The project ‘Bridge between Generations’ means to build bridges within the community and between different generations Târnăveni, calling the community to be involved as volunteers in a program with the objective of reducing the rate of school abandonment, improvement of the educational level and the social integration of 120 children in at risk or vulnerability situations.
The project ‘Bridge between Generations’ is a project being implemented in the city of Târnăveni, and its main objective is to organize activities that would help build bridges within the community and between different generations, thus reducing the level of isolation and segregation of children from at risk and vulnerability situations. Involving the community, through volunteering, in this project in order to help those less fortunate, gives great value to this project, especially because it calls to retirement age volunteers who can use their experience of a lifetime to form characters and to offer positive role models to the younger generations seeking their own path in life.
As the city of Târnăveni is battling difficult social issues, and given its large vulnerable community which is hard to integrate because of their lacking education and demeanor, an intervention through education for the younger generations is urgent and necessary through all available means. Also, given the high school abandonment rates, the project intervenes through daily non formal educational activities which would improve general knowledge of the children as well as their school attendance. Through the project, besides the educational objectives, the children will benefit from daily meals, proper hygiene, medical care which will improve the quality of their lives. At the same time, this project brings an innovative element: vocational guidance for all the children. Every child will benefit from an individualized program of identifying his or her personal abilities and talents through Vocational workshops they will have access to, and through testing with a specialized psychological tool. Vocational guidance at an early age is an essential element for the professional development of the young generations, and implicitly for the development and living standards’ improvement of the community as a whole. The target group of the project is represented by 120 children, ages 3 through 16. Besides them beneficiaries but also a vital element in the implementation of the project will be 57 volunteers from local high schools and 25 elderly volunteers.
The project will be implemented in September 2016 through April 2017, and it is a winner of the 2016 edition of the social responsibility program HEINEKEN for communities. For this project Fundația Buckner received a grant of 18500 USD.