Spend an afternoon talking to Rachel Stephaich, and you might come away wondering what exactly it is you've been doing with your life.
"I've always worked as a volunteer, since I was 13," says Stephaich, 48, a Shadyside resident.
Her latest project is called ProYouth, an organization she founded in 2005. Two years earlier she was vacationing with her family in her native Brazil when she read a newspaper article that she couldn't shake. It detailed the plight of 10 juvenile delinquents who had been crowded into an adult prison, a common situation in Brazil.
The incarcerated youth receive little or no medical care. They get no treatment for substance abuse, which many of them dearly need. And they are left to suffer the depredations of adult criminals. One of the teens described in the newspaper article died of an asthma attack.
"I found out that this is the general situation in Brazil. …There are laws to protect children's and adolescents' rights, but there are no resources to implement them," she says.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 20 percent of the Brazilian population between ages 15 and 24 are unemployed and not pursuing an education. That's where ProYouth comes in. Its mission is to keep them out of the criminal justice system and help them achieve a more positive future.
Initially, ProYouth is focusing its efforts in Stephaich's hometown, Juiz de Fora, in southeast Brazil. ProYouth has recruited dozens of community volunteers and organizations to develop programs aimed at reducing crime and violence among adolescents, helping them find work or complete their education.
ProYouth provides these volunteers and community groups with training, much of which takes place in the United States. They have studied, for example, successful programs at Pressley Ridge, the storied North Side organization for special needs and at-risk youth.
"What impressed me immediately when Rachel shared the idea with me was that she wanted to enhance the management and service delivery capabilities of the organizations already serving these children. In other words, she did not want to create yet another organization that would provide direct services. She did not want to reinvent the wheel," says Kevin Kearns, a ProYouth advisory board member and a professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA).
Stephaich met Kearns when she was his student at GSPIA, where she earned a master's degree in public and international affairs in 2004 – the same year she earned a second master's degree in public health, also from Pitt.
A dentist by profession, Stephaich's interest in public health and public administration grew out of her experiences in Brazil and in Haiti, where she volunteered at Hôpital Albert Schweitzer. The hospital was founded by William Larimer Mellon Jr. and his wife, Gwen, who were the aunt and uncle of Stephaich's husband, Peter. (Peter's great-grandfather is William Larimer Mellon Sr., the co-founder of Gulf Oil.) Stephaich's first trip to the hospital was nothing short of a revelation.
"I had lived in the Amazon, so I knew what poverty was. But this was something else," Stephaich says.
Initially, Stephaich wondered what use a dentist could possibly be in the face of such deprivation and chronic disease. But the hospital's medical director convinced her otherwise. Poor dental care contributes to malnutrition and aggravates the problems of aging. It also leads to social isolation: Imagine going through life being afraid to smile.
"Just like you and me, they need something called self-esteem," Stephaich says.
Stephaich established a dental clinic at the hospital, and she began to look into ways to prevent the nation's dental problems. She trained members of the hospital staff in infection control. She learned that both illiteracy and unemployment are rampant.
"It's not just health. It's not just education. It's a whole context," Stephaich says.
Even before she went to Haiti, Stephaich was no stranger to helping those in need. Her dental career began in the Amazon jungle, treating Indian tribes. In 1982, she went to work for a company that provided health care to construction workers building a dam on a tributary of the Amazon. She continued to provide dental care to Indian tribes as a volunteer.
That was when she met Peter, who was working for a French bank that was financing the construction of the dam. They moved to the United States and married in 1986. They lived in New York, where Rachel opened a practice on Fifth Avenue.
And guess what? In her free time, she was a volunteer – this time, at The Boys Club on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, providing dental care to underprivileged children and teens.
"Even working in that fancy office, I loved my work volunteering at The Boys Club," Stephaich says. "I loved that work. I really loved it."
For more information on ProYouth Brazil, including how to contribute or volunteer, visit www.proyouthbrazil.org or contact ProYouth Brazil Fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation, One PPG Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15222 or (412) 391-5122.
