Improve employability skills of young black women

Summary

Getting your first professional job isn't an easy task in the Northeast of Brazil. It is especially difficult if you're a young black woman from a low-income family with little support from your family, school, or community on how to do so. Professional mentoring for these 25 young women is a decisive way to build bridges that connect their abilities to their dreams.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Although the recent breakthroughs in the Brazilian Economy brought new opportunities to the economically backward northeast, these aren't open for everyone. Lack of information, prejudice however, have created a scenario in which it is four times harder for a young black woman to get her first job than to the average young Brazilian. This creates many other problems, as many of these young women give up their dreams of using their jobs to pay their college education and getting social mobility.

How will this project solve this problem?

The project plans to create a personal mentoring relation between experienced professionals and these young women. Each mentor would help a mentee to understand the job market, knowing where to look for job opportunities, how to conquer them and to deal with their individual difficulties. Another team would create employability workshops to help all the mentees in subjects such as how to develop a professional image and career counseling for those who haven't chosen their professional fields.

Potential Long Term Impact

The main goal of our project is to help at least 80% of the mentees into get their first job opportunity, and provide educational counseling for all of them in order for them to keep up their plans to get a college degree. Secondary objectives include converting the benefited young women to spread what they've learned in among their family and friends so as to increase the number of benefited individuals.

Project Message

Sometimes having a first job opportunity isn't just about getting the job. It is about knowing that there is a whole new world of possibilities out there, and that they're within your reach.
- Josicleide Moraes, Project Leader

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Project Id: #11574