Shine a light (SAL)

la red internacional pro niños de la calle

Sobre nosotros

Shine a light recognizes that real solutions to youth homelessness emerge not from ivory towers or bureaucratic offices, but from grass roots organizations in São Paulo, Bogotá, and Mexico City. SAL supports these programs and provides the tools with which they can share, culturally appropriate models. Unfortunately, the organizations that developed these models have neither the time nor the resources to share them. As a result, every year organizations throughout Latin America have to reinvent the wheel. Shine-a-light strives to overcome the barriers that prevent an agency in Buenos Aires from learning from its counterpart in Mexico City. Our web-based street kids' network and street kid listserve promote the constant idea exchange, model sharing, and collaborative problem solving. Shine-a-light staff travel to the most dangerous corners of even the most isolated Latin American cities to connect individuals and groups to a network that can help them help street kids. We are the medium that makes local solutions international.

In addition to this important work to empower local organizations to help each other, Shine-a-light helps distribute intellectual and financial resources to needy organizations across the region:

- The Indigenous Solutions Project uses the insights of Indian leaders and advocates such as Melel Xojobal to teach street educators and shelter workers respect and cultural sensitivity for indigenous street children.
- The Project on Tourism and Youth Homelessness is working to create an innovative partnership between the Italian tourist industry and Mexican organizations that help street children.
- The Project against Gang Violence documents the best practices of organizations providing producting, non-violent options for youth.
- The Critical Theory project is a partnership with Brasilian universities to develop the intellectual tools to understand the roots of youth homelessness.
- The Street Kids and Soccer project supports an innovative public-private partnership to use football as a way to help street and working children find a better life.
- The Diverse Families Initiative documents and disseminates two of the most successful models for work with the families of street children.

Kurt G. Shaw is the Executive Director of SAL.

For other net participants we can offer expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, deliver a lecture and establish new contacts in the field of our work.