Our mission is to build bridges of opportunity to enable young people to develop the skills necessary to become effective leaders and inspired members of their communities

BRAYCE brings underprivileged young people already in established programs in Rio de Janeiro to Camp Hazen in Connecticut, USA, where they enhance their life and leadership skills before returning to apply them on projects in their own communities. Later, we plan to bring American youngsters to Brazil for community projects, language courses and environmental studies. BRAYCE works with, and has the full support of, established and esteemed youth development and leadership training organizations in Brazil and the United States.

The overall purpose of the BRAYCE initiative is in total harmony with the views of the US Ambassador to Brazil, Clifford Sobel, who delivered the following words to the US Congress.

"I look forward to building new bridges and being part of our transformational diplomacy. Many of our most important successes are not in the headlines of newspapers. I have been and will be a huge supporter of exchange programs. We must make a real effort to expose young Brazilians from all backgrounds to the United States. Working with the Brazilian government, I look forward to reaching out, as we do so well in the US., to those who have not received the benefits of international trade and an expanding economy, including those that are disadvantaged, at-risk and left behind."

click for Samba Rio poster enlarged

click here to view video of  the 2007 Samba Dance