PROXIMO aims to improve the capacity for engagement and development of relational proximity as a key requirement for the provision of integrated territorial services to support young people in condition or at risk of becoming NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training).

The project involves the study and exchange of innovative practices with national and international realities active on the issue of proximity model to be tested within Milan Municipality 7.

PROXIMO is a project that aims to reflect on the difficulties service providers face in outreaching and engaging NEETs (young people who are not studying, working, or in training). The literature tells us that these difficulties relate to identifying them, hooking them to a service, and maintaining their trust over time.

The activities planned in this project are designed to support associations and institutions in the area in this path. It is not PROXIMO's goal to activate a service for NEETs, but rather to initiate a path of collaboration with the stakeholders who have joined as partners in the project and with those who would like to do so in the future, in order to identify and design effective strategies to overcome the difficulties of engagement.

This path is divided into 4 phases reflected in 4 Work Packages.

• WP1 is a preparatory activity that allows the research team an in-depth study (through literature and targeted interviews) on NEETs and initiatives already active in Milan.
• In WP2 the accompanying activity is activated: Polimi organizes a series of working tables to share and discuss the actions already put in place by the project partners and to present the experiences developed in national and international contexts, including a European project that has activated a Social Prescribing service for NEETs. A Youth Advisory Group created for the purpose will participate in all the work from this phase on.
• WP3 is dedicated to the co-design of possible engagement methodologies by a core group of actors involved in Municipality 7. These methodologies will be tested by the actors in their respective services with the support of the research team to assess their feasibility and potential impact.
• WP4 aims to translate what has been developed in WP3 into "results" through 3 actions: conducting a working table open to the territory will allow to recount the experiences made in testing new strategies, the development of a research protocol with the networks that we will have activated on Municipality 7 (and beyond) to promote a large-scale experimentation aimed at providing scientific evidence on the benefits of taking charge of NEETs, and finally the development of a collaboration protocol between the actors who participated in the project, a protocol that is indispensable for the development of integrated services aimed at young people.

The project will conclude with a final conference, where the results achieved and future prospects will be presented.

Multidisciplinary working group:

• Cristina Masella, full professor, Scientific manager, Department of Management Engineering cristina.masella@polimi.it
• Isabel Farina, phD Project Manager, Department of Management Engineering isabel.farina@polimi.it
• Giuliana Costa, associate professor, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies giuliana.costa@polimi.it
• Daniela Sangiorgi, full professor, Department of Design daniela.sangiorgi@polimi.it