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José Oliveira, called Júnior, creates, produces and markets the vibrant culture of Brazil's urban shantytown favelas for the express purpose of building cultural pride and creating positive new livelihoods for favela kids.

Tashka Yawanawá works to restore the dignity and sense of identity of indigenous communities in Brazil through a series of cultural revitalization efforts and innovative business partnerships—proving that maintaining cultural integrity need not conflict with achieving economic prosperity.

Jussara Gruber is helping the Ticuna indigenous people in Amazonas State to establish stronger identity and self-respect by organizing an ethnographic Museum reflecting the Ticuna's own priorities. The Museum she has established serves as an important tool for helping the Ticuna defend their culture...

In the sertão "hinterlands" of northeastern Brazil, Francisco Alemberg de Souza Lima offers children dignified alternatives to exploitative labor by presenting opportunities in communications, media, and tourism. As a result, with their own creativity and enhanced education, the region's young...

Jeronimo is working with different sectors to recognize and strengthen native beekeeping, valuing the diversity of its product, generating income to its traditional guardians and ultimately conserving the 250 native species of bees.

Socorro Guterres is putting Brazil's racial and cultural history in a positive light by changing the ways in which racial identity is treated in the public school system.

Joao Jorge Santos Rodrigues has been a life-long resident of Salvador, Bahia, the capital of Afro-Brazilian culture. He has learned how to strengthen neighborhood cultural organizations economically, legally, and by helping them provide new social and political leadership. He now hopes to spread his...

As the principal biologist and field organizer of an internationally supported effort to preserve the Spix's macaw, Marcos Da-Ré has developed a new approach to conservation that places heavy emphasis on the revitalization of the human communities that share habitats with endangered or threatened...

Tiberio Alloggio is turning community-based ecotourism–an ideal medium for the preservation of indigenous culture and the conservation natural resources–into an effective economic solution for the river populations of the Amazon region.