Charity Spotlight: Central Única das Favelas

As a child, Anitta had big dreams for her future despite her surroundings — the overcrowded streets of Rio de Janeiro’s impoverished favelas.

“When you’re born in a favela, you fall back into thinking there’s no opportunity for growth,” she says. “You see other people that have money, sure, but it’s hard to picture yourself in that same position.” Entities like Central Única das Favelas (CUFA), though, “push you to believe you can actually get somewhere.”

CUFA, the Brazilian organization founded more than years ago by entrepreneur Celso Athayde, aims to promote a more just and poverty-free society by providing favela residents with nonpro t educational programs and government-assisted aid. “This is an organization that I really trust,” Anitta says. “I’ve seen how it works, even in the most desperate times: During COVID, CUFA continued to provide educational opportunities. Plus, they donated food resources to the families that didn’t have access to them.”

CUFA’S programs range from teaching computer and technical skills to teenagers to o ering sports leagues and music workshops to people of all ages. Many of the music seminars and programs focus on the funk and hiphop cultures that inspire Anitta’s own music.

“I hope to have a charity of my own one day, similar to CUFA,” she says, “where I can focus my time and energy on helping the new generation of children growing up in the communities I was raised in.”

In the meantime, Anitta will raise money for CUFA any way she can, including renting out her custom-made red-carpet gowns.