In May 2004, Merrill Lynch & Co. Foundation, Inc. launched with the International Youth Foundation a new program in Brazil to equip nearly 500 young people with personal and employability skills that will help them find and keep a job. Working through the Fundação de Rotarianos de São Paulo (FRSP), the two-year program will offer IT training and financial literacy training to disadvantaged youth in Cotia, an industrial area on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.

The program is part of entra 21, an initiative of IYF and the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank to train up to 12,000 unemployed youth across Latin America and the Caribbean.

FRSP, through its professional training center CEPRO, is aiming to improve young people’s placement in the labor market, either as employees or entrepreneurs. Trainees, ages 16 to 19, participate in 350 hours of coursework, including technical training in information technology and office skills; and training in “life” skills such as communication, interpersonal relationships, and personal planning. Following this basic training, youth choose one of three specialties: computer installation and maintenance, telemarketing or computer graphics. CEPRO, which maintains close ties with the local business community, assist with placing graduates in jobs – a key component of the program. The jobs include positions in sales and telemarketing, technical IT support, as well as receptionists.

IYF’s entra 21 Program will also adapt and translate Merrill Lynch’s Investing Pays Off® (IPO®) financial literacy curriculum and materials for use in Brazil by the entra projects, including CEPRO, as part of their life skills training.