#socialandhumanservices

Interculture

Interculture is a project geared to improving the assimilation of immigrant children into Italian schools and help their families assimilate into Italian society. These goals are pursued by identifying, testing and reviewing best practices in school education, especially those leveraging the collaboration of public authorities, schools and private organizations active in the social sphere.

Targeted at primary, middle and high school children, the project was organized into three steps:
> Step 1participatory planning of newcomer programs and integration pathways in 29 pilot schools in the provinces of Brescia, Mantua and Milan;

> Step 2 - testing and assessing the newcomer programs and integration pathways developed in step 1;

> Step 3mainstreaming successful newcomer programs and integration pathways.


The schools participating in the pilot project carried out in the 2008-2009 school year received  €1,091,000 in grant funds. In 2009, with the contribution of the JP Morgan Chase Foundation, an additional grant of €196,485 was approved for the 2009-2010 school year. These funds were awarded to 6 schools that proved they had effectively improved their organization


Fondazione Cariplo’s partners in this project have been: Lombardy’s Education Department as the local public authority, Ismu Foundation as the coordinator of the project for the schools, Istituto per la Ricerca Sociale (IRS) as the entity providing advice on the adopted methodology, Associazione per lo Sviluppo della Valutazione e l’Analisi delle Politiche Pubbliche (ASVAPP) as the project monitor and assessor, a Scientific Committee as the supervisor of the teaching programs.


Upon project completion, Fondazione Cariplo launched the call for proposal titled “Promoting intercultural integration in schools and  local communities” to ensure the continuation of this successful action.