Belo Horizonte Community Meets
Minas Fund Projects 

Yesterday the BrazilFoundation community in Belo Horizonte came together for an evening to meet team members from several projects supported through the Minas Fund. The small get-together, hosted by Adriana Esteves and Rejane de Paula ( Miami Committee), was an opportunity for donors and partners to get to know the projects, their challenges, and to exchange ideas.

Representatives from three projects were present, including: João Souza, of Fa.Vela, who spoke of itts work in stimulating entrepreneurialism and supporting small businesses in the Morro do Papagaio Community of Belo Horizonte; Keila Vardele, of Associação de hortifrutigranjeiros de Bento Rodrigues – AHOBERO, explained how the organization is striving to generate income opportunities for people in the area affected by the environmental disaste through the local production of pepper jams; and Stephanie Robbe, of Mãos a Obra, an initiative supported through the Community Innovation Award that provided professional training in the culinary arts for 18 youths in Belo Horizonte.

Adriana Esteves, host, noted, “The [evening] gave us the opportunity to meet three inspiring projects that prove that Brazil is possible and that if we join forces we can change our realities”.

During the event, the Minas projects present also managed to coordinate means to join forces for their projects. Stephanie Robbe, of Mãos a Obra, noted, “We haven’t yet had the opportunity to give classes on entrepreneurship to our students. João, President of Fa.Vela, hasn’t yet had the chance to work with youth, only adults. So we coordinated a way for us to give entrepreneurial classes for the students at Mãos à Obra.”

João Souza, of Fa.Vela, commented, “Last night was an opportunity for dialogue on collaboration to create the BrazilFoundation Minas Chapter. We got the chance to understand the profile of the companies and social actors in the state and how we can build a network of supporters, investors and the leaders of the supported projects. We are stronger now! We increasingly believe in a #brasilpossível”.

We would like to extend a thank you to the event hosts for making this special evening possible!

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