Young people from the Nova Holanda community and Morro do Timbau, in the Maré slums, in the north of Rio de Janeiro, will be able to attend two new centers created in the region by the AfroGames project. The objective is to promote digital inclusion and the generation of social impact on young people in vulnerable situations, residents of Rio’s slums.
The two centers are already prepared to receive 200 students. They will have English and game programming classes. The promoters of the activities want that, through new knowledge, these young people can increase the possibilities of professionalization and seek the inclusion of favelas in the billionaire world of games. The main objective is to use education and technology as a form of social transformation.
Classes, which will be held twice a week, will start on Monday (18) and will last for two hours. Each unit will receive 100 students.
The initiative emerged in 2019 in the community of Vigário Geral, also in the north zone. In the already installed project, 170 young people are served. The director of AfroGames, Ricardo Chantilly, informed that at least 20% of the students who have already gone through the first unit of the project are in the job market. According to him, companies are already looking for the project in search of manpower.
For the director, expanding the project is a challenge: “Complexo da Maré is a challenge, as it is the largest complex of favelas in Rio. For us, entering this highly populated territory and providing the opportunity for cutting-edge technology to the young people who live there is a dream,” he pointed out.
