YCoP Links:The First 50 Issues - EQUIP123.net

LINKS LISTINGSof Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Casa Alianzaprograms follow five phases: (1) street outreach,(2) pre-community service, (3) crisis centers, (4)transition homes, and (5) group homes. Both thestreet outreach and the pre-community servicesphases work with children and youth who are stillliving on the streets and include emergency medicalcare, counseling, and drug rehabilitation. Thecrisis centers offer the youth a place to sleep andcontinued support with pre-community services, inaddition to informal education opportunities. Transitionhomes prepare youth for a more secure andstructured “family” life in group homes, by helpingthem develop long-term goals and enter into eitherformal education or vocational training programs.Casa Alianza also runs a number of other programs,including their LUNA HIV/AIDS program, a legalaid program, a “Mothers and Babies” program forstreet girls, and a family reintegration program.NGO RESPONSE. Begun in 1993, CAS approaches itswork with street children from a variety of angles.CAS manages a Refuge that acts as a drop-in centerwhere street children and youth can receive education,medical care or other assistance, with the exceptionof food and accommodation. CAS fieldworkersand street corner facilitators work with streetchildren in their own environment – the street, developingfriendships and bringing the other work ofCAS (education, medical care) directly to their clientsin Mini Refuges, which are intended “to create moreopportunities for street children to receive counsellingand advice.” A sponsorship program helpsstreet youth transition off the street and into formaleducation or vocational training programs. Finally,CAS runs Hopeland Training Center, which “providesa sort of half way house for street children who wantto leave the streets and be educated.”When CAS staff members realized that the problemsof street girls often differed from those ofstreet boys, they decided to create S.AID, which,in its infancy, was a day refuge for street girls andyoung women, many of whom were either pregnantor already young mothers. Contrary to CAS’sRefuge, S.AID decided to offer shelter to pregnantand nursing teenage mothers so that they wouldalso be able to receive prenatal and postnatalcare. S.AID also provides street girls with daycarefor their children (if necessary), education, and/or training, with the hope that they will be able totransition off of the street. Both CAS and S.AID alsohelp street children and youth reunite with theirfamilies, when possible.Catholic Action for Street Children andStreet Girls AIDhttp://www.cas-ghana.com/http://www.said-ghana.com/Central Uganda Case StudySee under Microfinance, Youth, and ConflictResearch InitiativeCatholic Action for Street Children (CAS) and StreetGirls AID (S.AID) are two organizations working withstreet children in the Accra metropolitan area inGhana. Both CAS and S.AID are under the umbrella8 | YCoP Links: The First 50 Issues