19% of young people in Milan in the 15-29 age group are in the NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) condition; of this percentage, the majority come from the suburbs and/or in a context of socioeconomic hardship. In detail, we refer to: young mothers aged 25-29 with care responsibilities who are professionally inactive, women aged 20-24 with a high school diploma who are struggling to find stable jobs, young people aged 15-19 who left school early, discouraged young people aged 22-27 who spent the last years of their studies in lockdown and are facing a difficult school-to-work transition, and young people aged 20-29 with a university degree who are unemployed and waiting for their first job.
Furthermore, Milan continues to offer fewer opportunities to young people than the European average and leads young people to find themselves increasingly at risk of social exclusion. The majority of them are inactive as if to demonstrate a resignation to this condition with lasting economic, social and psychological consequences.
ICEI, starting from the analysis of this context and based on the analysis of the phenomena that emerged with previous project experiences, such as MigWork I and II, has created the MATCH project, with the aim of responding to the need to start work placement and school/training reintegration paths for the boys and girls of Milan. The aim is to provide concrete and timely support to the 18-29 age group, through the accompaniment and activation of young people. They are involved thanks also to territorial experiments carried out by the partners, who boast a long experience of presence and actions with young people through territorial socio-educational centers. The organizations involved are 6, all active in the Milan area. In addition to the partnership network, the proposal includes the involvement of entities and services capable of contributing to the expected objectives by focusing on a profit reality and on the issue of gender inequality in the workplace.
The intervention is part of a broader strategy carried out by the Municipality of Milan, that of implementing an integrated city system aimed at intercepting and accompanying young people who find themselves in the NEET condition on a journey of discovery of their own aptitudes, aspirations, desires and abilities for entering the world of work or for re-entering a school/training path.
The objectives are to develop and test a coordinated and integrated city system of territorial interception based on integrated services for the care of young NEETs by public entities, private social and profit organizations in the Milan area, with a view to strengthening the skills and job placement opportunities of the boys and girls involved.
The project also aims to strengthen the strategy of the Municipality of Milan to systematize numerous projects aimed at young NEETs for the creation of an integrated system of interception and accompaniment on a journey of discovery of their aptitudes, desires and abilities for reintegration into a school path or for entry into the world of work.
Young people between 18 and 29 years old who live in the Milan area and who are NEETs, therefore they are inactive professionally and/or are not involved in education/training paths.
The Project aims to:
– Intercept 450 young NEETs through the coordinated and integrated system of services in the area.
– Accompany 165 young NEETs in individualized paths of care for the discovery of their aptitudes, desires and abilities.
– Activate 58 young NEETs of which 55 to be included in job placement paths and 3 in school/training reintegration paths.
Project activities
- The project consists of 3 intervention actions, designed to operate transversally in synergy with each other: the first area concerns the interception and engagement of young NEETs. To implement this action, the project will rely on the combined work of partners with strong territorial roots and expert knowledge of the realities already present in the municipalities in which they operate.
- The second action instead collects the legacy of previous project experiences (Migwork I and II) and concerns the creation of a city case management system capable of implementing personalized individual care interventions. The activities will aim to provide support to boys and girls, building together a continuous relationship over time and based on trust, listening to needs and the definition of 4 paths that include empowerment, skills assessment and accompaniment towards adulthood.
- The third action will instead concern a real reactivation of the young people involved with job placement paths (internships or hiring) and school/training reintegration.