The Liguria Region also confirms the “Summer Nurseries” measure for 2024, designed to support municipalities that guarantee at least two consecutive weeks of opening between July and August of nursery schools and similar services. This year too, 500 thousand euros have been allocated: the funds will be divided among the leading municipalities of the various Ligurian social and health districts, which, in turn, will provide the accredited/equalized private owners participating in the initiative with the shares due to them based on the regional distribution.
“We have now reached the eighth edition of this measure, confirming the large share of the municipalities and above all of the families throughout the territory – comments the councilor for Social Policies Giacomo Giampedrone -. Helping local authorities to keep facilities open even in the height of summer, in July and August, is of fundamental importance for families, especially for working parents, who often struggle during holiday periods to find suitable places with specialized staff to welcome their children.”
“Thanks to this measure, the services for early childhood in Liguria carry out the precious functions of educational and social protection even in summer – explains the councilor for Child Protection Simona Ferro – Through the provision of these funds the Liguria Region concretely demonstrates close to the municipalities, to the public and private structures that provide almost 8 thousand places and, obviously, to the families and children who benefit from the service”.
In 2023, 92 municipalities joined the initiative (in 2022 there were 84), involving 223 summer services (there were 214 the previous year) dedicated to early childhood, both public and private: a synergy between early childhood services of the public administration and of associations that last year managed to guarantee over 7681 places dedicated to children up to 3 years old, over 1,600 more than the previous year. Last year around 80% of the services remained open for the whole day, the remaining 20% guaranteed half a day almost always with meals included; in July there was opening for the entire month, in August most of the participating services ensured an average of two weeks of opening.
For this year, the sum of 500 thousand euros will go to offset the expenses incurred by local authorities to guarantee the nursery school service in their territories. The allocation of resources for individual municipalities will be quantified based on the number of places made available by each early childhood facility (nursery schools, children’s centers, home education services, spring sections owned by public bodies or private bodies that have followed the accreditation path), the number of days of opening guaranteed in the period July and August 2024 and the number of hours of daily opening guaranteed in the same period, or a mechanism that is all the more rewarding the more a service commits to extending its opening hours also in the summer.
“This initiative confirms the attention paid to our youngest ‘citizens’ who, even in the summer period, can continue to enjoy an important opportunity for socialization in environments and with quality staff dedicated to them, among their peers” , conclude councilors Ferro and Giampedrone.
