ESC: Porto Burci: the place to be

Arci Servizio Civile Vicenza is an association of social promotion born in 2001. It's part of a network of a national association (Arci Servizio Civile) born with the aim of fostering the Civil Service as a conscientious objection to military service and promoting the values of peace, non-violence and education to active citizenship. Its office in Vicenza started to operate with the same aim in association and in partnership with no profit organizations, by creating, managing and coordinating Civil Service projects in multiple fields: social care (for elderly and people with disabilities), education (children and youngsters), information points (addressed to youngsters and families), care and protection of artistic and cultural heritage (in museums and libraries), environment and sustainability. The volunteers who make the realization of these projects possible are young people between 18 and 29 years old, coming from different backgrounds, both local and migrant, who commit a year of their time for the community development and their personal growth as active citizens. Over the years ASC Vicenza have been focusing also on the realization of youth work projects, namely by involving youngsters in the organization of events and activities of cultural diffusion. In this way our association promotes youth empowerment by providing chances and guidance to make the voice of young people heard. By listening to their needs and working together we make them aware and enable them to become main actors for the social inclusion, cultural debate, environment protection. The ultimate goal is to involve the whole community as a group of people who participate in the activites organized by citizens for citizens. Since 2013 until April 2018 ASC Vicenza have managed, on behalf of Vicenza municipality, Pologiovani B55, a multifunctional space in the city center for socialization, creativity and public debate. In this place you could take part in a variety of activities such as training courses (sewing, artistic carpentry, theatre, dance, etc), movie screenings, exhibitions and seminars about topics in accordance to ASC core values. There used to be also a webradio called "Radio Zappa". All these activities have moved in 2018 in "Porto Burci", a cultural and environmental center managed in collaboration with other 4 different organisations: Legambiente Vicenza, Arciragazzi Vicenza, Circolo Cosmos, Non Dalla Guerra. Porto Burci was born as a place of exchange for people and ideas, built on the ideals of the founding organisations who believe in the importance of environmental protection and education, human rights, artistic and cultural promotion and active citizenhsip even at an international scope. Some examples of our local projects integrated with the Civil Service: Cittadini del mondo - inclusion and participation of young migrants living in Vicenza, by promoting encounter and intercultural exchange with young locals Vicenza Human Library - overcome prejudice and give space to the human need of communicating and sharing by following the idea of the Human Library: every person has a story to tell and you don't judge by the cover Radio Zappa - a volunteers' webradio creating podcasts to promote culture and encourage young people to use their voice and develop their creativity. They are currently working on the Solidarity project "Baraonde: giovani on air" Spazi insoliti - organize artistic events in unusual spaces to make people discover the city and interact with it. This idea will be part of the European Solidarity projects this year Flusse - festival to raise awareness and debate about feminism and gender equality React - promoting youth participation and volunteering in thematic groups: environment, human rights, gender issues Since 2017 we work as a sending organization and in 2019 we started to host European volunteers in our projects in Italy. As a sending organization we have sent volunteers to Czech Republic, Portugal, France, Belgium, Germany and Romania, The Netherlands. We have also hosted volunteers from Portugal, Spain and France.