The future can be changed through good intentions
Italy’s first equitable investment project involving youths formerly living in care and seeking employment.
È buono: every reason to buy an ice cream
The results
Young people trained
Training hours provided
Kg of ice cream produced
New jobs created
2017/2021
Concluded
In collaboration with: Agevolando Cooperativa Sociale
THE CHALLENGE: when coming of age is a problem
Italy’s youth unemployment rate and the challenges in accessing the job market can cause situations of severe hardship that only the support of a family network can render less burdensome.
That is why for “care leavers”, i.e. youths who have spent part of their childhood or adolescence away from their families, with foster parents or in care, finding work when they come of age and have to leave their living situation and be independent, is essential.
The lack of family support makes it vital to create favourable conditions to enable these youths to reach their potential and become integral parts of society.
It is a goal that can be achieved by leveraging the dynamic and flexible nature of small enterprises, by actively engaging young people in learning a trade and opening the doors of the job market to them.
THE GOAL: to create job opportunities for care leavers to remedy social isolation
An ice cream — many are the objectives that have enlisted the Costa Crociere Foundation’s support for this alternative, ethical, eco-friendly and socially conscious business.
The aim of the project is to support job training for youths who have been living in care, foster families and homes.
The goal is achieved with a targeted learning and training programme that consists of the creation of ice-cream production workshops and outlets managed directly by the youths.
All this enhances the quality of a first-rate Italian product with a completely artisanal workmanship, which is the result of an ethical supply chain using fruit sourced locally from social cooperatives or land seized from the Mafia.
OUR PROJECT: a social enterprise promoting employment and entrepreneurship for youths
È buono is a project that has the ideal prerequisites for the personal and professional growth of young people; by combining the quality of the social context with the highest criteria in production excellence.
The project consists of one portion of training and another portion relating to the creation and fit out of a professional workshop for the artisanal production of ice cream.
Everything is geared at encouraging the youths’ transition from workers to entrepreneurs, by providing the kind of support and mentorship that has already brought some of them to become the managers of independent ice cream parlours, under the equitable franchise banner, “È buono”.
Having acquired the necessary skills and experience, the youths turned entrepreneurs can thus play it forward and employ one or more apprentices in the project’s ethical and social supply chain, and support other social enterprises by purchasing their products and raw materials.
The Costa Crociere Foundation’s support has made it possible to purchase some essential tools and machinery to further develop the project and expand the scope of the product’s sales and reputation.
An ice cream cart fitted out and managed directly by the youths, can deliver ice cream directly to the most popular venues such as promenades, street festivals and fairs.
A waffle-cone machine will enhance the enjoyment of the product and create new output opportunities through the supply to third parties.
An eco-friendly refrigerated delivery van for supplying bars, restaurants and clubs, will benefit supply agreements with business establishments, strengthening the sales network.
For all the youths who are the backbone of this project, the future is increasingly sweet.
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