The City Council of Rubí and the Club Escola Futbol Can Mir have begun to work together with three other international partners to facilitate the social integration of young migrants through the BRACE project, subsidized by the Erasmus Plus program of the European Union. The initiative is committed to turning football into an instrument of inclusion, capable of breaking those first social barriers suffered by young people from other countries.
"We are talking about people who, for various reasons, need the accompaniment of entities and administrations for their integration. Sport does not solve problems on its own but, combined with other measures, it can facilitate integration, "explained the mayor, Ana María Martínez.
Rubí promotes this project from its condition as a diverse and welcoming city, which claims the value of difference and understands social policies from a transversal perspective, impregnating many other areas of municipal management.
The BRACE project is led by the City Council of Rubí and has as partners the CEF Can Mir, the Associazione Sportiva Bresso 4 of Italy, the KCS Machelen club of Belgium and the Higher Institute of Gestao of Portugal. Within this initiative, all the organizations involved will have a space to share their experiences working with immigrants, and especially with unaccompanied young people and refugees, through football. The idea is to be able to exchange knowledge and methodologies that allow them to improve the projects that already have assets and make them replicable in other municipalities.
The BRACE will take place over a whole year and will include various activities:
- A transnational meeting in Brussels, Belgium, which will serve to analyses the current situation of migrants, refugees, and unaccompanied minors in the European Union.
- A meeting in Bresso (Italy), in which the experience of the Associazione Sportiva Bresso 4 will be presented and new ways to achieve the social inclusion of vulnerable people through football will be discussed; a meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, where the Instituto Superior de Gestao will offer a seminar on how to break the economic barrier suffered by immigrants and refugees; and
- A final meeting in Rubí, which will include awareness days in educational centers, a workshop on how to replicate the project, and a cultural exchange between players, coaches, and representatives of collaborating organizations, among others.
In parallel to these meetings, work will be done on the elaboration of a document of good practices, which will collect the experiences of the partners but also advice and suggestions on how to replicate these actions and how to promote the social inclusion of immigrants through football.