Working Boy Center

In 1964, the Working Boys' Center began with 200 shoeshine and street worker boys in the attic of the Church of the Society of Jesus in the old center of Quito.{{Cite news|work=El Telegrafo|url=http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/sociedad/4/centro-del-muchacho-trabajador-capacita-a-los-emprendedores-urbanos|title=Beginnings|access-date=30 March 2017}} Early primary education was given, along with three daily meals and health care. Boys were trained in carpentry and shoemaking.

In 1974, a headquarters was set up at La Marin, a neighborhood in north Quito. Working children's families were included in a comprehensive training program, adding adult education and vocational education training in various technical skills.

In 1981, the opening of a second Working Boys' Center in northwest Quito, at Cotocollao, resulted in the extension of services to 400 families.{{cite news |last1=The Center for Working Families |title= Historical Timeline |url=http://www.c4wf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/History-Timeline-20131.pdf |access-date=29 October 2021 |work=The Working Boys' Center |date=2014 |via=Center for Working Families}}

In 1984, the Craft Defense Board and the Ministry of Education gave official recognition to the technical education workshops. A clinic was later added to health services and health promoters were trained. Marketing was taught in a business school joined to the workshops. A training program for micro-entrepreneurs was launched and microfinance loans made available.

Product donation campaigns, begun as the CMT Milk Drop Society, led in 2002 to the {{lang|es|Gota de Leche}}, 'Drop of Milk' program. This provides nutritional supplementation and health care monitoring to malnourished children, along with child development and health promotion skills classes for their parents.{{cite news |last1=Lefevere |first1=Patricia |title=Center teaches entire families in Ecuador |url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/world/center-teaches-entire-families-ecuador |access-date=29 October 2021 |work=National Catholic Reporter |date=27 March 2009 |language=en}}{{cite web| url=https://centromuchachotrabajadorquito.blogspot.com/2018/08/historia-1964-1974-nos-iniciamos-en-un.html | title= Historia |website=Centro Muchacho Trabajador Quito |language=es-ES |access-date=2017-03-31 |archive-date=9 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709031335/http://centromuchachotrabajador.org/wp/historia }}{{better source|date=February 2019}}

At a 2015 speaking appearance at the center, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa acknowledged its help in reducing child labor over the past eight years from over 16% to under 3%.{{Cite news|url=http://www.andes.info.ec/es/noticias/presidente-correa-destaca-reduccion-trabajo-infantil-ratifica-compromiso-erradicarlo.html|title=Presidente Correa destaca reducción del trabajo infantil y ratifica compromiso para erradicarlo - ANDES|work=www.andes.info.ec|access-date=2017-03-31}}

Primary education for working children and a program for children with disabilities are offered.{{Citation|id=cmtq100|title=Centro del muchacho trabajador n. 1, graduados 2010|date=2010-07-06|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRHRfTRIUdI|access-date=2017-03-31}}{{better source|date=February 2019}} Technical education, extending to adults, involves training and internships in workshops while students study the specialties of automotive and industrial mechanics, carpentry and furniture-making, plumbing, cosmetology (beauty treatments), sewing and dressmaking,{{Cite web|url=http://www.secap.gob.ec/?p=1294|title=SECAP certifica a trabajadoras del área textil en Pichincha|language=es|access-date=2017-03-31|author1=((Servicio Ecuatoriano de Capacitación Profesional))|website=www.secap.gob.ec|date=23 September 2016 }} foodservice (restaurant and catering industry), and bakery. Adult training also offers a diploma of completion of primary education. Technical high school education with IRFEYAL ({{lang|es|Instituto Radiofónico Fe y Alegría}}, a distance education service based in Quito) is also available for those who wish to continue their studies.[http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/sociedad/4/centro-del-muchacho-trabajador-capacit El Telegrafo on urban entrepreneurs. Accessed 12 December 2016.] The center has offered a degree in Automotive Mechanics{{Cite web|url=http://cursos.universia.es/centro-del-muchacho-trabajador/z2d4a/|title=Centro Del Muchacho Trabajador|website=cursos.universia.es|language=Spanish|access-date=2017-03-31}} and was declared by the Ministries of Education and Labor the "best technical school in the nation" in 1997 and 2002.

==References==

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite report |last1=Corvalán Vásquez |first1=Oscar |last2=Lizarzaburu |first2=Alfonso |title=Los Programas de capacitación para trabajadores del sector informal en América Latina |date=1985|pages=95–102 |publisher=UNESCO IIEP |location=Paris |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000069339 |language=es |via=UNESDOC Digital Library}}
• {{cite book |last1=Unda Lara |first1=C. René |last2=Llanos Erazo|first2= Daniel |last3= Herrera Montero |first3=Luis |title=Espacios de socialización de niños, niñas y adolescentes en el Centro del Muchacho Trabajador; ámbitos: familia, escuela y trabajo |trans-title=Spaces of Socialization of Children and Adolescents in the Working Boys' Center: Family, school and work|date=2014 |publisher=Salesian Polytechnic University; Ediciones Abya Yala|location=Quito, Ecuador |oclc=1001557953 |isbn=9789978101872}}

• [https://www.irfeyal.org/ IRFEYAL Radiophonic Institute website]
• [http://www.alainet.org/es/active/54871 Latin American Information Agency]

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Category:Jesuit development centres

Category:Organisations based in Ecuador

Category:Poverty-related organizations

Category:Organizations established in 1964