In the Midst of Glitzy Art Basel, a Non-Profit Raises Awareness About Poverty in Latin America

Dec. 6, 2012— -- Among the high rollers that flock to Miami this week to peruse galleries at Art Basel Miami Beach, there's a youth-led non-profit organization called "Techo" that is here with a mission: to raise awareness about poverty in Latin America and collect funds to overcome it.

Led by 24-year-old CEO, Nicolas Berardi, the Chile-based Techo, or roof, is working together with families and volunteers in 19 countries to build transitional homes for people living in slums. Techo's aim is to eradicate poverty through a phased community development model in countries such as Peru, Colombia, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

They are in Miami during Art Basel, the biggest art fair in the U.S., to exhibit and auction the work of 19 renowned artists who intervened small-scale replicas of the houses that are built throughout Latin America. Also, Peruvian artist Fabian de la Flor is performing a live intervention of a full-scale model of the house, all 194 square feet of it.

Berardi hopes to replicate previous fundraising success and aims to surpass the $227,000 they raised last year, which helped them build 127 such houses.