Five social cohesion projects will be implemented in Porto

Social cohesion is at the forefront of Mayor Rui Moreira's Executive political agenda, in order to achieve economic development that leads to social development. 

The Municipal Executive voted five projects in the areas of social cohesion and education targeted not only at vulnerable or at rick groups, but also younger people, whose goal is to promote artistic and sporting activities and the development of interpersonal transversal skills.

These projects comprise music and judo classes for children and youth, a project to boost oral health in schools and support to the Ludotecas (aka playrooms) Association in Porto, and the U.Dream Portugal Association as well.

All five projects have been unanimously approved at the Municipal Executive private meeting, held on 6th July. The municipal financial support amounts to 339 thousand euros, over the next three years.

The first project "Music`All" will be implemented by the Silva Monteiro Music Course (CMSM). The purpose of such an initiative is to "develop and increase activities for students that are part of the Youth Orchestra of Bonjóia", and thus prevent early school leaving, ensure that educational attainment levels are improved and boost social integration", as reads the proposal signed by councillor Fernando Paulo, in charge of the Department of Housing and Social Cohesion and the Department of Education of Porto City Hall.

The Silva Monteiro Music Course is a partner institution of the Municipality of Porto in the "Música para Todos" [Music for All] project, which includes circa 120 students from both state owned and private schools in the city of Porto, which led to the creation of the Youth Orchestra of Bonjóia. Porto City Hall will invest around 92 thousand euros in the triggering of the "Music`All" project, till 2022.

Also, the Municipality will go give continuity to the project established with the Judo School Nuno Delgado, with which the Municipality has been collaborating since the School year 2015/2016. The motto is telling of the social innovation and entrepreneurship goals by Porto City Hall: "To Build Champions for Life". Judo classes are free and bring along strands of development at several levels, namely sportive, personal, civic and social. The Municipal investment to this project amounts to 90 thousand euros during the next three years.

The third approved protocol is the project of oral health and healthy nutrition combined, in partnership with the NGO Mundo a Sorrir, intended for children in pre-school and in primary education. In the three coming years, the Municipality is responsible for an investment of circa 52 thousand euros.

The Municipal Executive also approved financial support to the Associação de Ludotecas do Porto (Playroom Association), in the amount of 83 thousand euros, which will be channelled into the initiative "ArteseContextos" [aka Arts and Contexts].

The goal of this project is "to promote artistic education as the engine of learning and transversal Skills that will lead to the full development of students, to promote access to the arts in all its various manifestations and to build bridges between school culture and its different agents, which are students themselves, the teachers and respective families and households.

The fifth of such approved projects, which amounts to 22.5 thousand euros, is granted to the U.Dream Portugal Association, whose target is to educate higher education students on social impact, by means of their participation in society on a voluntary basis.