PHILADELPHIA –- The University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice’s Master of Science in Social Policy program will host a photographic exhibit, “Barrios, Vol. 1,”’ and a panel discussion on Thursday, Dec. 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. at La Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St.

Carlos Beltrán, a journalist, documented the everyday lives of children and families in the poorest neighborhoods in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, for six months. 

“Barrios, Vol. 1,” Beltrán’s series of 25 black-and-white photographs, captures the realities of life in dire poverty.

The event will feature a panel discussion featuring Beltrán; Philippe Bourgois, a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor in the School of Medicine and in the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, whose work focuses on the structural and ethnic power hierarchies and social problems related to inner-city apartheid; and Temple University assistant professor Naomi Schiller, who has studied Venezuela.

“This project is focused on people, their survival and how their lives are affected by the policies that exist in their country,” Karla Sainz, a social-policy student and event organizer, said.  “These people are not living; they are merely surviving.”

“Barrios, Vol. 1” is co-sponsored by School of Social Policy & Practice’s Master of Science Program in Social Policy, the School’s Latino Social Service & Policy Initiative, the Latino Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, the School’s Graduate Student Hispanic/Latino Alliance for Change and Equity, the Latin American and Latino Studies Program and La Casa Latina.