The three communities are in the same building, an old school in the Gratosoglio neighborhood of Milan. It is a popular neighborhood in the south periphery of Milan, with many big palaces, green areas and few stores. Oklahoma is comfortably accessible with public transportation and the city center is accessible in about half an hour. We have a bus stop close to the association. The population of the neighborhood is of. Gratosoglio is not an easy neighborhood but it's not dangerous. There are close neighborhoods rich with commercial and social life, however.
The community has a community garden that permits outdoor activities. Every community has 4/5 bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, TV room, and a multifunctional room (library, game room, sitting room) other than the offices of the educators. There is also a room with access to free internet.
The community has a rule for the hosts for their own autonomy and that they take care of their own space and participate in all the domestic activities together; they are permitted to go out during the day during free moments from the activities of the project, and during the evenings until mezzanotte only Fridays and Saturdays. For what regards European volunteers, outside of the service schedule they will have the maximum liberty and there are no problems of returning, as long as it doesn't interfere with the the community life. The volunteers will have keys to access the community and their space.
It is possible to receive visits if the hosts respect the rules and space of the community. It is not possible instead to host external people for the night.
In the community the use of alcohol and substances is prohibited and there is a particular attention to the dynamic of aggressiveness.
" what you can offer to volunteers in terms of Service and learning opportunities,
To the volunteers we offer the possibility to follow the educators in their activities with the boys and to understand how educative work with minors comes about in Italy. The educative work is directed at minors to which society has given fewer opportunities that and at the same time asks to render themselves in autonomy at a restrictive age (18 years old). From the permanence in Oklahoma the European volunteers will be able to learn, through direct experience, how to work with an individual and a group at the end to optimize the result and yielding all of the resources that they have at their disposition. The young volunteers will develop faith in themselves and gain productive formalities with the coinhabitants and the adults. From the permanence in Oklahoma there will come automatically the knowledge of the language and of the Italian culture and the meeting with many people of different nationalities, languages, cultures, religions, and diverse contexts, in which can come an interesting inter-exchange. For the youth in the program, as well as the volunteers, Oklahoma will be an non-formal educational experience, a journey of knowledge and growth.

" what will be the role of EVS volunteers in the Host Organisation,
The European volunteers will support the educators in our community putting themselves in an intermediary position between operators and hosts. We believe that in our educative course of our hosts is important in meeting with other peers that come from diverse countries and cultures. This type of experience offers them an opportunity to open up and get to know, respect, and value diversity. Also, through their sve experience, the volunteers can be testimony to the youth and transmit important values important to the volunteer and and social engagement.

" the activities in which the volunteers could be involved and the activities the volunteers could create in your organisation. Please give examples of typical activities for the volunteers.
The volunteer will participate in "ordinary" activities relative to the daily life of the three communities of the association and will take part also in specific projects according to their interests and abilities. For example, from January 2008 the association has given italian lessons in the structure through a project called "Free Language" and at the end of the project the youth are able to take the CILS exam (Italian Second Language Certification) that certifies the learning of the language. Another project experimented with success in 2008 consists of the production of a bicycle repair inside of the community that allows the youth to repair their bicycles that serve as a method to travel on vacations and, in a second phase, learn the construction and maintenance techniques of the bicycles to maintain this laboratory office as a point of reference of the neighborhood for those who would like to repair their own bicycles. Also, Oklahoma proposes periodical theatrical projects in which volunteers can take part. It offers to the volunteers the possibility to propose sport or recreational activities (from the organization of a tour, a party, of a multiethnic lunch and activities of that sort). We ask the volunteers to express their own ideas and/or initiative to the educative team to evaluate them together and receive the necessary support. Among the most simple activities in which the volunteers can contribute there is also scholastic help, accompaniment (for example: medical visits), and help in the kitchen.
The volunteer will follow a "schedule" of service in accordance with the educators, with lots of possibilities to choose, being an active service for 24 hours a day 365 days a year. In general, the european volunteer will not work more than 7 hours a day 5 days a week. We will decide together possible shifts and free days. The wake up and breakfast schedule is in relation to the service schedule and the engagements of the day. We ask the volunteers to share lunch and dinner with the group of the community. When they are not in service, they can communicate in advance whether or not they'll be at the table or not. Living and taking service within the same context, a certain flexibility on the part of the volunteer is necessary in respect of the urges of the community and also of the volunteer.
The volunteer that we would like to have has a healthy lifestyle and a certain availability and capacity in relationships. Given the target of hosts in our community, it is necessary that the volunteers are mature and responsible youths, respecting different roles, getting close to the hosts with positivity but without excessive complying or identification.
We also welcome volunteers coming from other countries, cultures, and religions without any discrimination.

Number of volunteers hosted:2

The environment of the project is assigned to the aspects of life that facilitate the insertion of people that have a type of difficulty expressed above.We believe that geographical, economic, and cultural disadvantages should not be an obstacle to a possibly positive experience. The formation and the experience of all the operators is to support and integration and action of foreign volunteers with this type of disadvantage.
In respect to volunteers with physical disabilities or health problems, we do not think to be able at the moment to offer a significant experience at the organizational level and adequate support. We do not have doctors inside our structure.

The structure respects the fundamental norms of security.
The volunteer will carry out the most part of their work on the side of the educative personnel in the position to carry out immediately the situations that present themselves. For more complex situations the overseers of the community have the task and the competences to support the hosts, which is obviously connected to the type of situation that is presented. Regular group meetings, more or less structured, are part of the instruments at our disposition.
We do not accept minors.

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/evs/aod/hei_form_en.cfm?EID=42000623101