Scholarship and Academic Support Program

Centro Conviven: Family Community Center

Villa Lugano and Mataderos districts
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Presentation

Many of the disadvantaged youth of the greater Buenos Aires area dream of finishing high school and of earning a university degree. Such educational achievement would represent a significant change in their lives and would open new doors to them. These youth, however, face formidable challenges in making their dream reality. Having received poor primary and secondary education in most cases, they often find themselves hopelessly behind and at risk of getting lost in the large, complex educational system. Additionally, they struggle to meet the costs of continuing their education. Although public education is free of charge at all levels in Argentina, paying for school supplies, food, and even transportation represents a significant financial burden for these youth and their families.

Centro Conviven, recognizing these circumstances, is starting a program to address the barriers that these Buenos Aires youth face in completing secondary and higher education. This program purports to provide both academic and financial support to a select group of motivated students to help them turn their dream of a quality education into reality. This program in its spirit and structure will aim to become self-sustaining and an integral part of the community. The program’s beneficiaries will be encouraged to give back to the program, acting as tutors and mentors for future participants. In this way, the program will instill a commitment to investing in the community and its younger generations. Above all, the Conviven Scholarship and Academic Support Program, which springs from a belief that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, will promote the value of education within the surrounding neighborhoods and the larger Buenos Aires community.

Background

In Argentina, there is a strong commitment to guaranteeing access to education, at all its levels, to all people. While this commitment is upheld in that education is free of charge and generally accessible, problems with quality and proper academic and financial support have left many Argentines with a poor or incomplete education. At present, among the most pressing problems are the high dropout rates recorded at all levels of education but in particular at the secondary and tertiary levels. For instance, at the University of Buenos Aires, the country’s premiere university, only 20 percent of students actually receive a diploma, and of this 20 percent, the large majority comes from the middle and upper classes. The graduation rates for the more disadvantaged populations from university and even from high school are troublesomely low.

In the district where Centro Conviven is located—Educational District 20 of the city of Buenos Aires—, the majority of residents have not completed secondary school and many of them have not even completed primary school. According to one study, 85 percent of the adults and youth of this zone are in “high risk educational circumstances”, which in turn puts them at risk of being excluded from or taken advantage of in other areas of social, economic and political life. While the educational difficulties in Buenos Aires are widespread, the most acute problems are found in regions such as this one. For this reason, Centro Conviven seems an ideal place to start a pilot program aimed at remedying some of the system’s failures.

Plan

Overview

This program will offer both academic and financial support to the students selected. Through individual tutoring, summer prep courses and the provision of study space and materials, the program will aim to equip the students with the academic preparation and tools to succeed in their studies. The small scholarships should cover their basic academic expenses. Below please find a more complete description of each aspect of the program.

Tutoring

Each student will have his/her individual tutor who will monitor his/her academic progress and offer vocational guidance. Should the student have trouble in a particular class, the tutor will be responsible for tutoring the student or for finding an appropriate tutor for the particular subject matter. The tutor will also monitor the student’s spending of the monthly stipend and submit regular reports on the student’s progress. Initially, during the summer prior and during the student’s first academic year with the program, the student must meet with the tutor once a week. After this time, the student and the tutor may come to a more flexible arrangement, but they still must meet at least once a month.

Summer Prep Course

Conviven will offer a summer prep course for the university scholarship students in order to prepare them for the academic challenges of starting university. This course will cover the basic knowledge that is expected of high school graduates and will teach study skills. The course will be a month in duration and will be taught by university graduates or current students who are familiar with the introductory courses.

The summer prep course for high school art students will be conducted somewhat differently. While there will be some focus on the theoretical classes that comprise part of the art school curriculum, greater emphasis will be placed on art workshops so that students will be able to continue to practice and develop techniques over the summer. Also, there will be a few scheduled museum visits.

Conviven Study Center

Conviven is planning the construction of a small library/study center that will serve as a quiet place for neighborhood students to study and will provide them with books and academic supplies. This study center will house a manual on different higher education offerings in the area, books and photocopies required for introductory courses at the University of Buenos Aires, and communal academic supplies.

Scholarships

These scholarships are small but should offer the necessary financial support to these students to lessen the financial strain of pursuing further academic study. The amounts have been carefully calculated according to the costs of pursuing a university degree or art school.

Needs

Instructors

• Volunteers from the university to be tutors
o Agreements will be reached with student groups from various faculties within the UBA to set up a volunteer tutoring program
• Volunteers to teach summer preparation course

Infrastructure

• Construction of small library in Centro Conviven
• Manual on different higher education offerings in the area
• Academic materials
• Collection of books relevant to introductory courses
• Photocopies of the notes and reading materials for the Ciclo Basico Comun introductory courses that are required of all students entering the University of Buenos Aires (Pensamiento Cientifico, Sociedad y Estado)

Financial

• Scholarship for a university student: 250 pesos (83 USD) per month
• Scholarship for high school art student: 190 pesos (63 USD) per month
Drawing board: 65-130 pesos
Various materials: 250 pesos per semester/500 pesos per year
Lunch: 70 pesos per month/630 pesos per year
Extracurricular Activities: 50 pesos per month/450 pesos per year
Academic notes: 30 pesos per month
Academic books: 160 pesos per year
• Construction of small library in Conviven: 1,500 pesos (500 USD)

Minimum Needed to Start Pilot Program in 2006

• Scholarships for three university students: 250 pesos x 3 people x 9 months = 6.750 pesos (2,250 USD)
• Scholarships for two art students: 190 pesos x 2 people x 9 months = 3.420 pesos (1,140 USD)
• Administrative costs (for academic materials, etc.) = 1.000 pesos (333.34 USD)

TOTAL FOR 2006 = 11.170 pesos (3,723.34 USD)

Implementation Plan

Centro Conviven hopes to be able to launch a pilot program for the 2006 academic year. Given time and monetary limitations, this pilot program will be launched on a limited scale with only 10 students total (5 university-bound students and 5 art school students). Conviven hopes to be able to offer an abbreviated two-week summer prep course, individual tutors for these 10 students and small stipends.

Over the course of this year, the program will be closely monitored and analyzed. Based on the results of this initial year, adjustments will be made and hopefully the program can offer all the services outlined here to a larger group of students in 2007.

Timeline 2006-2007

• January – February 2006
o Writing project proposal and seeking out funds
o Making agreements with student groups in the UBA and the art schools
o Confirming student selection

• Late February 2006
o Abbreviated summer course

• March 2006
o School year begins
o Regular meetings with tutors begin

• July 2006
o Winter break
o Conduct interim review of program and begin to make adjustments

• September – December 2006
o Planning for expansion of program

• January 2007
o Preparations for summer course

• February 2007
o Month-long summer course

• March 2007
o Start of school year

Impact

This program is inspired by a belief that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. Among the disadvantaged populations of Buenos Aires, high educational achievement is infrequent due to the numerous elusive barriers that these populations face. Students often fall through the cracks, fall hopelessly behind, or fall into difficult financial circumstances, and consequently end up dropping out of school. This program will offer the requisite support to allow students who would otherwise have such problems to complete their education and to excel.

Moreover, the program will work to promote the value of education within the community and to instill within the community’s youth the expectation that they not only graduate from high school but also attend university. At the moment, graduating from university or even high school is an exceptional rather than a normal occurrence. By putting resources, energy and attention towards education issues, this program will start to raise the profile of education and plant the idea in the minds of today’s youth that to get a university degree is indeed possible and important.

APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Description of Centro Conviven

Conviven
Family Community Center
(Faith and Service Community)

Conviven, Education and Commitment:
"in, from and for Life".

Conviven seeks to promote and strengthen the community development of the girls, boys, adolescents, youth, and families of the Villa Lugano and Mataderos neighborhoods.
We are committed to creating spaces for recreation, occupational training, and educational, cultural and community activities.

Educational and Training Activities:

-Child Care for 2 to 5 year olds

-Computer Training Course

Primary Education: Literacy, Basic Education and Work Program – PAEBYT.
Adulto 2000 – Long distance secondary education for adolescents older than 21
Drawing and Painting Workshop for adolescents
Art Education for children
Basic Cooking Class: Baking and Pastry-making
Educational Tutoring for primary and secondary school students
Academic support for primary and secondary school
Psychotherapeutic Games Workshop for children
Languages: English and French
Sewing Workshop (Dressmaking)

Cultural Activities:

Circus School for children, adolescents and youth
- Beginning Circus for children and youth
- Integrated Circus for children and youth: stilts, trapeze, juggling, acrobatics, and clowns
Art Education
Plastic, Construction, Theatre and Voice, Dramatics.
Textile Arts
Taller de Macramé
Loom Workshop
Tapestry Workshop

Music Workshop: Guitar, bass, keyboard, and reading music

Dance Workshop: Hip Hop for adolescents and youth

Ph15 Photography Workshop for adolescents and youth

Others

Literary Workshop
Adult Popular Theater Workshop
Theater Workshop for children
Therapeutic Dance Workshop
Art for children

Recreational, ecological and sports activities

Productive Social Endeavors

Productive Textile Practice:
Hardworking hands – Macramé, loom and tapestry
Social Sewing Factory

Place of Sales: Stands at the Ferias de Mataderos and foreign companies.

Address: Martiniano Leguizamón 2974 – CABA – TelFax: 4 6865995
E-Mail: centroconviven@yahoo.com.ar
Website: www.centroconviven.org.ar

Appendix 2: Biographies of Sample Students

Carla Noelia Gonzalez Marquez, 19

Carla has always wanted to study medicine. Upon graduating from high school last year, she went to register for the CBC but found she had missed the registration period. Not wanting to lose time, she signed up for a course in radiology through the UBA’s education at a distance program. She is now in her second semester of radiology and has started her first semester of the CBC in preparation for a career in medicine. For the coming academic year she has registered for the CBC as a regular student. She plans to complete her courses for radiology while also doing the required courses for a career in medicine.

Nancy Alfonso, __

When Nancy was finishing high school, she began to think about the university and her future. She decided to study kinesiology and registered for CBC. However, she struggled with the introductory courses and ended up dropping out after two semesters because she did not feel it was fair to ask her mother to pay for her academic expenses if she was not doing well. Talking about her experience, Nancy explains that she did not feel sufficiently prepared academically for the university-level courses. She said that those with good academic preparation are able to succeed in the CBC, but there is little support for students who arrive without adequate preparation. What would have helped her most to be able to continue with her studies would have been additional tutoring or help in chemistry, mathematics and physics. Nancy is anxious to return to school and feels that with additional academic and financial support she will be able to succeed.

Fatima Angela Gonzalez, 24

Since she was a young girl, Fatima has wanted to be an artist. In pursuit of this dream, Fatima attended a vocational art institute and completed a teacher’s degree in drawing at Rogelio Yrurtia of the Escuela de Bellas Artes. At 24, she has painted various murals in Buenos Aires, has worked in restoration and has had her works displayed in expositions. Fatima hopes to continue studying and wants to a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.

Sebastian Salvatierra, 15

Sebastian has completed two years of art school and will start his third year in March. Thus far, he has done quite well in the Fader School of the Escuela de Bellas Artes but has struggled some with the economic burden, given that art school is particularly costly. He currently receives a scholarship from the school that provides him with 75 pesos per month. While he has been able to manage with this, additional funds would allow him to buy the supplies he needs. He would also be eager to take advantage of additional tutoring and workshops offered through the program.

Lucas Vidal, 15

Lucas attended the Escuela de Bellas Artes last year but struggled over the course of that year to cover the expenses of his studies. Without any kind of scholarship support, he had a lot of trouble buying all of the required art supplies. At times, he had to walk to school because he did not have enough money for the bus. While he really enjoyed art school, he has decided to attend a regular high school this coming year in large part because of the financial difficulties. He would like to return to art school eventually though and believes that additional academic and financial support would make that possible.

Centro Conviven® Centro de convivencia para la familia "Conviven, Educación y Compromiso: en ...desde ...y para la vida"

http://www.centroconviven.org.ar

centroconviven@yahoo.com.ar