ESC in south Italy in hostel management and educational support

The social cooperative ONE, based in Crotone, deals historically with everything related to the world of languages and intercultural communication: traveling, interpreting, tour guides, school trips on historical-artistic routes, language courses, translations etc. It was in fact, initially created to promote language courses whose learning we believe is essential in an increasingly globalized and dynamic world. (1st objective: language training). Along our journey we have been collaborating (and we still do so) with the Association Amici del Tedesco, that contributed strongly to our next cooperation with the German Red Cross and later, with the company Sauder for which we linguistically train staff ready to be hired in the German-speaking states. We operate in a territory where there is a high rate of youth unemployment (64%) and despite this it is sometimes difficult to find staff who can speak and write correctly in two foreign languages. Hence the desire to invest in the world of languages and cultural exchanges to allow young people to have an extra chance to enter the job market ((2nd objective: job and vocational training). Since 2017 we have been running the youth hostel "Casa di Chiara": the property has been entrusted to us on loan and is located in the heart of the historic center of the city in a elegant noble palace. Recently we have moved the headquarters of our cooperative to the same address, therefore the Hostel and the cooperative are within the same structure. The management of the hostel means for us the opportunity to promote our stunning territory, still considered only a place where the mafia rules the roost. Instead, we want to call the attention on the beautiful side of Calabria region. The Hostel is also the base for many of our social projects, which focus on social inclusion and vocational education, that we’ll further describe below. We propose a type of tourism that can be defined as social: in our experience, we have welcomed class groups on school trips, scout groups, exchange students groups (es: Intercultura) close to their departure abroad, associations that work with second generations, volunteers groups from Libera and Nomi and Numer contro le Mafie, which are two organizations fighting against Mafia and promoting a culture of legality and democracy (3rd goal: promotion of the territory; and 4th goal: promotion of legality). In the hostel's workshops, several activities have been activated over the years to bring the local community closer together: engraving courses, clayworking, painting exhibitions, singing workshop and murals for young people and adults. As said before, since some time the headquarters of the social cooperative have been transferred to the same address of the Hostel "Casa di Chiara", in Via Santa Veneranda, therefore the 2 ESC volunteers, either carrying out the activities in support of communication/organizational tasks/language classes or involved in the more practical activities like our social inclusion projects/tour guides/workshops/management of the hostel, will carry out their activities in the same location. The cooperative ONE, through the activities of the Hostel, adheres to the so called “Economy of Communion” (EdC), a concept of development promoted and disseminated by Focolare Movement (Movimento dei Focolari in Italian). The center of this vision is not the profit, but the person, in a concrete attempt to address acute social problems by creating businesses that are integral parts of their communities. In practical term, the EdC aims: to live and promote a new economic and civil culture “culture of giving”: In the Economy of Communion, the producers, entrepreneurs, workers, and their business associates, are inspired by principles rooted in a culture different than what prevails in today's practice and theory of economics. We can define this "culture" as a "culture of giving" which really is the antithesis of a "culture of having". to train new entrepreneurs who commit, after an appropriate investment in the sustainability of the business, a part of their profits to direct aid for those in need and to support the “culture of giving” and its aims: to reduce social exclusion and poverty; to promote employment and the creation of job placements; to live their entrepreneurship as a vocation for the common good and in service of the marginalized people, in every part of the world and social context. to fight the various forms of poverty, exclusion and misery with a dual inclusion: community and productive; in the belief that we cannot solve any form of poverty without including disadvantaged people within supportive and solidal communities, and, where possible, even in the workplace and in businesses: as long as those who can and should work cannot be given the opportunity to do so, they will always remain an indigent person. (4th goal:legality)