ESC: Mad4Med

The cultural association Link, founded in 2003, through its activities offers opportunities for non-formal education, mobility, and intercultural exchange for young people, providing concrete responses to educational needs, personal growth, and the exercise of active citizenship. Link encourages learning languages and acquiring new skills that facilitate access to the job market.
The projects promoted by Link enable the exercise of citizenship, increase the sense of belonging to Europe, and combat discrimination. Democracy, active participation, inclusion, the enhancement of voluntary commitment, and respect for diversity are the principles governing the life of the association.
Link, in cooperation with European and local partners and supported by European mobility programs, implements volunteering and solidarity projects, organizes youth exchanges, seminars, and training courses.
Link hosts and implements reception and sending projects, paying particular attention to the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities and NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), and coordinates several entities operating in the communities of Altamura and Gravina in Puglia.
The association is a member of the RIVE network (Italian Network for European Volunteering), which brings together various organizations active throughout Italy, aiming to promote international youth mobility.
At the local level, Link is engaged in non-formal education projects in collaboration with schools, associations, and local authorities, carries out school-work alternation pathways, workshops with young people and adults with disabilities, promotes volunteering, and supports project design for informal groups, organizations, and local authorities interested in European programs.
Since 2015, Link has managed the municipal media library FEDRO in the city of Irsina (MT), carrying out activities to promote reading and the conscious use of new media, non-formal education, and skills development activities aimed at users of all ages.
The association collaborates with the Puglia Region, ARTI (Regional Agency for Technology and Innovation of the Puglia Region), the Fitzcarraldo Foundation, several Urban Laboratories (Bollenti Spiriti Program of the Puglia Region), and the University of Bari (Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences - International Relations), where it is accredited for hosting internships and student training placements.
From 2019, it will manage the Altamura Community Library, funded as part of a project by the Puglia Region.
The opening of a Eurodesk office is underway, in collaboration with the Municipality of Altamura.