A Piazza dei Mestieri for Milan

C.There are already 200 young people engaged in professional training courses in the hub of via Miravalle, in Milan in the northern part of viale Monza, towards Sesto. And what counts is to reach 1000. A bar will open shortly, then it will be the turn of the restaurant. The new Piazza dei Mestieri it is already working, and now it officially presents itself to the city. The goal is to give the most fragile children an opportunityso that “nobody gets lost”, as the slogan of the project says. A pole that wants to become a point of reference for everyone, an agora open to innovation but also to local traditions. All the activities for children, to be emphasized, are free.

Some young people who follow the training courses of the Piazza dei Mestieri.

“We were born in Turin in 2004, then we expanded in Catania” says the president of Piazza dei Mestieri, Dario Odifreddi. “We wanted to offer vulnerable children a place that they felt like a home, where they could feel strong, recovering passion and hope. Each with their own times and ways, in full freedom ». The focus is on professional training courses, especially in the food chain. And then there are spaces for homeworkto help those who are behind do not miss the school year (and almost all do it), Italian courses for foreigners, digital education, also depending on the requests of the schools, or the services of the neighborhood with which you are on the net.

In Turin there is an ITS on ICT which has been awarded among the best in Italy, with hiring peaks between 90 and 100%. But even for those who graduate in vocational training, the results are excellent, with insertion rates between 60 and 80%, at least until 2020. And there is a job center that accompanies the students for two years after graduation. . In 2021 alone, over 5,000 young people were involved in the two centers.

The courtyard of the Piazza dei Mestieri, in Turin.

We have tried to create a bridge between school and work, with a view to dual training»Continues Odifreddi. “We have a restaurant open to the public, a bar, a hairdresser’s shop, we produce and sell bread, beer, chocolate. We are strong on traditional professions but also on digital ”. Now the arrival in Milan, thanks also to the commitment of the Cariplo Foundation, Enel Cuore Onlus, Intesa Sanpaolo, ITA 20-30 Committee. The new headquarters is in a newly renovated building of 3000 square meters in via Miravalle, a side street of Viale Monza, between Municipalities 2 and 9, in an area where the Neet are between 17 and 18%, data among the most high in Milan, and the risk of early school leaving is high.

«In this new location we will have great attention to sport and culture. We will organize theatrical performances, cultural events, sports activities open to the whole neighborhood, even to adults. We want to be inclusive, to become a point of reference and growth ». On the program 12 training courses, between traditional and innovative, accompanying activities for the employment of Neet, I support the study and integration of foreigners. “Here the protagonists are young people, flanked by adults who solicit their freedom and commitment”, says Odifreddi. “They must never feel marginal.”

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