Bari: inauguration of LAB - Laboratorio Adolescents Bari, promoted by the municipal welfare department and UniCredit

The inauguration of the was held on March 27, in via Capruzzi 86 LAB – Bari Adolescent Laboratory, the new creative and aggregative space born thanks to the joint commitment of the municipal Welfare department and UniCredit who wanted to start this new experience to offer a space for listening, support, orientation, aggregation and active citizenship to the boys and girls of the city.

LAB is located inside a building that in the past housed a bank branch and which UniCredit has granted in free loan for use to the Municipality of Bari until 2027 to allocate it to activities aimed at promoting the well-being of adolescents and young people.

Cutting the ribbon of the new space were Francesca Bottalico, Councilor for Welfare of the Municipality of Bari, Antonio Riccio, Territorial Development Sud representative of UniCredit and Marika Massara, coordinator for the coop. Medihospes of the Anti-discrimination Center of Bari and LAB.

The boys and girls, future protagonists of the new center, also spoke was given a voice to gather their desires, expectations and needs from which to start in the creation of activities and paths that will characterize the LAB in the coming months.

The event was also attended by representatives of the various organizations which, through their donations, contributed to the setting up of the new center as well as the associations and individual citizens who will animate it with aggregation, awareness and training activities. Between these Gens Nova, who contributed to the setting up of the film club and events area, Rotary Club Bari Castello, who collaborated in the creation of the area dedicated to reception and listening, e Inner Wheel Club Bari Alto Terra dei Peuceti, who offered his contribution to setting up the study and co-working area. The laboratory, exhibition and creativity space was created thanks to the donation of the family of Marialucrezia Pipino, a lawyer active in the municipal anti-violence center who passed away in 2022. Also present was the FanizziLab association, which presented the tailoring and creativity workshop scheduled in the LAB with the aim of promoting ethical fashion and reuse. To do this, on the occasion of the event, she set up the collection of 10 garments created in collaboration with a very young set designer and costume designer from Bari.

The spaces of LAB will be animated by a extensive program of socio-educational and cultural initiatives which will progressively expand with the proposals coming from citizens. Among the activities already planned there will be coworking, study and library, events and film clubs, reading and listening, workshops and parties, exhibitions, orientation for migrants, collaborations with schools for projects on bullying, cyberbullying and revenge porn.

The actions will be organized also in collaboration with local networks, with the Anti-Discrimination Center, Generare Non-Violent Cultures, Bari Social Book, Big Gender Festival, Street Education, Family Centers and other associations and services that will be gradually defined.
The objective is to reach as many people as possible from different fields, with different languages, informing, generating change and raising awareness on the issues of prevention and combating all forms of discrimination and violence.

The planning of ongoing activities has already been the subject of co-planning meetings which saw the participation of approximately 250 welfare service operators, associations and citizens, in order to gather needs and propose activities suited to the needs of the area.
The consultancy desks on revenge porn, bullying and cyber-bullying are already active, managed by the Gens Nova odv association and the municipal Anti-discrimination Center desk managed by a specialized psychologist is also operational every Wednesday afternoon.

“Putting young people, their mental health, well-being, the future back at the center – declared Francesca Bottalico – must represent a political and social priority that concerns everyone, the entire community. Offering and promoting spaces and contexts where one can express one's ideas, fears, needs and desires, propose ideas, meet other young people but also where one can find support and help in case of difficulties: this is the heart of the new space that we are inaugurating today. Lab has many aspects that make it unique in its kind and in the opportunities that I hope it will offer. It was born from a collaboration between public and private based on co-programming and the social regeneration of a disused space, and for this I would like to thank Unicredit who believed in the Welfare department and in the social policies implemented in recent years. This will be a public place of meeting and proximity in a neighborhood and in a city that has few free socialization spaces, designed and animated by the proposals of the same boys and girls who, from time to time, will come closer and want to be part of it. It was born thanks to the collaboration with many local entities - entrepreneurial, cultural, social - who donated funds and resources and whom I feel I must thank. It is enriched with socio-educational and psychological professionalism aimed mainly at topics very close to those who have asked us for help in recent years. Psychological support and gender orientation desks within the first public anti-discrimination centre, speaking spaces, consultancy services on revenge porn, anti-gender violence desks, workshops on mental health and suicide prevention. But also spaces for creativity, theatre, movement, artistic languages ​​and what will emerge from the young people's proposals to intervene in the fight against loneliness and the risk of isolation. A physical place where you can experience the strength of the educational community with the aim of supporting and relaunching trust in the future. Giving young people back the future means recovering those dimensions of life that have to do with commitment, choices, courage, hope".

Previous 1 di 6 The next