The H.E.L.P. co-operative association
|
The H.E.L.P. (Handicap Educazione Lavoro Partecipazione - Handicap Training Work Participation) is an integrated co-operative association (ONLUS) which was founded on 1 July 1997 with the purpose of creating concrete opportunities to introduce people suffering from disabilities into the working world. This target would be reached through pursuing enterprise activities fully accepting the market's challenge. The competitiveness of the services rendered by our association is granted for both quality and costs by the active involvement of professional staff with proven experience in the fields of co-operation, psychology, social assistance, information systems, administration, marketing as well as via a close monitoring of the market's demand. Our sensitivity to the problems linked to immigration blossomed and further strengthened in our association with the recruitment of Saimir (an Egyptian immigrant), Mihai (a Rumanian paraplegic person), Adamaria (a visually-handicapped woman from Venezuela) and Cecilia (a prisoner from Colombia). Our determination to get involved in immigration issues comes from the conviction that, as for other socially disadvantaged groups, a variety of projects initiated by the Provincial Administration of Rome can benefit from a shared communication strategy to run as a catalyst among the professionals involved. We could implement our Immigration and Communication Project, which also allowed this website to go live, thanks to funds made available by the Assessorato ai servizi sociali e politiche per la comunità familiare della Provincia di Roma (County Councillor for social services and family support policies, Provincial Administration of Rome) in the framework of the Piani provinciali 1999/2000 - D. Lgs. 286/98 Interventi per l'integrazione della popolazione immigrata (Provincial Programme 1999/2000 - Decree-law 286/98 Provisions to facilitate the integration of immigrated people). The communication strategy we have adopted was successfully tested by the World Bank for their development programmes, the result of years of activities in those countries representing the points of origin of the immigration flow our project is dedicated to. Our tools to implement our communication strategy consist of: a virtual dynamic memory of the development of local projects; an archive and a well-reasoned inventory of the expertise gained so far; a propagator for our messages and information. The peculiar features of our project are: the gathering of knowledge via the set-up of information channels, the exchange and acquisition of opportunities, the research, the involvement of the relevant social parts, the effort to help change the upsetting behaviour. The objectives of our projects are: to promote the social and working integration of the immigrants living in the province of Rome; to raise the awareness on the immigration phenomena and to improve the perception of the problems faced by the immigrants among the Italian citizens. This project and all our activities related to the immigration issues have been implemented with a very wide involvement of immigrated people and other socially disadvantaged groups. The level of working integration reached so far represents a "best practice" in the efforts to promote the involvement of people suffering from social disadvantage and to improve the reciprocal exchange of experience and knowledge. For information: |
|
|
Viale di Valle Aurelia, 110 - 000167 Roma |
|
