. Both communities have their bouts of violence, but at the moment were fairly tranquil, and so we deemed it safe for the youth to work there. As described in last week's blog by Rafael Rivero (see below), Odyssey kids helped CIACAC establish their new community center in Parada de Lucas. In the case of the Fifth Element, they participated in activities with local youth ranging from handball to IT.

Unfortunately, the internships in Acari were cut short. It was deemed safest to do so after a police confrontation with local drug traffickers overnight in the middle of their internship. The group decided to discontinue their internship activities there the following morning. As a result, Deley and the Odyssey youth agreed to meet in neutral territory, at the Casa, this afternoon. This was their opportunity to say goodbye and to sit and talk with Deley, and Wesley Denílio, a youth leader from Acari, about the conditions that led to their shortened internship.

During the 3-hour meeting, Deley and Wesley clarified the nature of violence in Acari, known for its ranking as the neighborhood with the lowest development index rating in the city. They spoke of families where one young person earns thousands of dollars a year for involvement in the drug traffic, and supports his siblings through college. They talked of the lack of opportunity in the state of Rio, a state whose GDP hasn't risen in 31 years while population has.

After this evocative and emotional goodbye, at 5pm CatComm's doors opened to a new group of visitors. Led by Sandonei, a representative from the IICD -- Institute for International Cooperation and Development -- who spent 9 months volunteering in Africa, we hosted a lecture on "Volunteerism in Africa." Some 20 participants joined in hearing about opportunities that exist in this area. We expect to see a few of our local leaders from Rio heading to Africa in the not-too-distant future, for an amazing kind of peer-to-peer exchange where international volunteerism ceases to be top-down and instead involves horizontal exchanges.

After 6 pm the tone changed from one of intense discussion to one of friendly networking when we launched our latest community art exhibition. Márcio and Dante, local graffitti artists, displayed 9 of their works on canvas to the public. Several of their friends from the hip hop movement joined in the exhibition, performing rap and showing film. Márcio traced his relationship with the Casa, where he had his first art showing exactly 3 years ago and, since then, was selected by Nós do Cinema (a local NGO that trains favela youth in movie production) through their workshop at the Casa, to undergo trainings. As a result, Márcio has now produced 3 of his own independent short films. Some 50 visitors came to their launch, and at the end of the night 5 of the pieces had been sold, the most successful launch we've had to date.

All in all, between these three activities, the Casa today welcomed over 80 different people, at least 20 of them new. Others were old friends and community leaders from our network of over 950 local leaders. At least 4 nationalities were represented -- Brazilian, American, English, and Scottish.

A day typical of what we do, and typical of the world we are working to build: of mutual reinforcement, solution exchange, and horizontal networking, worldwide.

Rafael Posts: Visiting Parada de Lucas

2006-07-19T18:00:00.000-05:00

Rafael Rivero, CatComm's International Outreach Intern this Summer '06, reflects on his visit to a Rio shantytown:

"I’ve always been a little afraid of kids. Being the youngest of seven children, I’ve rarely had the chance to interact with those younger than myself. Though I am only 19, I often feel estranged from the young children I encounter while at home in the U.S. I am dumbfounded by the effortless manner with which they lug around their portable PlayStations, the way they man their iPods with one hand while typing a text message on their cell phone with the other, the way they drag their parents to Toys’r’Us to get all things related to the latest Japanese cartoon fad—and other symptoms of the untamed consumerism that is so highly cherished in the 'developed' world.

That world felt light years away last Monday when I visited Parada de Lucas, a poverty-stricken slum in Rio de Janeiro with about 8,000 inhabitants. My destination was A Look Into Other Things, a unique community initiative founded by CatComm regular Neuza Nascimiento.

The educational fieldtrips organized by her organization are a regular activity for children in the community. There is a desperate need for constructive entertainment for the community’s children, which often complain of having 'nothing to do' in a place where youth entertainment is limited to the infamous 'bailes funk,' rowdy street parties where drugs, sex, and vulgar music combine to create an atmosphere that is harmful to the younger kids. Recently, Neuza has solidified her organization, opening CIACAC’s permanent headquarters and establishing a daycare 'school' that the neighborhood children can attend before and after school.

My official job was to act as a translator for Neuza and 5 high-school-aged volunteers from the Denver-based Odyssey Group. They were there to teach leadership skills to neighborhood children through didactic, value-based activities.

We all got there by train from Rio’s central station. The first thing I noticed was that, unlike the trains that run through the city’s affluent Southern section, the North-bound—and slum-bound—train we were on had no white people on it. This was a disquieting reminder that, even though much is made about Brazil’s racially inclusive society, racism is still very much alive in Brazil, even if it is masked by the more obvious class discrimination.

The slum, while lacking the most basic elements of infrastructure, had a charmingly chaotic feel to it. At the new CIACAC headquarters, I clumsily translated for Neuza and the American volunteers as we set off to a nearby school to collect chairs, tables, and educational materials. Upon returning, we set about cleaning what we’d collected and setting up the space for the next day’s classes. As we worked, I noticed that neighborhood kids had begun popping their heads in, curiously watching the foreign-looking strangers. After a while, I drifted away from my group and went towards the children. I asked them their names. Some hesitated. Others simply giggled at my rudimentary Portuguese. To my surprise, 3 out of the 4 children had English names, like Patrick and Kelly.

But those were just their real names, they told me. In Parada de Lucas, 'we use nicknames.' That’s how I got to know Meatball, Twiggy, Big-Ears, and Smelly. Even in the slums, it seems, kids are not without a sense of humor.

We immediately hit it off. I spent the rest of the day amusing and being amused by my new friends. They took turns as I gave them piggyback rides through a rackety bridge that crossed the most trash-filled canal I’ve ever seen. They showed me their humble homes. They squealed with glee when I told them they could each choose one small candy from the corner store. They shrieked in horror as I swallowed my own tongue for them, and sighed with relief when I brought it back from the depths of my throat (Note: Yeah, I really can do that.) Don’t try that at home, I warned them.

I left with a promise that I’d return three days later. It struck me that it had probably been a long time since an 'adult' had paid so much attention to them.

I’ve returned once already and I intend to return many more times before I go home. The kid’s delightful innocence has shown me just how important Neuza’s work is, as it allows them a respite from the turbulent world they inhabit. I am glad to be contributing to CatComm, an organization from which CIACAC has greatly benefited, attracting the volunteers that developed and fundraised for the new headquarters, facilitating CIACAC's receipt of its first grant that allowed it to gain official status, and making it possible for CIACAC to open a bank account. And most recently connecting CIACAC with these two-week internships by American teens from the Odyssey Institute. I’ll return to Miami with a newfound appreciation for children as well as for the value of social work."

Open Space at CatComm

2006-06-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we undertook a new experiment at Catalytic Communities, inspired by a friend and collaborator, Michael Herman. I met Michael last July at the Omidyar Network conference in Chicago, Illinois. This three-day conference was organized according to Open Space Technology and facilitated by Michael. Open Space is "a method of organizing meetings (immediately) and leading movements (longer term) so that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things, in record time."

Every three months, CatComm's staff spends a day away from the Casa or our home offices discussing accomplishments over the previous 3 months and new objectives for the following period. Thanks to a recent brainstorm with Michael we were able to experiment with Open Space for the first time. And the approach was overwhelmingly successful. The level of creative thought and exchange, and the sentiment of collaboration among staff, were all heightened. And I expect this to grow as we train and experiment in Open Space. What most surprised me was what the naturally positive approach inherent in Open Space taught me about how I had been handling things in the past...

The Open Space process began through a staff brainstorm of "What works at Catalytic Communities? What do we do well?"

As a staff...
• We take our work seriously, we are committed;
• We are always analyzing ourselves and our work to improve on it;
• We are functioning very well as a team;
• We are learning to work amidst obstacles;
• All staff are capable of answering on behalf of the organization, all of us have dominion over the process due to effective internal communication;
• We have successfully attracted a highly qualified and dedicated intern this year, to provide key support from June-August;

On our website...
• We are constantly working to improve our tools; we are engaged in a constant process of improving the CatComm site;
• Through an intense three-month process, we are finalizing a new, highly improved and user-friendly questionnaire on the Community Solutions Database, that will lead to expanded use of the site directly by communities;
• We make it possible for the media to find positive community stories;
• We are seeing increasing communication amongst projects on our website;
• English-language projects on the CatComm site are increasingly accessed;

At the Casa...
• The Casa's technology center works well - there are always leaders using the space;
• We are very effective in our network building;
• We strengthen community leaders' capability to develop their local projects through the Casa;
• We help community leaders recognize the importance of their own work and lift their self-esteem as we recognize their work at the Casa and through the CatComm site;
• Some community leaders at the Casa take it upon themselves to present the space to others;
• Other NGOs refer community leaders to CatComm; the organization has become a reference in this area;
• We attract increasing numbers of community leaders, and from distant locations, in addition to students, musicians, journalists and others that are inspired to develop social programs after they visit the Casa;
• We are receiving an increasing number of phone calls from the public wanting to learn more about CatComm.

From this simple brainstorm, each staff member noted on a piece of paper a topic they wanted to moderate during the afternoon, with the intention of answering the question: "How do we make more good things happen at CatComm?"

The afternoon was then led by staff focusing on the following themes they chose as central in improving our work:
1. Improving the visual design of the CatComm site by simplifying it, improving navigation and user-friendliness, with a focus on how to visually integrate our mission of network-building into the site.
2. Attracting and developing volunteers to teach IT courses at the Casa.
3. Developing printed outreach materials including a general organizational brochure and a "kit" for community leaders who come into contact with the Casa.

Other topics -- including improving communication among staff, how to increase press usage of the site, objectives-setting, and developing internal processes among staff to alter and manage the website's content -- were left for staff meetings to be held in July.

In addition to focusing staff attention where staff were naturally interested, and on building on the positive in what we're doing, Open Space also empowered staff to take control of the meeting. We will be incorporating Open Space into future open meetings held at the Casa with community leaders. Of course there topics will not be as imaginable as among staff with a clear common mission. As a result, we expect that implementing Open Space in open community meetings will result in exciting and unexpected collaborations and discussions.

As the director of CatComm I was refreshed to see staff taking control of the meeting... I was fascinated by the topics that came up naturally, as they are different to those I would have posed, but are perhaps closer to the pulse of what is really important...

Mostly, however, I was amazed to discover that in the past our staff focus has often been on the negative -- "what have we not accomplished that we had planned to and why?" By asking the opposite question -- "what have we accomplished and how can we do more of that?" -- one arrives at the same answers, but through an empowering process rather than one that is disempowering. At the end of the meeting staff confided that they sometimes have trouble filling out weekly reports because they naturally focus on what they haven't been able to do, rather than what they have accomplished, that week. Using Open Space brought out this vital realization, and so much more. Poof! And I cannot be more grateful that we discovered this amazing tool.

A Community in Action

2006-06-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I visited an infamous favela in Rio, called Morro do Alemão, with three young Americans who've arrived in Rio for the first time over these past few weeks: Rafael Rivero, CatComm's International Outreach Intern for the summer, a Swarthmore College Evans Scholar and upcoming Sophomore; Liesl Bradford, who worked until recently at Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in Washington, DC; and Susan Reynolds, a Registered Nurse in Washington, DC, shortly to be starting her Masters in Nursing at John's Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Interestingly enough, our host was also an American -- Zak Paster -- who, over the past few years, has established an innovative community program here. Called Community in Action, the NGO Zak helped found has supported some 400-500 community residents over the past year (since it started operating) on just US$800/month. Community in Action needs only one employee since it operates on a clear strategy of low-budget sustainability: they offer a community space where local volunteers are recruited to offer capacity-building courses to their peers: fellow community residents.

Community in Action doesn't promise its volunteers salaries. Rather, the organization develops strong bonds with volunteers by supporting them in other ways, as means permit. Sometimes this means offering the families of volunteers a basket with monthly staples (beans, rice, oil, etc.), called a cesta básica. In one case the organization mobilized to help build a house for one of its most critical volunteers, Ana, who tutors youth in the afternoons [on a side note, we were later able to visit Ana's new home, now only in need of paint; there, we overheard a confrontation between police and local drug traffickers -- an attestment to the reality that locals live, and to the importance of efforts like this].

Volunteers are asked to offer a course, whether over a short period (like a month) or ongoing. They are also asked to bring 2 participants to help get the course off the ground. Zak finds that by focusing on quality and small details, the project expands by word-of-mouth. "We've found that formal outreach rarely works," he told us.

Though they've offerred low-cost English classes in the past, provide afterschool tutoring, and have volunteers teaching income-generating skills like bead-making for sandals, creative box design and adaptive reuse of newspapers, Zak believes "the future of Community in Action lies in computer trainings." They've experienced enormous demand from youth and residents interested in their volunteer-run computer courses.

Zak has been able to set the stage so that Community in Action can run with him at a distance. He will be starting an MBA at University of North Carolina in the Fall. Part of the model he's developed involves attracting volunteers from the US and elsewhere who have a background in administration to spend time in Rio, rotating in shifts of 6 months apiece, helping manage the project and making the bridge between the local program and supporters in the US. Rajan Kapoor is the current volunteer who's arrived to provide this support over the coming months.

Originally from Wisconsin, Zak often returns to his roots where he holds benefit parties and organizes other events to link Americans with Community in Action, offering them a means by which they can directly support community efforts, without having to invest in large organizations with large bureaucracies. He provides a social investment where a funder's $100 check goes a very long way, indeed.

Of the 115+ projects today posted in CatComm's Community Solutions Database, Community in Action is to date the only Rio-based program founded in part by an American. It provides a fascinating view of how foreigners who fall in love with the city can find long-term strategies to make a difference. Catalytic Communities is proud to have supported Community in Action over the past couple of years as a fiscal sponsor, facilitating American donors' support of this important project in Rio de Janeiro. Congratulations to Community in Action for having raised over US$15,000 to support the residents of Morro do Alemão over the past year!

The Numbers Are In

2006-06-02T14:58:00.000-05:00

Great news! Along with the regular day-to-day runnings of the Casa -- like the current workshop for jewelry-making going on Wednesday mornings run by and for women leaders -- we've been analyzing accumulated data about the Casa's reach over these past 3 years. You may have received CatComm's latest Newsletter (No. 10), which includes, among other things, a summary of numbers as we knew them in early May. We are happy to announce the new figures show we've understated the Casa's geographic reach significantly!

Previous figures showed leaders from some 72 communities in Rio, 7 other municipalities across the state, 5 Brazilian states, and 17 nations have benefitted from the Casa over the past 3+ years. Today we can confirm the numbers to be: visitors from 159 communities in Rio (keep in mind there are 750 favelas, or squatter communities), 7 other municipalities across the state, 19 Brazilian states, and 19 nations!

The gender breakdown has remained the same, with some 52% of Casa visitors being women like those from Woman in Action, the coalition of women leaders from a variety of favelas taking part in this jewerly-making workshop (these photos were taken on Wednesday, May 31st). They then take this expertise back to their communities where they teach other women in need of income-generating activities.

Like these women, over 950 other community leaders from 159 different communities in Rio have depended on the Casa for a host of activities to strengthen their community projects, whether peer workshops like this, or workshops offerred by visitors (from journalists to foreign fundraisers), or use of the technology center to prepare community projects for funding, outreach materials, and more.

Just last week (May 22-26) four stories emerged. A representative of The Green Life contacted us about developing a network of environmental NGOs in Brazil and beyond... Two homeless community advocates starting an institute to share information about the homeless visited the Casa to thank CatComm for the resources and tools we share, explaining that it was at the Casa that they found the inspiration and tools to start this effort... A community leader that runs the "Samba Republic" project posted in the Community Solutions Database invited members of a group of black Muslims he met at the Casa to talk at an event he is organizing in one of the city's communities. And finally, another leader, using the computer facilities at the Casa, is developing a network of Afro-Brazilian religions across Brazil.

Visiting Illinois Rotarians

2006-04-27T17:00:00.000-05:00

Over the past two days -- April 25 and 26 -- I was invited to present Catalytic Communities' work in meetings of several Central Illinois Rotary Clubs, including the Clinton, Normal, and Bloomington Sunset Clubs. These meetings provided an opportunity to share our work developing the Casa in Rio, and plans to create a new Casa, with over 100 local Rotarians.

I shared with local Rotarians the fantastic growth in the Casa since the space was founded in February 2003: from 30 leaders in our network back then, to over 900 today, all through word-of-mouth (this not counting the 400-500 other visitors we've received). I described the three spaces that make the Casa work: our workshop room with multi-media capability, that allows us to host workshops up to 25 participants; our computer lab for community leaders, with 7 computers; and our small informal meeting room, that fits some 15 people at a time.

All in all, we've been impressed by the demand for this little 70m2 space (231ft2) space, since we started it as a pilot back in 2003, responding to a subset of community leaders' frustrations at not having access to the meeting spaces and Internet they needed to build networks with each other.

Today, we see that our pilot project has been successful. With all this growth, however, we've reached capacity. Various factors have been identified that show it is time to move forward, to find a more stable, permanent, visible, and spacious location: to make the Casa a permanent CatComm program. The current allotment of space is insufficient to meet the growing demand for the Casa’s services: only a limited number of participants can sign up for any given workshop, and it is not possible to host longer term or permanent capacity-building workshops. Community leaders often wait for access to a limited number of computers. Nor does the current location provide the necessary visibility and infrastructure to allow income generating activities which would help sustain the Casa.

I then shared our plans for a new Casa with local Rotarians. CatComm is looking for a 3-storey building in downtown Rio, a central location for leaders from communities throughout the city and a location that would allow the first floor of the building to be rented out to a compatible business -- like a health restaurant serving the lunchtime rush -- for income that would allow us to maintain the rest of the building. The second floor will be our meeting and short-term workshop space, also available for documentary movie screenings and debates between the broader population and community groups. The third floor will incoporate an improved computer facility, two permanent workshop rooms (community radio and documentary film production), and staff offices. There will also be a terrace on the roof where permanent urban agriculture workshops will be offered, working closely with community agricultural and youth programs to expand knowledge of urban food production jointly with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization's Growing Connections program. Vegetables and fruits grown on the rooftop terrace will be sold to the first floor restaurant, which will also feature community art and be available for evening events organized by community leaders.

... This is the model we are working towards, I told Rotarians. I was very pleased with the response I got, and hope that this visit to Central Illinois will produce a long-time partnership between CatComm and Rotary. Given the similarities in philosophy, it seems to me an ideal partnership. Rotarians have a strong belief in international, humanitarian, empowering programs. Rotarians inherently believe in the power of networking across fields -- the underlying basis of Catalytic Communities' network-building philosophy across communities. Rotarians have a global presence and network, something CatComm strives for. We have much to learn from Rotary, and believe we are contributing to Rotary's philosophy and mission, as well.

Keep your eyes peeled for local articles about CatComm's visit to Central Illinois in the Clinton Daily Journal and the Bloomington Pantagraph!

Women Leaders at the Casa

2006-04-07T18:01:00.001-05:00

Today was a typical day at the Casa, various meetings and activities organized and unorganized, going on simultaneously, delicately interweaving in a fashion that allows local leaders to meet and greet, learn and unlearn. What was interesting today was the strong focus on women's groups and issues...

Strolling into the Casa's workshop room, I walked by a small group of four -- sitting on the wooden floor -- an unlikely group including Marilia Ferreira (from Terrévida environmental project), Celso Vergne (a local university professor and a specialist in community and NGO psychology), and Jana Guinond (from the NGO Estimativa working to build self-esteem in indigenous and Afro-Brazilian women). The group was discussing next steps with regard to a joint project they are working on, called "Toré": a Sunday festival with indigenous foods, dances, a film screening and debate on indigenous issues, scheduled for May 21st.

Further into the Casa, I joined leaders in the computer center, now rebuilt thanks to a generous donation from a local businessman. One of them -- Deley -- has just posted his latest community program - Cirlanda - to Catalytic Communities' website. The Cirlanda project, not yet translated to English, was named after a woman in the community of Acari who ran youth programs only to be shot in the stomach by local police in 1998. Today, the Cirlanda project works to fulfill her dream. With an increasing number of young women at risk in Acari, Deley and others have developed a series of activities, including sports, specifically to counteract those risks.

Maria Helena Zamora, who has instructed in a variety of leadership training courses for people from Rio's favelas (squatter communities) organized a meeting of women leaders in the Casa's informal meeting room. These women have just completed a course run by Zamora at the local Catholic University (PUC), a course that upon completion had participants clamoring for more. The course could no longer continue at PUC, so Zamora brought the women to "ComCat" -- as Catalytic Communities is known in Rio -- where they could continue to meet as long as they like, organize future seminars, events, and exchanges. This was the third meeting the group had had at the Casa since completing their course. Many more will follow, with further activities planned...

The day ended on a lively note, with Zamora's leaders hanging out in the doorway for quite some time, before heading each in her own direction...

Visiting Asa Branca

2006-03-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

Today we did some of our local bridge-building work in Rio, taking visiting American university students to visit a local community. Not one of the formal "favela tours," where tourists are taken in safari jeeps up into communities they barely learn about and rarely invest in. Rather: we work to form bridges and constructive dialogues by doing walking tours in communities where solid and exciting community development work is going on, guided by local leaders.

Today it was Asa Branca, in Rio de Janeiro's West Zone, a community with some 7000 residents settled 18 years ago along the edge of a stream in a wetlands region where not one building was located. Now luxury condos sprawl up from the ground everywhere surrounding Asa Branca, while local residents struggle to provide for their own basic services.

Fortunately Asa Branca counts with "Bezerra" (Carlos Alberto Costa), the President of its Neighborhood Association who has helped residents organize everything from their own sewerage system to theatre, bingo tournements to home-building: directing both the installation of pipes and the writing of plays.

In 2005 Bezerra had a full-page feature in a Rio de Janeiro daily as a result of a personal civil disobedience (of sorts) campaign he launched whereby he stopped shaving and cutting his hair, while attending dozens of his regularly-attended political and networking events across the city (Bezerra is well-networked, attending meetings whenever he's invited, from city government to local leadership councils). Each meeting he went to participants would ask "Bezerra, why are you growing your hair?" Bezerra would explain that a local politician had promised to pave Asa Branca's streets but for years had neglected this promise, so he decided to grow his hair until the asphault was dry. Over months Bezerra attended meetings, his hair and beard growing. A local daily covered his story. Leaders and politicians witnessed the act. One day Bezerra appeared at CatComm's Casa shaven with his hair cut short. "Bezerra!" I exclaimed. "Yes," he replied, chuckling, "he finally paved the road."

During today's visit Bezerra showed 15 students from the University of North Carolina's MBA program the two main areas of Asa Branca: the older section, inhabited by residents in 1988, and a new section less than 4 years old. Students were able to compare and get a sense for what a community that self-organizes effectively can accomplish in a given period of time.

Asa Branca is partially successful because residents have organized various means (physical and social) to keep the drug traffic from entering their community and impairing them from self-organizing. It's success has also been due to a charismatic, creative, and modest leader concerned and aware of a host of issues, from the environment and conservation to health and education. Finally, Asa Branca has benefitted from being in a part of the city with plentiful employment in construction -- from the condo industry to the Pan-American Games. Thanks to their proximity to new wealth areas, the community also benefits from its location near two new and well-stocked hospitals.

One of the highlights of today's visit was the community's drumming group, organized by a local resident. The youth marched and performed in the streets of Asa Branca to the delight of residents and UNC students alike.

In 2005 a similar UNC group visited Asa Brana, the highlight then being a new recycling cooperative that had been started in the community. At the end of their visit, what would later prove to be a golden picture of the visitors was taken: 16 American business students standing clearly in front of Asa Branca, next to their taxi marked "Posto 6" on the side (indicating the taxi had come from the elite end of Copacabana beach where several nice hotels are). The students sent this photo to Bezerra with a certificate of appreciation from UNC. Thrilled with this, Bezerra proceeded to carry these documents with him to city meetings, showing local politicians: "I've got future business leaders of America visiting my community, and you can't even pave our streets?!"

The 2005 group also raised $1,000 which Bezerra and leaders of 4 other nearby communities invested in a series of "Sunday in the Community" events to the delight of the residents of these 5 communities. These events included dance, theatre, singing, capoeira, and more.

3 Year Party

2006-02-27T15:01:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, February 23rd, we celebrated 3 years at the Casa in Rio. During these three years, CatComm's Casa do Gestor Catalisador hub for community leaders from across the Rio metro region has attracted over 1300 individuals from across the city (over 75 neighborhoods), the State of Rio, Brazil, and the world. The festivities coincided with the launch of Rio de Janeiro's 2006 carnival in the square where the Casa is located.

This year, perhaps 30,000 people were in our public square, with approximately 100 friends of CatComm -- community leaders, NGO representatives, university professors and students, and foreigners -- celebrating with us at the Casa. Some made masks. Some danced. Some sang. Some threw confetti on the onlookers below. Others bought a uniquely prepared 2006 carnival t-shirt to help support the Casa's efforts.

Here are some of the photographs from the evening's events, that began at 5pm and lasted until 11pm:

To see a short video of the early moments of the party, click here. To check out the immense crowd below, click here.

By this time next year we hope to be celebrating in a new, larger space, with full-time community radio and documentary-making workshops for leaders and a self-sustaining business model.

Join us!

Our Goal: A Self-Sustaining Casa

2006-02-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

Thank you to all those who've sent in comments and suggestions on next steps.

I´d love to know how readers might be willing and able to help in this effort now that we´ve defined the steps. Our biggest hurdle is going to be buying a space with the location and size to allow this work to truly expand, which could cost between US$150-400,000.

Having purchased the space, we have several high potential ideas for achieving a self-sustaining balance where the center would pay for itself, which would reduce CatComm´s fundraising need over the coming years to simply covering our site (though we are working on an alternative plan to achieve a self-sustaining site, as well; more news on this will come!!). We want to create an organization that covers its own costs.

Here are some of the ideas we are working on for a self-sustaining space, assuming we can own the building:

A 3-4 storey house would allow us to rent the first floor to an alternative restaurant (these are becoming popular in Rio´s downtown) serving vegetarian foods and educating about lifestyle changes. The first floor rent could literally pay for the costs of maintaining the rest of the Casa while educating the general public not only about lifestyle changes but also hosting our exhibitions of community art, and events in the evenings by community organizers (debates, art launches, theatrical and hip hop presentations...)
A 3-storey house with a first floor organized and run by local fair trade groups could generate income for local fair trade, handicraft and community artisans, while providing income towards the Casa. This first floor could also host events in the evenings as described above.
A 3-4 storey house would allow enough room to rent small office space to community organizations as they grow and need a downtown presence, at very low cost, as is done in the San Francisco Women´s building. One organization has expressed interest in launching, in the new Casa, a fixed space for regular capacity-building trainings to teach other community leaders how to set up community radio stations, and to hold discussions on the impact of the media and communications.

These are some ideas. We welcome others!

Warmly,

Theresa

Next Steps

2006-02-14T08:21:00.000-05:00

Today, all 800+ community organizers who´ve benefitted from the Casa over the years were sent an email, updating them on developments. Here´s that email, inviting them (and you!) to get involved in this exciting new beginning...

Dear Rio organizers,

The responses we´ve received from you demonstrating your concern and care towards CatComm and the Casa have been deeply moving. More than 40 leaders responded to our last message, from all over the city, wanting to know how they could provide support in the reconstruction of the Casa. Several people asked us to keep them informed regarding decisions made.

Since the break-in on January 17th, we had an open meeting at the Casa, while simultaneously collecting recommendations and suggestions via email. We concluded that we will take advantage of this incident to take a leap in improving our work, searching for new options that will bring more activities and visibility to the community projects in Rio, in addition to seeking a solution that will allow the Casa to be financially self-sustaining.

For this, we´ve defined the following next steps:

Activities at the current Casa location will be brought to an end with a big birthday party (three years) on February 23, at 5pm, taking advantage of this opportunity to open Rio´s 2006 carnival with the local block Escravos da Mauá. This will be an opportunity to commemorate the closing of a cycle and launch of a new one. We look forward to seeing many of Rio´s community organizers then!
Next we will focus our attention on the search for a new space that offers greater visibility and more room, to better meet our mission: bringing more visibility to local projects across Rio de Janeiro and offering greatly expanded opportunities for horizontal community exchange and capacity-building. We are counting on local organizers to recommend new spaces in Rio´s center (between Lapa and Gamboa).
As soon as as we have some good basic options, we will send out an email to all the community organizers who frequent the Casa to vote. One of the options will be to maintain the current location of the Casa.
As soon as the results are tallied, we will finalize the partnerships we need to implement the Casa in its new location. Please let us know how you´d like to partner and support this process!
Installations of new equipment in the technology center, meeting rooms, workshop rooms, kitchen, and electrical work and painting will be carried out.
The new Casa will be launched in grand style!

Your collaboration is not only welcome but vital as we move towards this objective. Please be in touch with suggestions, ideas, resources and the rest! Let us know which of these steps you´d like to be involved in.

Excited to move forward,

CatComm Staff
(Marilia Ferreira, Roseli Franco, Martha Mazzei, Neuza Nascimento, Edilson Pinheiro, Theresa Williamson, Rosa Zambrano)

Catalytic Communities (CatComm)
theresa@catcomm.org
http://www.catcomm.org

Casa address:
Beco João José No. 7, Largo São Francisco da Prainha, Saúde, Rio de Janeiro