Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Photo gallery - Video

Milan, May 24 2023 – Participate to spread good practices. This is the meaning, in a slogan, of Forum 23, the meeting of all the junior councilors of the city of Milan. Thematic workshops, urban games, snacks and final parties are the phases that will mark today, Wednesday 24 May, in which 300 girls, boys, boys and girls from the nine municipal councils will meet the Mayor Giuseppe Sala, the deputy mayor Anna Scavuzzo, the councilors Gaia Romani (Decentralization and Participation), Lamberto Bertolé (Welfare) and Martina Riva (Sport and Youth Policies).

The Municipality of Milan has promoted the creation of "ConsigliaMI - Municipal Council of boys and girls", in collaboration with the nine municipalities, with the aim of promoting experiences of active citizenship through the participation of children and young people in the life of the institutions of the their neighborhood, the school and the city, to improve the environment and social well-being.

The Institute of Councils, which blows out ten candles this year, sees ABCittà as its leader, a cooperative that for over twenty years has facilitated participation processes promoted by public bodies with citizens of different age groups together with partners Environment Water ONLUS, Kite Foundation and Celim, and the collaboration of the Feltrinelli Foundation. Pigna, the main sponsor of the day, supports part of the facilitation of the thematic workshops and provides material for the councilors' kit, while the technical sponsors include Milano Catering and Coop, which offer lunch and afternoon snack respectively, Spazio Yatta, Lato B and Giardini Lea Garofalo which host some workshops.

For the tenth birthday it was decided, for the first time, to organize a Forum. An opportunity to promote an instrument such as the Boys and Girls Council, which is now part of the Milanese institutions, and relaunch it as an education and participation initiative.

The protagonists are children and adolescents from the fourth and fifth classes of primary school and the entire cycle of lower secondary school (9-13 years) who, in the morning, are involved in thematic workshops dedicated to greenery, environment, solidarity, mobility, public space, communication and digital. The workshops will also see the participation of Welfare councilors Lamberto Bertolé and Sport Martina Riva.

Lunch will be held during the day with greetings from Mayor Beppe Sala and a meeting with Deputy Mayor Anna Scavuzzo. At the end of the urban game, which will see them divide into groups, they will then be involved in a Q&A with councilor Gaia Romani, to whom they will submit some of the issues that emerged during the morning.

"The girls' and boys' councils – states the councilor for Decentralization and Participation Gaia Romani – are real instruments of participation in democratic life in the hands of the little ones. They represent a flagship of the city of Milan, which for ten For years they have been committed to carrying them forward and increasingly improving the dialogue between the institutions of adults and children. In recent years they have dealt with fundamental issues, such as climate change, peace and memory. For us they are institutional interlocutors to all intents and purposes, because the city is theirs too, and it is essential that through this place they convey their vision and voices to the Administration. Together we can make Milan a city increasingly capable of responding to the needs and desires of each person".

"ConsigliaMi is an opportunity for discussion which for years has confirmed itself as a stimulating experience and fruitful dialogue with young Milanese people, privileged interlocutors in the construction of the city of today and tomorrow – declares the deputy mayor with responsibility for Education Anna Scavuzzo -. Forum 23 allows us institutions to listen to the ideas, thoughts and desires of the youngest and is at the same time a further moment of growth for boys and girls, to develop that virtuous civic sense which is the basis of our be a community".

"The girls' and boys' town hall councils – comments Ulderico Maggi, president of ABCittà and city coordinator of ConsigliaMi – are a refined tool that Milan has been able to grow in these ten years. More and more councilors in town hall administrations seniors and juniors learn to work together by carrying out small local interventions, suitable for the age of the children and relevant to their daily lives. Forum 23 allows you to broaden your gaze to the dimension of the city and will produce proposals and ideas that will be presented to the Council."

"We are joyfully participating in this active community initiative – states Andrea Carnevale, Marketing Manager of Pigna – which involves the young generations. We believe and invest in education understood as the civil growth of individuality in the community. Forum 23 goes exactly in this direction , that's why we are here today."

During the day there will be a live radio broadcast with the Shareradio youth editorial staff from the Cargo Flotta mobile studio.