Centro Social de Ermesinde

Centro Social de Ermesinde (CSE) is a non-governmental and non-profit organization, with an important role in the local development of the municipality of Valongo in general and in Ermesinde in particular. It is an institution that works in the social areas of children and the elderly (nursery, preschool, leisure activities, Home for the elderly, Home Support Service), as well as the education and training of young people. In the last decades, it has carried out an important work with the youth community of the municipality, with a particular focus on young people with fewer opportunities and young people NEET. CSE's mission is to "Improve People's Lives" by promoting equal opportunities through the following actions: 1. Vocational guidance and the referral of young people to training offers (school, higher education and vocational training) and international mobility projects (European Solidarity Corps and international exchanges); 2. Qualifies Center: training actions with school and/or professional certification through processes of Recognition, Validation and Certification of Competencies or certified modular training; 3. Second Chance School of Valongo: structured for the development of alternative school pathways aimed at young people with very low levels of education, for the basic graduation, this is a specialized response to combat absenteeism and early school leaving; 4. Youth exchanges (bilateral and multicultural as a coordinating/organizing and sending entity, on various themes - environment, citizenship, culture, leisure time, sport, employment and training and social exclusion); 5. EURODESK Point: dissemination of information on international mobility; 6. Promotion of theater, music, painting and sewing workshops, open to the community in general; 7. Community radio - Rádio Zona Z - with online broadcast, with an intergenerational character; 8. Youth entrepreneurship projects; 9. Occupation of free time; 10. Participation in cultural events and pilgrimages in the municipality of Valongo with projects both in the area of ​​childhood and youth and in the area of ​​senior citizens. In the field of social participation, the CSE: i. intervened in several international seminars on European youth policies and exchange actions with the countries of the basin of the Mediterranean; ii. developed a training action for exchange promoters, within the scope of the former Youth for Europe Programme; iii. at national level, he participated in events on working with young NEETs, on Second Chance initiatives, with the presence of the Secretary of State for Education, national researchers, from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto, currently part of the governing bodies of the national network of schools and second chance education initiatives; iv. the CSE has coordinated and promoted several projects with and for young people, aiming at their professional qualification as a way of facilitating their integration into working life; promotes the increase of educational and professional qualifications and social participation; contributed to the reduction of absenteeism and early school leaving, through alternative school training and professional qualification paths; v. in the area of ​​employment and entrepreneurship, we promote actions that favored the transition to the labor market and actions that encourage active citizenship and greater awareness of civic rights and duties. As a host organisation, the CSE currently coordinates a long-term volunteering project of the European Solidarity Corps, with 4 young people, who promote activities in the community, promoting European values ​​and youth mobility.