COPE

The project aims to reach 760 NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) distributed in two pilot studies, one in Trento and one in Lisbon (Portugal), ensuring a mix of urban and rural/mountainous territories.
Support pathways differentiated in type and intensity of intervention are envisaged for

1. NEET ready for the labour market and
2. NEET not ready for the labour market, with complex needs (more difficult to reach and engage).

In each pilot site, a local multi-stakeholder coordination group is established, community resources are mapped, link workers are recruited and trained to facilitate the relationship with NEETs (link workers) and an operational protocol is shared between all members of the local partnership of the 'neighbourhood community network'.

Awareness-raising is ensured through orientation points, social media and local awareness-raising initiatives.

Community services and stakeholders (youth services, schools, social cooperatives, enterprises, voluntary associations, local leaders, etc.) refer NEETs to link workers (specially trained figures who will act as the person's case manager ).

The link worker assesses needs and co-produces with the user (and family members, if appropriate) a flexible and customised Social and Work Inclusion Plan according to social prescription practice.

The plan is designed for each beneficiary with a wide range of objectives related to multiple supplementary measures that can be implemented: self-awareness and motivation training, job search, appropriate management of financial benefits, basic skills training, internships in cooperatives/enterprises, access to social and mental health services, second chance programmes, etc.

The plan is implemented and monitored on the basis of activities to be carried out within the boundaries of the neighbourhood community network with the support of its stakeholders.

The main objective of the project is twofold

1. to implement an integrated intervention for the social inclusion of hard-to-reach young people(NEET - Not in Education, Employment and Training) based on a network approach in the neighbourhood community, which is innovative and experimental and promotes a "relational proximity";
2. assess how this innovative intervention can add value and can be integrated with interventions currently designed and implemented for NEETs by employment and social services.