In 2016, Fo.Co. established the “Giorgio La Pira Mediterranean Center for Studies and Training” in Pozzallo (RG). The project was born from collaboration with the Migrantes Foundation, the G. La Pira Foundation in Florence, and the La Pira Committee Florence–Pozzallo, with the aim of creating a social initiative in Pozzallo for migrants, especially the most vulnerable, including unaccompanied foreign minors.

The Mediterranean Center’s goal is to train social and institutional actors in order to improve the reception and integration conditions of unaccompanied foreign minors, refugees, and asylum seekers through the creation of a high-level training school.

Since its creation, the Center has offered multidisciplinary training for professionals involved in the reception and integration of unaccompanied foreign minors and, at the same time, has provided training paths for unaccompanied foreign minors, asylum seekers, and refugees. In particular, four editions of the “Intercultural Mediator Course” were delivered for both Italians and foreigners, with the collaboration of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Catania, Ragusa campus, including professors who delivered training modules and the organization of public events.

The Center also promoted the project “Voluntary Guardians for Unaccompanied Foreign Minors: Awareness-Raising and Training Paths and the Creation of a Network of Voluntary Guardians,” carried out in collaboration with ASGI and the Migrantes Foundation. Within this initiative, an information and awareness campaign on the institution of voluntary guardianship was implemented, and to date seven training courses for Voluntary Guardians of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors have been delivered between Sicily and Calabria.

Over the years, numerous training, informational, and socio-cultural events have been organized with the aim of raising awareness among local communities about migration. In the long term, the Center aims to serve as an Observatory and Study Center on migration phenomena and on the reception system for migrants, both adults and minors, in support of local and national institutions.