Redevelopment of premises, psychological support and environmental education: Mission Bambini and Mediobanca again join forces to promote inclusive schooling in disadvantaged areas

The project is addressed to over 400 schoolchildren on the outskirts of Rome and Milan, with the involvement of 75 Mediobanca Group staff members

Milan, 12 May 2023 – Fondazione Mission Bambini – which for over twenty years has been working hard to support children in difficulty on a daily basis – and the Mediobanca Group have consolidated their partnership in the area of inclusive education, with the launch of a new project to help 400 children and young people of elementary and middle school age in two comprehensive institutions located in socially vulnerable areas on the outskirts of Milan and Rome. The initiative entails redevelopment of the school premises with the help of the corporate social volunteering scheme promoted by the Mediobanca Group, plus the launch of a counselling service to provide psychological and emotional support for the schoolchildren in a dedicated area (“Spazio Mission Bambini”).

The project has got underway in recent days, with a group of Mediobanca staff helping to repaint the inside rooms of the Istituto Comprensivo Candia, located in the Corvetto area of Milan.

Redevelopment of the school facilities is just the first step in the project, which also entails counselling services for the young people in the new “Spazio Mission Bambini”, a special room where a dedicated team of qualified professionals provide psychological and pedagogical support to the young people, individually and small groups, and also run training courses for the teachers. The purpose of all this is to benefit the young people’s mental health, helping them to recognize and manage their emotions, and so enjoy an improved learning experience. The new “Spazio Mission Bambini” is in the process of being finalized, and one will be opened at the Istituto Comprensivo Simonetta Salacone in the Torpignattara area of Rome.

“The objective is to ensure everyone has access to schools that are attractive as well as merely functional: our children and teenagers deserve schools that not only have the necessary facilities to ensure they receive a quality education, but are also nice places to go back to, where they can feel welcome,” said Sara Modena, General Director of Mission Bambini. “Our partnership with Mediobanca, whom I would like to thank for having chosen to work with us again, makes concrete progress each year in the same direction: we are working to provide a model of school that is inclusive and welcoming, and at the same time is sensitive to the environment”.

“This renewal of our partnership with Mission Bambini is in line with Mediobanca’s long-standing efforts to promote social inclusion for the weakest and most vulnerable categories, in particular young people from disadvantaged areas, for whom we have put on numerous initiatives over the years”, added Giovanna Giusti Del Giardino, Head of Group Sustainability at Mediobanca. “Our colleagues, who take an active part in our projects through corporate volunteering schemes, play an increasingly important in our activities today”.

The initiative also involves re-greening an area of the metropolitan city of Milan by planting 500 new trees and plants, once again with the support of a group of volunteers from the Mediobanca Group and in partnership with Associazione Selva Urbana: once the area has been replanted, it will become the destination for school environmental education visits to help teach children and young people how to respect and love nature and the importance of nature preservation.