For over 10 years BreakCotto has been the school-work project that has been a partnership between IVS Italia and the Chicco Cotto cooperative. BreakCotto’s more than 20 young people with disabilities and autism deal every day with #DiverselyAutomatic catering, as they like to call it. In other words, they take care of vending machine distribution at offices, schools, hospitals, libraries and large companies.
BreakCotto’s employment activity is then complemented by its presence at major social and cultural occasions dedicated to inclusion and disability. Like the annual UN Conference in New York on the rights of persons with disabilities last June, where BreakCotto was a guest speaker. Or like the G7 dedicated precisely to inclusion and disability, held in Umbra from 14 to 16 April 2024. Together with Italian Minister for Disability Alessandra Locatelli, the international meeting was attended by the corresponding delegations from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the USA.
At the event, BreakCotto took care of hospitality, managing breakfast and coffee breaks. During the G7, BreakCotto president Don Andrea Bonsignori said: ‘The BreakCotto project was born from the acquaintance between the IVS world and the Chicco Cotto world, which at the time was a social cooperative working in vending. We met and realised the great mutual potential of our boys and girls, men and women, a job, a hope for our employees, boys and girls who live in the strength and experience of a real job that can give them a concrete perspective for the future. And this has also allowed us to be at the United Nations today at this important G7 event’.
Francesco Faiella, one of the BreakCotto boys, then added: ‘I had started doing this course of vending management since October 2016 thanks to the Chicco Cotto school-to-work alternation. I like this job, because we go around with vans loading products from the vending machines for snacks, drinks, coffee, then sometimes also the inventory. The inventory shows us the products if they come out well or if it’s all a bit of a mess, let’s say’.
Don’t miss BreakCotto’s video recap at G7 – inclusion and disability in Umbria:
And find out how BreakCotto’s presence at the G7 found space in the main newspapers:
- IlSole24Ore
- Askanews
- Quotidiano Nazionale
- Tiscali
- Appianews
- Youtube
- Il Dolomiti
- Il Mattino di Padova
- Notizie.it
- Libero.it
To learn more about BreakCotto and its projects, click here.