(Finance) – “We firmly believe in theimportance of offering opportunities for redemption and reintegration for those who have crossed difficult moments in their life. Our goal is provide young inmates of Nisida with an avenue to express their creativitydevelop skills and feel valued through art and fashion. I firmly believe that every individual has the potential to transform their life and contribute positively to society.” She said Mena Marano, CEO of Arav Group during the presentation of “Broken Hearth”, the innovative project of solidarity and social rehabilitation, which took place in the conference room of the Nisida Juvenile Penitentiary Institute in Naples.
The initiative marks the collaboration between John Richmond (brand of the Arav group) and the two entities that operate within the IPM: the Non-profit foundation “The best of you” that with the project Nisidart manages and finances the metal laboratory with training courses and the experience of a productive activity that can enrich the knowledge of young prisoners in view of a return to freedom; and the Social Cooperative “Nesis” which manages and finances the activities of the ceramics laboratory allowing the children to create signed artefacts ‘Nciarmato in NisidaBoth projects are aimed at improve economic, social and educational conditions of many young people who are in a state of difficulty.
“The team of our penal institute has always – he underlined Gianluca Guida, director of the Nisida Juvenile Penitentiary Institute – has as its purpose the valorization of the person that must also occur through the possibility of developing one’s potential, one’s qualities, one’s personality in the exercise of a profession, which allows one to count on a fair remuneration that allows one to lead a dignified life on a material and social level. In particular, we have long been working on the activation of work experiences that are rooted in the history of our territory; meaning by history the encounter between cultures that are incessantly transformed and that present themselves as the product of ‘mixed logics’ rather than a stereotyped continuity with the past.
Moreover, in a country like Italy, famous for its quality products, and where youth unemployment is very high, learning to ‘know how to do things well’ does not seem like a bad idea. In this logic – he added – the projects promoted by Foundation ‘The best of you’ and the ‘Nesis’ CooperativeThey were an opportunity for us to work on an ‘invention’ that contaminated the Neapolitan artisan tradition reworked through a reinterpretation of the typically modern taste of our young guests, developing a symbiosis that is successful from a production marketing perspective.
The artisan work it is one of the matrices of Italian culture and economy; if we were to believe in it again, contaminating it with ‘new technological knowledge’ and opening it to globalization, we are convinced that Italy would find itself with a formidable instrument of growth and innovation in its hands. Finally, we believe that with courage the Richmond company investing in our young people, demonstrates the will of a country of action, Italy, which knows well that its greatest resource for the future is precisely to bet on young people, removing them from the logic of criminal belonging to involve them in belonging to a just and supportive society”.
Fulvia Russo, president of the Foundation “Il meglio di te Onlus” and of the Social Cooperative “Nesis” judged the new partnership positively: “I am deeply flattered by the participation of such an important company as John Richmond in a social project that helps young prisoners to have confidence in the continuation of their activities. I hope – she maintained – that this collaboration with our organizations will last over time and can mean a valid example for our society”.
The “Broken Heart” project, conceived by John Richmond, together with the team of professionals of Nisida, represents a metaphorical expression that evokes the idea of a heart that shatters or breaks, symbolizing the breaking of emotional bonds and the feeling of inner emptiness that causes a deep sense of sadness and suffering. The goal is to heal this wound in view of rehabilitation and reintegration into society.