Date: 13-05-2019

NEWS - Putting Children at the Heart of Palermo

Last January, Inventare Insieme (also Tau Center) in Palermo launched the Zisa Danisinni Generative Educating Communities’. It is a new project from ‘Con i Bambini - With the children’ under the Fund for Combating Child Educational Poverty. It is aimed at around 700 young people and their families. 

The Tau Center has been active in Palermo’s Zisa district for over thirty years. The opposites in the area are strong; without a middle ground. Although in the historical center of the city, Zisa presents itself with all the characteristics of an urban periphery, with high levels of isolation and economic and educational poverty.

Forgotten Neighborhood

The Zisa district is among the largest in Palermo with a high level of educational poverty and petty crime, yet the area is among the most precious cultural jewels of the city. It harbors the Zisa palace and park, which date back to the 12th century, part of the Arab-Norman UNESCO heritage itinerary. There is little commercial activity, and the buildings surrounding it are in decay. Danissini is part of Zisa, a forgotten neighborhood with a large abandoned kindergarten building that symbolically dominates the square. At Zisa the beauty and ugliness co-exist.

Social Cohesion

Tau Center challenged itself to return the area to a state of beauty and social purpose. The children of the neighborhood will be at the very heart of this enterprise: creating meaningful services and bringing life and social cohesion back to the Zisa. They aim to revitalize abandoned buildings by placing child services, adolescent support and enterprise into the area.

Tau Center stress the importance of a synergy between all present educational agencies to achieve their goals. They strongly believe they are all needed to start up and develop an educating community that helps to compensate the economic and educational poverty.

Global Context

Furthermore, they aim to make the area a safe environment, to expand the overall learning opportunities and to make public and private structures accessible for all kinds of activities. They also see that the project exceeds the area in which it is placed, because its vision and outreach fits within a global context of sustainability, a perspective of economic development, emancipation and autonomy. It has the potential to expand beyond its current focal area.

2019-2020 School Year

Tau Center is preparing their services for the 2019-2020 school year, working closely with other partners to help strengthen and restructure the community. They realize their challenge is ambitious, but they see a clear future for many children who today have no prospects.

 

Want to learn more about ISSA Member, Inventare Insieme? Click here!