(Finance) – It is Potenza the Italian City of Youth 2024. The announcement was made a short while ago in Naples, the city that boasted the title last year, by the President of the National Youth Council Maria Cristina Pisani and the Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi. The other finalists were Catania, Jesolo, Pisa and Teramo. The award was collected by the Mayor of the Municipality of Potenza, Mario Guarente.
The Award is a very important initiative promoted by National Youth Council in collaboration with the Department for Youth Policies and the Universal Civil Service of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Italian Youth Agency, which aims to stimulate the active engagement of young people in local policies and decision-making processes at a territorial level, recognizing and enhancing the commitment of Italian cities in this area. The event was attended by the mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi, the Extraordinary Commissioner of the Italian Youth Agency Federica Celestini Campanari and Vincenzo Riemma, Presidential Councilor of the National Youth Council.
“This recognition represents a commitment to the future, an invitation to continue working to create inclusive and inspiring opportunities for our young people. Potenza has demonstrated with its project that it has a clear vision on how to enhance the energies and ideas of young people, transforming the city into a living laboratory of social and cultural innovation. This is an example of how cities can become protagonists of change, promoting civic activism and youth empowerment”. President of the National Youth Council, Maria Cristina Pisani.
“I want to thank all the cities that participated – added Pisani – and I hope that they can still take full advantage of the path started with this candidacy, to show how youth engagement can actually make a difference in building stronger, more resilient and inclusive. The merit of these projects, and above all of the project that won, was that of initiating paths of co-design of public policies”.
“I believe – concludes the President of the National Youth Council – that this day must instil the awareness that, where we manage to create conditions of opportunity and openness together, the young people are there. We must try to strengthen the tools to include them in these decision-making processes through effective and formal participation.”
Present for the finalist cities were: Viviana Lombardo, Councilor for Equal Opportunities and Youth Policies of the Municipality of Catania; Luca Zanotto, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Jesolo; Frida Scarpa, Councilor for Sport and youth policies of the Municipality of Pisa; Alessandra Ferri, Councilor for Sport and Youth Policies of the Municipality of Teramo. The Jury, in addition to the three promoting bodies, was made up of Marco Carrara, RAI journalist and television host, Professors Luciano Monti, Chiara Saraceno and Raffaele Savonardo.
(Photo: © Antonio Guillem / 123RF)