PRESS RELEASE

FONDAZIONE CARIPLO AND INTESA SANPAOLO: 3,650 COMPUTERS AND 200 TABLETS GIFTED TO STUDENTS TO TACKLE EDUCATIONAL POVERTY AND REDUCE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

Circular economy and significant focus on the needs of the new generations: Cariplo and Intesa Sanpaolo provide refurbished computer equipment made available by UBI Banca acquired by Intesa Sanpaolo.

Involved in the distribution of devices and in implementing projects in the local area, are the three community foundations of Brescia, Bergamo, Lodi, the places among the hardest hit by the first wave of the pandemic, now on the front line in fighting educational poverty.

 

Milan, 21 June 2021- 3,650 personal computers and 200 tablets with the technical requirements and characteristics suited to managing Distance Learning and the study methods dictated by the recent Covid-19 pandemic. This is the equipment recently provided by Intesa Sanpaolo and Fondazione Cariplo to students in need of essential equipment to follow lessons from home and study in a suitable manner. The key objective is to fight educational poverty and tackle the digital divide, an important goal that once more underlines the sensitivity and attention to young people and their needs, particularly during this exceptional period.

The added value of the initiative, in view of the circular economy and the reuse of resources, is the recycling of refurbished computer equipment made available following the recent acquisition of UBI Banca by Intesa Sanpaolo. All the personal computers underwent a process of refurbishment and will be delivered to economically and socially vulnerable children and families identified by the community foundations involved in the project.

Fondazione della Comunità Bresciana Onlus, Fondazione della Comunità Bergamasca, Fondazione Comunitaria della Provincia Di Lodi are actually the three symbolic areas, most affected by the first wave of the pandemic and key players in the educational poverty project of the Fondazione Cariplo and the social enterprise Con i Bambini. Significant financial resources of €6 million were allocated to them to support 3 three-year projects. In numbers: more than 100 public-private entities engaged in the three areas, 32,000 vulnerable children to be selected,1,000 tutors and teachers to be involved, 2,000 devices to be distributed, 70 community spaces to be set up/developed.

Support for these three projects is incorporated in the strategic objectives of Fondazione Cariplo: the nine strategic goals around which the Foundation’s activities have been restructured as a result of the pandemic crisis actually include a specific focus on fighting poverty and, therefore, the commitment to address the consequences of the economic and health crisis, identifying people in poverty and improving their living conditions. 

DEVICE DISTRIBUTION

The computers and tablets will be donated, respectively, to

• Fondazione della Comunità Bresciana Onlus 1,050 laptops.
• Fondazione della Comunità Bergamasca 800 laptops.
• Fondazione Comunitaria della Provincia di Lodi 800 laptops.

By contrast, 1,000 laptops and 200 tablets will be donated to the social enterprise SocialTechno, to be reconditioned for the benefit of the QuBì project.

Intesa Sanpaolo considers training to be a key element in the country’s development and collaborates with over 60 Italian universities and some foreign ones such as Oxford University through scholarships and research projects, a commitment that has been strengthened during the last year of the health emergency. It also carries out numerous educational and learning activities for every level of schooling, starting from early childhood. It has also promoted financial tools specifically targeted at young people based on the Impact bank approach, i.e. low rates, long repayment times and with no need for guarantees, such as ‘XME StudioStation’, to support distance learning for families and ‘Per Merito’, the loan for university students. The first, in particular, launched during the lockdown period, is actually designed to help people purchase equipment for distance learning.

Giovanni Fosti, President of Fondazione Cariplo: “The number of families in poverty in Italy has risen, especially the younger families with children. If a young boy or girl is unable to access a device or a connection in today’s world, this means they risk being excluded from relations, training and skills that are now essential. We are talking about digital poverty which risks turning into future poverty, unjust for the sufferers and damaging for everyone. For 30 years, Fondazione Cariplo has been committed to tackling poverty and inequality, through projects and alliances with companies like Intesa San Paolo who share the same sense of urgency on key themes for the future of people and local communities”.

Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo: “Technology is a fundamental tool for personal and professional growth: making it easier for those without to access it is vitally important. The donation of pcs and tablets by the Bank for those in need once again sees us team up with Fondazione Cariplo in the shared vocation of helping to reduce inequality, a commitment founded on the solidity of our financial position and that, as a reference bank for growth and inclusion, which Intesa Sanpaolo now is, we consider to all intents and purposes an objective of our activities”.

Alberta Marniga, President of Fondazione della Comunità Bresciana: “Project DAD - Different Learning Approaches can now count on additional important resources. After having already delivered 500 tablets and as many keyboards in the last few weeks to 43 educational institutes in the Brescia area, today we are receiving, thanks to a donation by Fondazione Cariplo and Intesa Sanpaolo, 1,050 laptops which will be divided based on the institutes’ needs. The delivery of the devices is the first step in a series of projects that will support the entire educational community over the next three years”.

Mauro Parazzi, President of Fondazione Comunitaria della Provincia di Lodi: “We’d like to thank Intesa Sanpaolo and Fondazione Cariplo for the devices that we will provide as part of Im-Patto Digitale, the project that, thanks to the contribution from said Fondazione Cariplo and the social enterprise Con i Bambini, aims to tackle the risk of educational poverty and school drop-outs, responding to the needs of schools, families and young people that have intensified on the back of the Covid emergency. This important donation will be supplemented by those we are receiving in the Lodi region and our direct resources, hence allowing us to build significantly on the initial objective and provide the area with more than one thousand pcs and tablets. For us, the project is an opportunity to establish relations with families, who we not only want to provide with technology to help them cope with this extraordinarily difficult period, but also with cultural tools for fully-informed use of digital resources. Through this grand gesture, Intesa Sanpaolo also becomes firmly part of the regional network in which Fondazione Comunitaria is the leading proponent, therefore becoming the fifteenth organisation dedicated to tackling these new vulnerabilities and forms of social exclusion”.

Osvaldo Ranica, President of Fondazione della Comunità Bergamasca:

Fondazione della Comunità Bergamasca immediately and enthusiastically welcomed the proposal from the Social Enterprise Con i Bambini and Fondazione Cariplo to develop a project to tackle the educational poverty of young people by addressing, in particular, the digital divide. Unequal access to new technologies due to both the unavailability of digital material and the lack of digital skills demonstrated the full extent of its urgency during the months of confinement due to the pandemic. For many young people, not having access to a pc, tablet or internet connection has greatly reduced their growth potential. For this reason, we have devised DigEducati, the project designed to enhance the digital skills of children and young people between the ages of 6 and 13 and their parents/carers, with which we aim to cover the entire Bergamo area. This is a new experience for our Foundation, in the role of leading entity, that can call on a wide network of partners, the most extensive throughout the province. 14 Territorial Areas, the Bergamo Library Network, 21 Social Cooperatives and the University of Bergamo. It is a project we strongly believe in for tackling educational poverty and for supplementing social and cultural services as well as for establishing growth opportunities in the local area. The arrival of 800 laptops, donated by UBISS as part of the transfer of the Ubi Group to Intesa Sanpaolo, which will be used in the project, is brilliant news for another two reasons too. The first is that this donation has significant evidence-based value. Regenerated objects are put pack into circulation and given a second life, for the benefit of many: this is concrete proof of what economic and environmental sustainability means, a bedrock value for our actions. The second because it is a sign of an exemplary ability to increase opportunities. Through the public and private entities in the local area working together and creating a network, setting common and shared objectives generates a much greater social impact than that of individual projects. A thank you to all those who have contributed to this fantastic initiative.

 

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