The Mediobanca Group supports the "Horizons" project in partnership with the Fondazione Francesca Rava - NPH Italia ETS
The Mediobanca Group is renewing its commitment to social inclusion by helping young offenders to reintegrate into society by supporting a nationwide project called Orizzonti, Horizons, in conjunction with Fondazione Francesca Rava – NPH Italia ETS.
“Horizons” has been developed as part of a wider project called “Palla al Centro” (“Back to the centre circle”) already launched by the Fondazione Francesca Rava in Lombardy, covering the 17 institutions for juvenile offenders in the region, after the foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Italian Department of Juvenile and Community Justice in 2024.
The “Horizons” project’s mission is to offer the young inmates, who are aged between 14 and 25, at the criminal institutions for juvenile offenders at Milan, Pontremoli, Rome and Naples, Bari and Catanzaro, a concrete opportunity for a new start and reintegration into society and the workplace through direct involvement in manual and training activities alongside Mediobanca Group staff volunteers, the foundations’ own educators, and professional figures specializing in the various disciplines.
Different activities will be offered at the six institutions participating in the project: from painting the walls of the institutions to theoretical and practical gardening courses, and workshops on cutting and decorating, to acquire new skills but also to learn new processions by developing their appreciation for beauty; the young people involved will also be given an opportunity to create their own graffiti wall mural, using the healing properties of art to help them come to terms with the reality of their prison environment.
The programme of activities also includes pet therapy courses, to strengthen the young inmates’ communication and relational skills, improving their self-esteem and co-operation through mutual help, but also practical courses on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and airway obstruction relief, with testimonies from the Fondazione Francesca Rava healthcare volunteers illustrating the emergency situations in which the foundation works, and communicating the value of human life and the importance of safeguarding it.
“For some years now the Mediobanca Group has been involved in social inclusion initiatives for young offenders, with the aim of providing them with the tools and skills they need to become reintegrated into society. We believe that offering these young people an opportunity to grow and start again can make a real difference to their lives. In particular, the ‘Horizons’ project, in which we will be working alongside the Fondazione Francesca Rava, will enable us to provide them with the practical skills to learn new professions, while at the same time offering them new opportunities to grow and develop”, said Giovanna Giusti del Giardino, Mediobanca Group Chief Sustainability Officer.
Maria Vittoria Rava, President of the Fondazione Francesca Rava, said: “We are grateful to the Mediobanca Group for the way in which, through the ‘Horizons’ project alongside the Fondazione Francesca Rava, they are providing real opportunities to the hundreds of young inmates at the juvenile offenders’ institutions in Milan, Pontremoli, Rome, Naples, Bari and Catanzaro to start again and be empowered. In providing a year-long programme of activities, with events scheduled throughout the school year, the foundation is honoured to be working with the Mediobanca Group for the first time in developing educational events and initiatives intended to identify these young people's talents, and so facilitate their reintegration to society and the workplace, providing a bridge between the “inside” and “outside” worlds, between the institutions they reside in and the areas where they live. We would like to place on record our thanks to all the Group staff volunteers who will be taking part alongside the young offenders and our foundation’s educators in the proposed activities at the six institutes for juvenile offenders included in the ‘Horizons’ project: a project which fits with the Foundation's commitment to supporting young people who end up in prison, having worked closely for many years now with the Italian Ministry of Justice and the juvenile justice services system to achieve this goal.”
Milan, 4 December 2024