Brazilian activist Maria Helena Moreira Alves will present “Urban Violence, Inequality and Social Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil” at 7 p.m. today at the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies across from Anderson Hall.

Alves is the institutional director of Viva Rio, a non-governmental organization based in Rio de Janeiro that works with the city’s favelas, which are extremely poor neighborhoods, said John Alexander, assistant director for NIU Latino & Latin American Studies.

Viva Rio works with more than 300 favelas that surround Rio de Janeiro to address the issue of urban gun violence, substance abuse and economic development. The program is an internationally acclaimed success that is currently being studied by the World Bank for funding and replication in other countries, Alexander said.

Alves was a member of the faculty in economics at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and has taught in various colleges and universities in the United States and in Chile, Alexander said.

Alves will present an important perspective on the nature of policing and community development in large urban environments, Alexander said.

For students interested in democracy and Latin America, Alves’ talk will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the problems and challenges of urban government and urban policy-making in Brazil’s second-largest city, Alexander said.

Her books in English include “Grassroots Organizations, Trade Unions and the Church Challenge to the Controlled Abertura in Brazil” and “State and Opposition in Military Brazil.” She also has written book chapters including “The Political and Socio-economic Transformations Wrought by the New Labour Movement in the City and Beyond,” in “World Cities and Beyond: Globalization, Development and Inequality.”