Community Bank | Verona
We do not throw away, but exchange or make available skills, creating a circular economy made up of goods to be exchanged and earned in happiness. An attempt to cope with the loneliness and needs due to the demographic change accentuated by the pandemic. STEPSpoint was inaugurated at the Vivaldi primary school in Via Scarabello in Verona, with the Banco di Comunità di Verona and the Repair Cafè. It is one of the initiatives of the European STEPS project, led by the Municipality of Verona, which with the funding of 4 million will make various actions to combat social isolation, the final goal is the recovery of the Saval farmhouse with public spaces for young people and Senior citizens.
Opened in the renovated space of the former home of the primary school caretaker Vivaldi, the Banco di Comunità follows the sharing economy model of “Cauto”, a limited liability social cooperative, and Verona FabLab, a social enterprise association, characterizing the space as new of communities where relationships could be generated on circulating disused goods and unexpressed skills by creating social relationships.
The Community Bank therefore puts itself at the service of the citizens of the third constituency by listening to their needs with the aim of creating a network, generating, through the collection of materials and goods that will not be wasted, with support and training actions for stakeholders, citizens , associations, various types of entities to counteract and loneliness, promoting social, economic and environmental well-being according to an innovative model. The goal is to create social inclusion by stimulating intergenerational dialogue, bringing together the elderly and young people of the neighborhood, each with their own expertise or history so that people can break down loneliness and mistrust, a factor that has recently taken hold.
It is not just an exchange of objects, but also of skills, from fixing a bicycle, ironing or clarifying the functioning of a cellphone. But even just to talk and share moments of activity and socializing, all receiving in exchange “Fil” coupons (Gross Internal Happiness), to be put on the card provided by the Bank, to enrich yourself and others.
(Gross internal happiness points)
Also part of the project is the social enterprise Verona FabLab with a self-production and reuse space called Fab Repair Café in which to provide skills by teaching people to repair or self-produce objects, saving further waste thanks to an ecological and sustainable choice. There are also various courses, from tailoring repair to the use of the 3D printer.
The Orti di San Giuseppe association participates in the Banco, which has also started a Solidea community garden, which carries out the exchange of health aids.
Banco di Comunità is open on Wednesdays and Fridays from 3.30 to 6.30 pm (on Fridays by appointment and reception from organizations and suppliers), on Saturdays from 9.30 to 12.30.
«The key word of the project is to create community, starting to be together again – underlined the mayor Federico Sboarina – It is not just a question linked to the pandemic, which forced us to stay at home. Even earlier, the sense of the social network had been lost in the most populous neighborhoods. This project therefore wants to recreate that sense, with the desire to be together. Today, after the health emergency, there is a desire to be together and the Banco di Comunità can be an opportunity to fight loneliness. In these days we have also sent a questionnaire to the elderly in the neighborhood to understand what the needs and problems are, a service that allows us to be closer to the citizens. It is the lonely elderly people who live in the shadows, and it is our reach to get them back to go out and be together with the community. We are a big city, and we must be so in designing great works and infrastructures, but above all by making our neighborhoods come alive. My idea of a perfect city is one that has an international vision but on a human scale, and Verona must be like that ».
