Over the years Per Esempio, with the support of various sponsoring entities including private foundations and public bodies such as national ministries and European Commission departments, has continuously carried out aggregative, support, and empowerment activities with families in the neighborhood, as well as with children. In the last three years, based on a needs analysis, the association has decided to focus particularly on women’s conditions, specifically targeting young women and mothers who access the educational center, intervening with a specialized and multidisciplinary team primarily composed of professionals in the field.
Borgo Vecchio in Palermo, part of the VIII District of the city, is an ancient neighborhood in the city center that, in some respects, appears as a ghetto characterized by poverty, precarious work, undeclared work, and unemployment. It has a high population density, widespread petty crime, a relatively young population, and low educational attainment. Economic and social distress is exacerbated for single-parent or large families. There are numerous requests for financial assistance (recently largely absorbed by the “citizenship benefits”), job placement, and the availability of regular housing.
Public and social services, both general and dedicated to the care and protection of adolescents, are lacking. Gathering spaces and social venues, along with educational and cultural offerings, are scarce. For immigrant families, these vulnerabilities are compounded by their status as “foreigners.” Adult educational attainment rates are very low, and in families of foreign origin, language skills are often insufficient to support their children. The economic, social, and cultural marginality of families contributes to the processes of both external and self-ghettoization in neighborhoods. The analysis of the intervention context highlights a series of conditions that lead to a situation of chronic educational poverty.
By aggregating data provided by the schools we have collaborated with for several years and by city observatories, as well as from the most recent research focused on the high current risk of social exclusion exacerbated by the health and social emergency caused by the spread of COVID-19 (Save the Children 2019), a high percentage of fragile students at risk of school dropout emerges: those with irregular attendance, absences, repeaters, and those in a state of total abandonment.
The “Al Centro” Educational Research Center is a common good located on an accessible ground floor for all users, is a place dedicated to growth and social interaction, where community ties and supportive networks are built. Here, a multidisciplinary team composed of psychologists and educators carries out various projects that, despite their specificities, all aim to create pathways for support, social empowerment, awareness, and emancipation according to the methodology of community work and street education.
The center hosts various activities aimed at children, adolescents and women, including:
– Study support for boys and girls aged 11 to 18
– Support for young adult women to obtain middle school diplomas
– Recreational and expressive workshops like theater and sports
– Social secretariat desk
– Job orientation through the start of paid internships for young adult women
– Body awareness/dance workshop
– Psychological help desk for students and the entire school community
– Training workshops at the Paolo Borsellino Institute, a project partner
Two of the ongoing interventions are entirely dedicated to adolescent girls and young adult women, with an all-female path that, through meetings with experts in various fields of care, aims to build awareness of rights and well-being.