The Ethical Hotel opens: a job placement experiment for young people with Down syndrome.

JOB PLACEMENT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DOWN SYNDROME –

A hotel that employs children with Down syndrome. It is theEthical Hotel of Asti – just inaugurated – which was the first to launch this initiative with theobiettivo to create a accessible structure from all points of view to people with disabilities, also offering them the opportunity to enter the job market.

An thirty rooms, indoor garden, reception with co-working space and restaurantThese are the environments where the kids work at full speed.three-star hotel, right in the city centre, was created from the renovation of a closed courtyard terraced house.

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PROJECT DOWNLOAD –

Today's result comes from afar. It is the 2006 when a group of friends and professionals helps Niccolò, a boy with Down syndrome, to make a training to conclude his training course at Asti Hills Hotel Management SchoolThe right place is found in the restaurant “Tacabanda” connected to the hotel located in Corso Galileo Ferraris 58 in the small Piedmontese town.

A positive experience that Niccolò told to the president of “Tacabanda”, Antonio De Benedetto,and that thanks to the help of the Vodafone Italy Foundation and Fab Social-Health Fund (Assistance and Welfare Fund) has expanded.

Thus was born “Download” project, which involves the hotel's permanent staff and, on a rotating basis, six young interns. The young people work in the facility and then sleep in the staff rooms, in what is called “The Independence Academy”.

TO KNOW MORE: A playground for disabled children

And this is precisely another goal of the initiative: to train tourism professionals who are also independent, capable of living independently and managing their own affairs. The program is gradual and designed over three years, the average time needed to achieve true independence. First, the young person learns and performs all the hotel and restaurant tasks, then replicates them in their own home environment. The most experienced will serve as tutors for the newcomers. An opportunity not only for them, but also for our country.

The “Ethical Hotel” is one of the virtuous examples portrayed in the Italian Pavilion at Expo, and over time it has received the support of the former President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, and even of Pope Francis. There is also the possibility that the model will be exported to the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

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