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CASA DELLE CULTURE

(House of Many Cultures)

The Casa delle Culture is a reception facility established in Scicli, in the province of Ragusa, in December 2014, as part of the Mediterranean Hope (MH) - Refugee and Migrant Programme of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI).

The Casa delle Culture was established with the aim of welcoming particularly "vulnerable" people - such as unaccompanied foreign minors, single women, pregnant women, women with minor children and families with special health needs - who landed at the nearby port of Pozzallo. In recent years, the House has mainly welcomed and housed people who arrived through humanitarian corridors from Lebanon and Libya.

For the Casa delle Culture welcoming is a process that is built "with" people and can never be one-way l. Welcomed people are accompanied and provided with bureaucratic, legal and educational support: our multi-disciplinary team provides orientation on local services (such as health and education), legal orientation, and intercultural social mediation. When necessary, external professional also provide support. Over the years, in fact, a network of collaboration has been created with various specialized local bodies. For the Casa delle Culture a key element of the integration process is learning the Italian language. For this, literacy and learning courses are organized to obtain the middle school certificate.

In recent years, the Casa delle Culture has promoted , together with other bodies , established and fostered the growth of a network that would take care of the community. Since its opening, the House has also been a place of intercultural and linguistic mediation for the entire territory, providing the community of Scicli with a place to meet and reflect, offering itself not only as a physical meeting space but also and above all as a space to experience "being a community".

The large entrance hall of the Casa delle Culture is often used to host social and cultural initiatives aimed at integration, dialogue and intercultural exchange. Precisely in this context of interchange and looking after the Sciclian community, three projects have been established in recent years:


• “Villaggio delle Culture, an after-school program for the city." This project has been developed in collaboration with the Noto Caritas and aims to accompany boys and girls (6 -10 years old) on their path of personal and social growth. It offers a sustainable education that looks at the child as a growing individual, who needs an individualized path that enhances aptitudes and abilities, and respects time, talents and interests. The project is proposed as an integral part of educational processes, fostering collaboration with the bodies that make up the educating community, first and foremost the family of origin, the school, the relevant teachers , and social services.

• A social deskwithin the building , open to queries from all citizens (both local and migrant). The staff team from the Casa delle Culture facilitates orientation on the various services in the area by networking also with private social sector bodies; it addresses the various problems by trying to give a concrete response to the needs manifested.

• The Casa delle Culture is also among the promoters of the "Pact of Diffuse Solidarity" established in April 2020, following a meeting between non-profit and third sector entities, and voluntary associations operating in the social sector, in order to network all the bodies present in the territory. The Pact is non-partisan and carries out activities of general interest for the pursuit, without profit, of civic, solidarity and socially useful purposes.

The Casa delle Culture welcomes volunteers from Italy and abroad for short or long periods of service. The House is funded mainly by the Otto Per Mille tax allocation of the Waldensian Evangelical Church (Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches), and by various international ecumenical churches and associations. It also enjoys strong practical support and accompaniment from the local Methodist community..