Youth center Idrija (Mladinski center Idrija)

Youth Center Idrija (Mladinski center Idrija) is a community space and a youth node in the town of Idrija (Slovenia) that functions as a meeting place for young people and increasingly for the whole community of Idrija. The story of Youth Center Idrija dates back in 2008, when the need for a common youth space was articulated at one of the round tables organized by Student’s Association Idrija. A petition for the founding of such space followed and a vision plan for it was written by young activists of Students’ Association Idrija and local Scouts’ Association. After years of negotiations with local government, a 300 m2 in the old monastery were given into use to young local people in 2012. Youth center Idrija was thus formed as an umbrella organization by 3 local NGO (Scouts' Association Rod srebrnih krtov Idrija, Association for youth development Idrija 2020 and Students' Association Idrija). Youth volunteers renovated the spaces and furnished it with second-hand and DIY furniture, donated by inhabitants and companies from Idrija. Today the aim of the community youth space is to encourage public participation of youth in decision-making processes, structured dialogue, youth mobility and volunteering, informal education, social inclusion and intercultural dialogue, creative and active free time … Several activities inhabit the space: Education and personal growth - Entrepreneurial club and course for high school pupils - Career orientation workshops and seminars - Robotics course - Programming course - Word, Excel, Power Point, Adobe workshops - Language courses (Russian, German, Italian …) - Travelogue lectures Sport activities: - Sports tournaments - Aerobics and dance classes Music activities: - Youth choir meetings - Public acoustic concerts International activities: - Youth exchanges - Urbanistic workshops Meetings: - Students’ Association Idrija - Scouts' Association Rod srebrnih krtov Idrija, - Association for youth development Idrija 2020 - local orienteering club ... Other: - Season-related events (Santa Claus visit for local children, making Halloween masks, gift-wrapping workshops …) - Humanitarian activities (collecting clothes and food for refugees, collecting toys for under-privileged children, blood-donating …) - Birthday celebrations for children - Daily center for children with less opportunities – social care programme - Clothes-exchanges In broad terms, the main visitors of the Idrija youth center are young people (15 - 30 y.o.) of town of Idrija.