In Italy, people with disabilities face more obstacles than others in accessing quality training and entering the world of work. This negatively affects their chances of becoming independent and living a realised and full life. This is why we have chosen to support the Accademia dell'indipendenza - Albergo Etico project promoted by the Download Social Cooperative, which aims to promote the professional integration of people with intellectual and/or physical disabilities or frailty, offering them paths to autonomy, training and inclusion and involving them in the management of tourist facilities. The Download Social Cooperative opened the first Ethical Hotel and the first Independence Academy based on the “Download Method” in Asti in 2015: a gradual path lasting an average of three years training in the specific tasks of the hospitality sector and accompanying them to autonomy and independent living. Today, the Cooperative manages 8 accommodation facilities abroad and in Italy in the cities of Asti, Rome, Fenis and Cesenatico and more openings are planned in the coming years. With our support, the Accademia dell'indipendenza in Asti will be expanded in order to be able to accompany a greater number of people on their path to autonomy and their first work experiences, and a first Accademia dell'indipendenza will also be opened in Matera, which will become a reference point for the southern area, so as to replicate the project in southern Italy and realise new openings of Albergo Etico. The project will be divided into a series of training modules in Asti and later also in Matera, thanks to which the beneficiaries will be able to carry out many practical and theoretical activities and experiential workshops; this will be followed by internships that will lead to professional insertion within the Albergo Etico structures or within entrepreneurial realities adhering to the network. The project also offers constant support to families to help them accompany their children to independent living through an experimental, active and dynamic pathway, aimed at fully enhancing the potential of people and creating the preconditions for embarking on a path of all-round growth. Details Cities: Asti and Matera Association: Download Social Cooperative Beneficiaries: 150 beneficiaries of the Independence Academy; 30/35 beneficiaries initiated into the world of work Contribution: up to €250.000,00 Period: June 2023 - December 2024
