Mendoza city government, department of children and youth
Mendoza is a small city at the base of the Andes in western Argentina, with a rich downtown and desperately poor suburbs, which is to say, the classic city for street kids. And, as one might expect, for years, many kids inhabited the streets of the city. However, with the integrated work of the governments of the city, the province, and nearby towns, Mendoza has made tremendous strides.
Years ago, Mendoza began with an orthodox project: street educaction and a shelter system. In truth, they accomplished very little on the street, where kids were making good money selling candy or cleaning windshields. Perhaps more significantly, educators began to see that the shelter system was stacked against poor families: the city took many poor and abused kids from their families, but never a rich and abused kid. Nor could this old system cope with drug trafficking, where kids worked as runners, or with the gangs that emerged with drugs. Even though it seems impossible in the idyllic downtown, there is a gang-war in the nearby suburb of San Martín.
After a brief experiment with micro-shelters, the city decided to work directly in the communities that expell kids onto the streets. Today, the budget and the city’s workers are hightly de-centralized, with little work downtown and extensive work in the favelas. This change required a “Metropolitan contact” between the city, suburban governments, and the province.
Last year, the number of childen on the streets of Mendoza dropped by 80%. This success comes directly from the decision to work with families, sports, art, theater, and drug-prevention in the neighborhoods where poor children live. Family workers give food stamps to families who keep their kids in school and don’t make them work, as well as counseling and education. Most of these services are provided by small NGOs, financed by the city; others come from a group of peer educators.
Mendoza is a conservative city, and it is impressive that such a progressive program would take root in this context. The children and youth department understands that the city gives it money to keep kids off the streets, to keep the city “clean.” Even so, the program can use this money to do good, and it does.
Edificio Municipal, 7 Piso
Sergio Reynoso
Serfareynoso@hotmail.com
