Spazi di Crescita: the project’s first six months

We are sharing the article published on the Spazi di Crescita website.

“Spazi di Crescita. Paths to Autonomy and Inclusion” is a project promoted by Spazio Aperto Servizi, with the support of the Fondazione Guido Venosta, created to offer new opportunities to children and young people, families, and individuals experiencing temporary situations of vulnerability.

In an area such as Milan, marked by growing inequalities and a rise in educational, housing, and employment-related fragilities, the risk of social exclusion for those going through difficult times is increasingly real. It is from this awareness—and from the experience gained through the extensive work of local community hubs—that Spazi di Crescita was born. These hubs provided a valuable starting point for identifying needs, bringing services closer to people, and testing new models of proximity-based support. Spazi di Crescita builds on that legacy and expands it, placing tailored support pathways at the center and creating an integrated network of interventions that strengthens individual resources and fosters inclusion within the social and local community fabric.

In its first six months, the project involved hundreds of people through concrete actions in four key areas: educational and psychological support; support for caregivers and socialization for people with disabilities; support toward independent living; and activation of tools for social and employment inclusion.

An educational space that supports and accompanies

In its first six months, Spazi di Crescita confirmed how essential it is to have a constant, recognizable educational presence—one that can welcome and accompany children and young people through everyday challenges.

Educational and socialization groups served as a stable point of reference: places where meaningful relationships can be built, trust can be experienced, and where participants can play, move, and learn. Activities—creative workshops, light sports, neighborhood explorations—were designed to stimulate curiosity and well-being, while also offering each person a safe space in which to express themselves.

Special attention was dedicated to students facing school-related difficulties: study groups for students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and for foreign-born students worked on study methods, consolidation of skills, and language strengthening, including reinforcement sessions over the summer to better prepare for September remedial work.

In parallel, individual educational and psychological interventions were activated, either through direct requests or referrals from families.

Making this widespread work possible is a multidisciplinary team of 20 professionals—including educators, SEN specialists, and psychologists—who operate in an integrated way to respond promptly to emerging needs. Each intervention is designed to build trusting relationships, monitor the most delicate situations, and mobilize the most appropriate internal and external resources to support the well-being of children, young people, and their family contexts.

The WhatsApp channel—designed as an agile tool for first-level listening—received a wide range of messages and requests: parents struggling after a child’s failing grade, young people anxious about exams, mothers seeking support for communication difficulties within the family. Every contact became an opportunity to create an initial connection and, in many cases, to activate more structured pathways.

• 105 minors involved in educational groups
• 60 individual interventions (30 educational and 30 psychological)
• 142 contacts handled via WhatsApp

Care that builds connections

At the heart of the project, there are also those who provide care: parents, brothers, sisters—people who every day face the effort of supporting vulnerable individuals, often without tools, time, or networks to rely on. Spazi di Crescita set out to dedicate a specific space to them, recognizing their role and offering an opportunity not to feel alone.

After the first groups launched in spring, three new cycles of meetings for caregivers began in September, welcoming family members of people with disabilities who wanted to compare experiences, ask for information, or simply tell their story. Each group alternated guidance moments (on services, protection tools, and access to rights) with freer discussion spaces in which struggles emerged, but also strategies, hopes, and new awareness. The chats initiated during the meetings—and kept active over the summer—helped create continuity and a sense of community that extends beyond the meeting cycle.

At the same time, 10 socialization groups for people with disabilities were activated, offering light motor activities, short urban routes, creative workshops, and informal spaces—always designed around each participant’s pace and wishes. In many cases, these groups remained an active relational space even during the summer period.

• 64 caregivers involved in support groups
• 80 beneficiaries in groups for people with disabilities

Home as a place to reclaim

Finding a home does not only mean having a roof over one’s head: it means being able to begin—or begin again—a life project. The housing support activated by Spazi di Crescita placed this principle at the center, offering concrete assistance to individuals and families in vulnerable situations, helping them build stability, autonomy, and a sense of belonging.

Over six months, different pathways were supported, reflecting diverse needs but a shared desire to start over. A young Palestinian woman, who arrived in Italy through a humanitarian corridor, was able to leave the hospital and start a new, independent life. A family from Bangladesh, attentive and engaged in condominium life, improved the management of domestic spaces to ensure greater privacy for their teenage daughter. A father from Sri Lanka, awaiting family reunification with his daughter, carefully furnished the apartment that will host them.

Beyond material setup—furniture, household appliances—continuous support was provided: administrative assistance, guidance in understanding contracts, management of utilities, as well as educational support for caring for the home, cohabitation, and integration into the neighborhood context.

• 8 households and individuals supported through concrete interventions
• 19 accompaniment pathways activated

Pathways toward autonomy

Building autonomy also means acquiring concrete tools for a stable, dignified professional future.

In its first six months, Spazi di Crescita supported young people and adults in defining new goals, activating training pathways and guidance moments designed to enhance participants’ skills and aspirations.

Some beneficiaries received a contribution to obtain a driving license—often an indispensable tool for reaching workplaces that are far away or poorly connected. For others, it meant embarking on a vocational course, such as training to become a healthcare support worker or cleaning staff, which will start in the following quarter with a class already identified.

Each pathway was tailored, providing concrete support in planning for the future and in building an active, sustainable professional identity.

• 28 people supported with tools for autonomy (training, driving licenses, guidance)

Results achieved and people’s voices

In these first six months, Spazi di Crescita reached over 250 people, highlighting how essential it is to offer an intervention that does not merely respond to a single need, but is able to see the person as a whole: their aspirations, fragilities, and resources.

What truly makes the difference is a constant, accessible presence—not only in educational spaces, but also in emotional support, peer relationships, and in being able to rely on someone during transitions. As Francesca, mother of a young person with a disability and participant in one of the caregiver groups, told us: “For once, I don’t feel alone. Here I don’t have to explain anything, because the person in front of me knows exactly what it means to be in my role.”

This sense of closeness also took shape through agile, everyday tools such as the WhatsApp channel activated from the first weeks: a dedicated number that collected over 140 contacts, often related to educational doubts, guidance requests, or needs for comparison. A small tool that made people feel less alone and more listened to. As one mother wrote in a message received: “Thank you for replying right away. Even just knowing I can write and someone reads me makes a big difference.”

A concrete example of how, even through informal means, it is possible to generate trust and proximity.

The stories we encountered showed us how even the smallest gesture can become a lever for change: a training course can open new paths, as in the case of F., who began a program to become a healthcare support worker saying: “Thanks to this course I will have training that will allow me to find a job and think about my family.”

What emerges clearly is that there are no standard answers, but rather pathways to be built together—adaptable pathways that respect each person’s story, timing, and possibilities.

Next steps

Each intervention helped build relationships, activate resources, and generate new opportunities. In the coming months, the project will continue to:

• strengthen training and guidance pathways in response to identified needs;
• reinforce support for children and adolescents through tailored educational and psychological assistance;
• consolidate the existing spaces for discussion and socialization, maintaining a constant and continuous presence even during more delicate periods, and enhancing the trusting relationships built over time.

The direction is clear: to continue building “spaces” where every person can find their own pace, supported with confidence toward new possibilities.