Abrace Inc. - Brazilian Association of Culture and Education

“Expenses advertising and promotion 471 office 495 information technology 1,717 insurance 1,288 business expenses, fees 3,119 postage & mailing service 261 telephone/communications 133 total 7,484”

“Accounts receivable 4,613 4,520 inventories for sale or use 1,589 1,483 prepaid expenses and deferred charges 1,146 1,105 total 7,348 7,108”

“Accounts payable and accrued expenses 8,696 350 deferred revenue 48,428 48,459”

“Abrace, inc.'s primary purpose is to promote and preserve the cultural, educational and social integration of the brazilian community in the united states, with a focus on the washington, dc metropolitan area, while strengthening the cultural ties between brazil and the united states. Our vision is to be recognized as an organization that, through participation and involvement of parents, teachers and children, inspires the community to embrace its brazilian identity and use this asset actively in their lives.”

“Brazilian heritage language program for children. Abrace offers portuguese as a heritage language classes to children and grandchildren of brazilian immigrants. Last year we had an average of 125 students who attended classes on saturday mornings throughout two semesters. In august of 2021, we successfully transitioned back to holding in-person classes and other educational activities for children and their families, while keeping the virtual format available to families who either resided in distant locations or preferred to maintain the social-distanced learning environment for their children. Our families, teachers, friends and partners came together and demonstrated tremendous support, by participating in the activities, volunteering in events, and promoting our program. The youth volunteer program, projov, created in january of 2018, remained strong and was essential in supporting the educational activities throughout the year. The program enables teenagers, ages 14- to 17-year- old, speakers of portuguese as a heritage language, to combine their interests and talents and engage in making the learning experience fun and meaningful for the community. We were able to meet the interest and demand of 12 adolescents during the fall months and increase this number to welcome 15 teenagers during the following semester. These valuable members of our community contributed with a variety of activities, such as producing tutorials and storytelling videos to younger kids, organizing and maintaining our library, supporting teachers with learning activities in the classrooms, developing and promoting a reading incentive program (ler bom demais), volunteering during social events, interacting with parents and visitors, participating in group discussions, among others endeavors that expand the concept of community service. In the first four years of projov, this program was coordinated by a volunteer who dedicated time and effort to plan, organize and implement a meaningful and successful experience to all involved - teenagers, teachers, students and families. In october of 2022, the board of directors approved this position to be added and qualified as an independent contractor. The mobile library received book donations that enriched our collection even more. With more than 1700 books in portuguese, the library remains a valuable resource for the community beyond the families of abrace's students. Every other saturday, we brought the library to the school and offered access to a variety of children's and young adults' literature, while providing fun and educational activities as storytelling, group discussions and book presentations. Many families took advantage of these opportunities to enrich their children's literacy skills and language learning outside the classes and group environment. In coordination with the youth volunteer program (projov), the library was also a great resource for reading and storytelling offered during the virtual classes.”

“Activities for adults: abrace offers brazilian portuguese language classes for non-portuguese speakers on a regular basis and various workshop classes and lectures, throughout the year, for families who live in a multicultural environment. Our goal is to provide resources for social/cultural integration for brazilian-american families in the washington metropolitan area and beyond, given the new horizons that virtual learning opened during the pandemic. Throughout the year we also hold frequent teacher development sessions, in which important educational and pedagogical topics are presented and discussed. Teachers explore portuguese as a heritage language concepts, strategies and resources to be able to better support families in their efforts to nurture the connection to brazilian language and culture. We will continue to offer opportunities for adults in our community. These initiatives aim to support them in exploring the field of language development and strengthening their multicultural identity. In the spring of 2022, abrace relocated its program to a new school. We started holding classes at langley high school, a recently renovated school that provided a state of the art facility, which allowed for the expansion of some of our social and cultural activities.”

“Other cultural programs and events: cultural-educational we offered offered special literature and literacy- developing activities for children and youth with the objective of strengthening their language and knowledge in the arts. The youth volunteers led a reading incentive program called "ler e bom bemais", in which children are encouraged to log their daily reading, in portuguese, in exchange for small incentives/prizes when they finish a reading log. We were glad to report that, even with the social distancing measures, the adolescents were able to collect more than 100 reading logs with more than 1200 books listed.the brazilian government, through the brazilian embassy in washington, d.c. Supported this reading program by donating towards the purchase of prizes and school supplies for the library. In partnership with educarte, an arts non-profit organization, we offered music education classes to all of our students during this year. Throughout the year, our children explored basic music concepts and instruments while learning and enjoying popular brazilian children's songs. At the end of each semester, each class presented their song to an audience of parents and teachers. Other cultural programs: after more than 2 years following strict health and safety measures due to the pandemic, and avoiding social gatherings, we were finally able to hold our traditional book fair in may of 2022. This event offered several workshops for kids and adults on literacy building and resources for families and teachers. More than 300 attendees participated in these activities. Other social events offered during this year included the "literacy picnic" during fall 2021 and "festa junina" (folklore festivity) in june 2022.”