Growing in small municipalities: 50 million for services to children and adolescents

50 million euros are ready for small municipalities in order to implement activities dedicated to children and adolescents aged 0 to 14 and intergenerational aggregation projects. It is an initiative, in the form of a Notice, entitled "Growing up in small towns", promoted by the Ministry for the Family, led by Eugenia Roccella, to encourage the offer of local services and educational, social and relational opportunities for minors and families in villages and small towns. Municipalities within 5 thousand inhabitants who request it by September 29th will be able to access the financing, individually or in an associated form.

The financeable projects must fall into at least one of the following areas: educational, recreational, cultural, sporting and socialization activities aimed at children and adolescents, with particular regard to the age group between 0 and 14 years, and intergenerational initiatives for aggregation and extracurricular activities aimed at encouraging the exchange of skills and experiences between generations and strengthening community relations. Each project must involve areas with at least fifteen resident minors aged 0-14, also through aggregation between Municipalities.

"The aim of the initiative is to enhance opportunities for families, fuel the cohesion of local communities and combat the depopulation of small towns", reads a note from the Ministry for the Family, which collaborated with Alessandro Santoni, coordinator of the Small Municipalities Council of Anci, to define the project. «To preserve our territories - the Ministry states - it is important that opportunities and services are widespread and reach even the smallest communities. For this same reason the government has made funding to Municipalities for summer centers structural, and the same vision guides the work we are carrying out with the Regions for Family Centres".

«The publication of the notice “Growing in small municipalities 2026”, with an allocation of 50 million euros intended for municipalities with up to 5,000 inhabitants, represents another concrete result of the path that the ANCI Small Municipalities Consultation is pursuing with the government. It is an important measure, which demonstrates how institutional comparison can translate into concrete responses for communities", added Alessandro Santoni, national coordinator of the ANCI Small Municipalities Consultation.