Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Councilor Cappello: "We are looking for projects that can help communities and neighborhoods grow" - Public notice: The neighborhood school 2022. Program for the civil economy in the neighborhoods. Part I: "Support for social and cultural innovation projects" - Site dedicated to the new tender - Projects in progress

Milan, February 28 2022 – The new "Neighbourhood School" tender was presented, the initiative of the Department of Employment Policies created in 2019 to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods by enhancing the energy, creativity and resourcefulness of those who live there. Since its debut - three years ago - it has already involved more than 1.200 people and financed 42 projects presented by informal groups who today deal with social and cultural activities, crafts, recycling and the circular economy. 61% of the people who make up the informal groups financed are women, 41% are young people under 35 years old.

For the first three editions of the Neighborhood School, aimed at some specific neighborhoods of the city (Corvetto, Lodi, Rogoredo, Lorenteggio, Giambellino, San Siro, Selinunte, Bovisa, Affori, Dergano and Niguarda), 1 million euros was invested ( PON Metro funds). The tender published today makes available 450 thousand euros from extraordinary funds from the React EU programme.

The notice will be published in the next few days, will remain open for 2 months and will be aimed at all neighborhoods of the city with the sole exception of the historic center (Town Hall 1).

"With the Neighborhood School – said the councilor for Economic Development and Labor Policies, Alessia Cappello – we promote the direct participation of citizens and in particular of young people and women in starting small businesses to improve the life of neighborhoods with new and original ideas. The projects awarded so far have shown how we can bet on the whole city, starting from the neighborhoods and communities that need to be reborn more than others. This year's tender will therefore be aimed at almost the entire territory citizen and will be one of the opportunities with which to support the recovery after the difficult period of the pandemic". Informal groups of citizens will be able to participate in the call - without limits on age, citizenship or educational qualifications - who have an idea to improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods and want to set up a new non-profit organization to realize it. The School supports project ideas with three characteristics: they must be useful to the neighborhood and the community; new, i.e. different from projects or services already existing in the neighbourhood; economically sustainable, i.e. capable of supporting themselves independently and not only through public funding.

For example? Services for people and neighbourhoods, commercial and artisanal activities with social impact, mutual help projects, social gathering spaces, artistic and cultural promotion activities, reuse, recycling, environmental protection, sport and well-being, training and education and still other things.

To participate in the tender, there must be at least two people, citizens of the European Union or foreigners with a regular residence permit. Already established entities cannot participate in the tender, but they can help new projects to be born and grow over time.

The tender will offer the winners a non-repayable "project grant" of up to 30.000 euros for the first year of activity, personalized support services in all phases, from start-up to completion, training during the project and meeting opportunities with potential investors.

In order to receive the grant, the groups must first form a new non-profit legal entity: association, cooperative, social enterprise and similar.

The new call from the School of Neighborhoods is part of a package of interventions dedicated to the civil economy in the peripheral neighborhoods of the city financed with the extraordinary resources of the European React EU program. The aim is to stimulate post-Covid recovery and combat the risks of increasing inequalities in the most fragile areas through support for profit and non-profit businesses capable of generating a positive social impact on communities.