3.3.1. Organisation and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic

vulnerable young people. We asked each partner which policies they implemented during the pandemic and how they became resilient actors in such a complex period.

3.3.1. Organisation and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed the revision and questioning of consolidated strategies in order to continue working with the most disadvantaged young people, in new spaces and with new tools. It is very interesting to have a look at the visual map (see Figure 1)aimed at describing what partners experimentedduring this period. The thickness of the lines indicates the frequency of the responses in the specified dimensions.Atfirst glance it is possible to observe that the first strategy is the contact (with every possible tool). Organisations startedcontacting youngsters using their digital tools: —We keep the communication even from the phone. —We created a Facebook group, we keep contact with WhatsApp (they are youngsters, don't call them! but only WhatsApp messages); we open a platform that young people use for hanging out and talking… it's a way to keep in touch. — The ways we communicate with young people have changed a lot. We have completely abandoned ourselves with respect to privacy… Phone calls, WhatsApp (it is not a tool that was usually used) in the same way for Facebook. Until this year, the profiles (IG, Facebook) of the teachers were private, they were not to be shared with the students. But this year it was different…we relied on everything we could use as a communication channel. — On our website, where we gave official communication of our presence, you will find: surname and personal telephone numbers… Maybe someday we will change the numbers [laugh]but we had to be there! Privacy seems to be a big challenge for the organisations involved, but this aspect is connected again with flexibility. The less flexible the organisationis, the more difficult it is to overcome spatial limits to meetthe needs of young people. The intervieweestold us that, while at the beginning of the health emergency they were not prepared and needed three weeks to restart the activities, in November 2020, when the situation worsened again, ʻthe day before we were in attendance, the day after onlineʼ .They have provento be contextual and responsive to what is actually useful for vulnerable youngsters: to be present. Unfortunately, despite the effort, it was not possible to maintain contact with everyone. Each European project partner experiencedthe frustration caused by the consciousness of having left someone behind, especially in the initial phase of the pandemic: — Some young people don't have good internet connection… we have families with 5 or 6 children and one computer… so it's really hard now, especially now when they had lessons online… they had problems to participate at school. — We already know that we have lost some more vulnerable young people (migrants living with many people at home, often they don't have laptops/ good connections…).

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However, with the persistence of the emergency, transversal actions were implemented to identify the problems and, where possible, specific actions were taken to provide digital tools. One of the most important challenge for professionals working with vulnerable youngsters is facing the impossibility of physically gettingthem out of their comfort zone. This element is particularly evident when using art and sport as specific tools to involve young people: —For people who attend the spaces of Palazzo Strozzi in order to have the excuse to leave their home, it is not the same thing to do online activities… Their interest is not so much talking aboutart, but taking the bus, coming to Palazzo Strozzi and spending half a day with different people from those who see normally. But evenif it was not possible to physically move them, one of the strategies applied was using the artistic experience to share and express the emotions of young people: —I start to work with natural elements…For example: What you can see like a natural element from your room or out of that…? or:Drawn an element of your family… thinks connected with their new reality and makes them be aware about what they are leaving and not think so much about ‘I can't go out’but ‘Let's see where we are and what we can do’ . But some interesting experiences told us that for specific vulnerable groups it has been possible to maintain contact and go on with the activities: —We also had the possibility to reach some youngest in an easy way, for this reason,we will continue with online services even after the pandemic. We need more digital services aside from face-to-face services… Especially referring to special youngsters (HC, physical or emotional issues)… for someone it can bea big step going to the youth club because they don't know anyone but it's easy to log in with a computer. A final reflection is dedicated to space. The pandemic has forced us to look for spaces of possibility where we were not looking before: open-air protected situations in which we can work well even in this context. Several partners told us that their relation with ‘educational’space has changed: —During the summer we organized a summer camp, which we had never imagined doing prepandemic…working outdoors…we have always refused to do summer camps because they are moments in which the expectation is very clear: to have fun! And we are not just entertainment…this year we did it and I personally realized the potential and I want to repeat the experience…planning very well, with the artists… —We can also think of organizing open-air activities… outdoor activities. Also, with the target group,we can go to parks for our training…

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