Poor Youth, Violence and Citizenship

This article searches, from a social historical point of view, for ways of facing the violence that afflicts teenagers & youngsters of urban popular groups in Brazil. Violence is a complex phenomenon of great importance in many social substrates. The vulnerability of those teenagers & youngsters, as shown by a plurality of indexes, has reached unacceptable highs in Brazil, where the public policies, so far, have proven to be inadequate, insufficient & fragmented. Thus, the article reports & analyzes a social intervention based on education & on the defense of human rights deriving from citizenship, targeted on socially vulnerable teenagers & youngsters, specifically those living in a deprived region lacking basic social infrastructure located in a medium-sized town in the state of Sao Paulo. Different projects dealt with actions based on an interdisciplinary approach, according to the following aspects: a) School violence; b) Urban violence; c) Human rights violation & violence in the community. The results showed a collective frame related to actions concerning teenagers & youngsters of urban popular groups & their alternatives. Strategies for dealing with these matters in public spaces are formulated, from regular schools to more recent institutions concerning the contradictory logic of social rights. Therefore, subsidies are provided for public policies in order to reduce the differences, discrimination & violence that afflict teenagers & youngsters in Brazil. References. Adapted from the source document.