THE PROJECT "PLAY FOR THE FUTURE" KICKS OFF: SPORT AS A WAY TO SOCIAL RESCUE

Fondazione Milan and CDP Foundation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, have launched a joint project titled "Play for the Future", with the aim of rehabilitating youths in criminal circuits through courses of sports education and professional orientation.

The project was refined at the Ministry of Justice headquarters in a meeting that saw the participation of Minister Carlo Nordio, CDP Foundation President Giovanni Gorno Tempini and the President of AC Milan and Fondazione Milan, Paolo Scaroni. The aim of "Play for the Future" is to enrich probation pathways for young people inserted in the penal system, with sporting activities and social and employment courses to provide these youths with the chance to grow, learn and orientate their lives, as well as ease their transition into the working environment.

According to a study conducted by the Department of Juvenile and Community Justice and published in March 2023, over 97% of the 14,198 young people in the penal system join alternative rehabilitates pathways, rather than prison-only sentences, such as probation. This is a form of judicial review through which the criminal trial is suspended, and the juvenile offender is placed into the care of social services to follow a re-educational course.

In agreement with the Ministry of Justice, in the cities of Bari, Catania, Naples and Palermo, the Offices of Social Services for Minors will select 60 young people aged between 16 and 22, who are serving two-year sentences on one of these alternate pathways. The youths will be offered the chance to partake in a dual course lasting until June 2024.

• The sports education course will give them the chance to interact with their peers, play together and learn certain values, such as respect for others, sharing, altruism and teamwork. All the activities will be run by a team of sports specialist coaches in order to ensure that the youths are involved in both the sport and socialisation. 
• The project will, at the same time, include courses in work orientation. This arm of the project will see participants supervised to draw up a skills assessment and start the youths on the road to entering the workplace. The project will involve businesses, sports centres and local amateur clubs, and assistant coaching classes will be provided. Following the orientation phase, in 2024, two participants per city will be placed in internships at local sports clubs and associations for initial work experience, with the provision of "employment grants" that can guarantee initial economic support for these young people.

Carlo Nordio, Minister of Justice said: "Sport and work, together with culture, are the main ways to open up a new chance in life for young people in juvenile institutions. With this project, we choose to play a crucial role in the interest of the community: offering young people a training course and a concrete professional opportunity, so that they do not return to crime, allowing the entire community to invest in its future, according to the highest constitutional dictates."

Paolo Scaroni, President of AC Milan and Fondazione Milan added: "Our project, created in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and Fondazione CDP, aims to offer new opportunities for young people who aspire to re-integrate into social life. It is an initiative that combines sports education and work inclusion, in line with the values that constitute the distinctiveness of Fondazione Milan, which has been committed to future generations for 20 years."

Giovanni Gorno Tempini, CDP Foundation President commented: "Youth inclusion is a strategic priority for the CDP Foundation. As such, offering young people who are inserted in the penal system circuits, free and educational courses means guaranteeing them the chance to change their own prospects through core values such as sport and teamwork, values for which Fondazione Milan is strongly involved in. We're particularly proud to have chosen these four major cities in the south of Italy, where Fondazione CDP has decided to dedicate at least half of our resources."

This project falls under Fondazione Milan's Sport for Change programme, which seeks to use sport as a tool for education and valuing the talent of at-risk youths.