Community Enterprise of Thessaloniki Municipality

KEDITH is the Community Enterprise of Municipality of Thessaloniki, with a number of 65 employees in total. It is responsible for the social support of young people and especially the youngsters confronting social risk. KEDITH is running a certified lifelong learning – level 2 – training centre which provides support for courses on language, professions, technology and also a Youth Centre for non formal education in order to strengthen youngsters role in the civil society. KEDITH also runs a training centre for kids with special needs and five creative learning centres for kids aged 6-12. Moreover we are implementing activities in the fields of: social protection and solidarity, education, culture, sports, environment, research and technology development. Particular emphasis is given to the implementation of community programs, targeting individuals and providing free social services, care and welfare to the inhabitants of Thessaloniki. The actions of the company's programs include social care, individuals and family support, creative activities for school & pre-school children, adult education, non formal education etc. The categories of beneficiaries include: Seniors 65+, Pensioners on low incomes, Disabled, Uninsured, Unemployed, Long term unemployed, Unemployed over 55 years, Single parent families, Workers of low income, Disabled children and youngsters, Employees, Students, Youth and children. KEDITH is using a prototyped methodology which has been recognised as a best practise model and has been adopted by the network of European Youth Capitals as mandatory regarding the organizational and executive procedures for the institution of EYC and the applicant cities. The execution of this methodology has been recognized also by the Council of Europe as a best practice regarding youth policies. It refers to the conceptual engagement of the youngsters in projects and their capacity building through participation. To measure results we’ve created a point system based on the guidelines of the National Accreditation Center for the certification of adult training. This point system verifies the hours needed for a person to become capable to teach adults either if he/she has studies on the subject or an extensive field experience. By completing this point system a person is able to take part in exams to verify his/her knowledge and abilities. KEDITH has already submitted project plans for socially threatened youngsters in order for them to become more active and to find breakthroughs for their inclusion, while being supported by the following stake holders: Network of European Youth Capitals, Thessaloniki Science Festival Network, Street Art Festival Network, Schedia Stin Poli Network (Art and Creativity), AIESEC (Global Student-based Volunteers Organization), Thessaloniki’s NGOs Network (more than 100 NGOs), KEPKA (Center for Consumer Protection), Nomadetc (French organization for Digital Nomadism) and also routed synergies between different partners such as CIN (Cultural Innovators Network), ArchAngels Knowledge Brokering Cooperative Society, ICBSS (International Centre for Black Sea Studies). The organization implements programs & activities in sectors such as social education, culture and environment, protection and solidarity, research and technology and our work is focused in Entrepreneurship sustainable development, unemployment/employability, Urban/rural development, Volunteering, Youth policy. We also organized and partnered in lots of projects in local and European level. Social enterprise of Thessaloniki has systematically invested during the last years in capacity building for the Municipality and for its youth organizations. Regarding the concept of this project, KEDITH is one of the most valuable stakeholders regarding youth policies and policies against social exclusion. In 2011 the City of Thessaloniki decided to apply for the open call on the upcoming European Youth Capital.Through all these years being awarded with the title of European Youth Capital 2014 we cooperate with city carriers, universities, foreign institutes, Consulates, numerous group of volunteers , youth NGO’s , Council of Europe. Briefly we mobilized youth of our city and all involved in young’s people’s affairs so as to set Thessaloniki a good example of applied politics for youth all over Europe. Furthermore, Kedith organized numerous events for 2014 as a European Youth Capital collaborating with NGOs universities, volunteers, the civic society etc. The program consisted of 200 smaller or larger activities for 2014 and is available at www.thessaloniki2014.gr. This program was divided, in 11 thematic priorities. The priorities were: colourful city, volunteers city, urban sport stories, culture in the city, the social city, here we are, the NGO table, experimenting the future, urban green stories, world stories and connecting youths. KEDITH is member of the Intercity Youth network of European local/municipal departments. Our overall aim is to enhance the quality of youth work in the EU membership states. KEDITH is also a member of the Network of European Youth Capitals. The mission of the Network of the European Youth Capitals is to develop a cooperative and sustainable network of European cities which were designated as European Youth Capitals by the European Youth Forum, building solidarity among members and partners and encouraging European cities to align to the vision of this network.