RISE – LAB Network for Inclusion, Development and Empowerment 

The overall objective of the project is to set up a centre of social innovation of integrated and sustainable paths of individual and collective empowerment, as well as artistic-cultural expression, managed in a self-sustainable way through the involvement of local young people, which – starting from a network at local level – will extend by exchanging good practices at international level.

Rise-Lab’s specific goals:

• Redevelopment of a property confiscated from mafia through social inclusion practices, with socio-educational and cultural interventions, and active participation of local young people.
• Implementation of economically sustainable activities over time, with the employment of young people, especially young women.
• Redevelopment of the district and Sicilian territory – by means of international exchanges – based on the re-appropriation of physical and intellectual areas, involving the expression of creativity and solidarity.

• Following the renovation of the property, spaces will be set up to carry out the activities: an exhibition room and a workshop room.
• The exhibition room will be equipped with a path regarding mankind’s potential, providing inspiration for young people’s personal growth. The structure of the room will be flexible, so as to create different paths for individuals and groups, including interactive ones.
• The workshop room is intended to stimulate the five senses in a process of discovering one’s own potential and developing all transversal skills. Non-formal education techniques will be employed, CEIPES expertise, along with pedagogical learning tools, such as didactic games (designed during an ad hoc workshop) and sensory tools of various kinds.
• In addition, a theoretical and practical workshop on murals will be held, in which a group of young people will be followed from the conception to the realisation of one or more murals inside the Rise – Lab and in the “Uditore” district.

Result 1: Increase in the exploitation and use of the property confiscated from the mafia, guaranteeing its own accessibility and use by the community also by people with disabilities, allowing a redevelopment of the neighborhood in which it is located and an opening of the territory to all citizens.

Result 2: Development of youth entrepreneurship and  empowerment of young people, in the employed  people as well as in the direct beneficiaries, especially young people aged 16 to 30 years.

Result 3: Expansion of the local and international network, especially that of confiscated properties and of redeveloped public goods, strengthening of the circuit and the cultural and educational offer of the city through the involvement of young people.

It is also expected to have a strong impact on the families of the young people involved, on their peers with whom they will act as multipliers, on the livability and enhancement of the whole neighborhood and a strong awareness in general regarding the potential of young people, accessibility for people with disabilities and their empowerment.