Purpose:

The aim of the "Officine Project" is the innovative management of a property confiscated from local organised crime, through its assignment to a third sector organisation with a predominantly youth component. In other words, to give new life to a confiscated and unused space.

Stimulus/Rationale:

The strength of the Officine Project was the systematisation of various initiatives that the City of Montesilvano had been implementing together with local young people. Listening and co-design are key elements of these initiatives, which originated from local assemblies and structured dialogue between policy makers and young people, and which were conceived and carried out with a view to establishing logical links between outputs and results (results chain). The different levels of results deriving from various projects found their place in the youth centre Mincio Space thanks to the Officine Project funded by ANCI.

Process:

1. ANCI - National Association of Italian Municipalities published a notice addressed to municipalities and unions of municipalities for the implementation of projects to 'activate' unused/underused public spaces/properties, which would involve assigning them to young people under 35 to start innovative management projects.
2. The City of Montesilvano participated in the ANCI notice with the Officine Project, nominating the space at Via Mincio 14. The proposed lines of action, consistent with the notice, were designed to inhabit the space as a 'place of change' where young people in the area can transform their needs, ideas, and desires into action through dialogue with the administration. A space for sharing and co-design.
3. Through a public co-design procedure, the Formula Association was identified as the managing body of the space and implementer of the Officine Project's lines of action.
4. The City of Montesilvano, using its own funds, has redeveloped Spazio Mincio 14 to make it welcoming and functional.
5. The Officine project, funded by ANCI, the administration has allocated a physical space to young people, thus responding to their request that emerged both with the 'Diversamente' and 'Divercities' projects, promoting local assemblies and structured dialogue, in which the municipality participated as a member of the Italian ICC network (Rete Città del Dialogo), and with the 'Youth Work Montesilvano' project funded by the Abruzzo Region.
6. The Officine project has enabled the activation of the space and the continuity of projects funded by the Abruzzo Region (GiovanieOccupati -GeO" "Young@work-up) aimed at young people in the area, in particular NEETs.
7. The main activities of the Officine project carried out at Spazio Mincio 14 are:

• creation and management of the co-working space;
• support/guidance activities: mentoring, tutoring, and coaching to curb school dropout rates and reorient young people towards employment;
• design and production of cultural events: art as a possible job activity;
• youth participation: Erasmus+ planning, participation in local decision-making processes, involvement of unaccompanied foreign minors;
• Communication: both to promote activities and to promote the process.

Impact: 

Management of the space has been entrusted to a third sector organisation with a predominantly youth component, Formula APS, identified through a public co-design procedure. The idea is that at the end of the Officine project, Spazio Mincio 14 will be economically self-sustainable.

A public-private partnership has been set up: various third sector organisations interact in the space, including the Special Social Services Agency of the Municipality of Montesilvano, with a strategy of dialogue and networking, allowing the circulation of skills and resources in a vision of collaboration and involvement of civil society and the economic and productive fabric of the territory.

Spazio Mincio 14 is the first multifunctional space in the city of Montesilvano and also in the neighbouring cities, created through a bottom-up process thanks to structured dialogue between policy makers and young people. It is becoming a point of reference for young people in the area and for the administration as a place for dialogue with young people.

Key reference documents:

Link tree https://linktr.ee/SpazioMincio14