With a signature in front of the media, the president of Aragon, Javier Lambán, and the president of the “la Caixa” Foundation, Isidro Fainé, signed a collaboration framework agreement on Tuesday to promote improvements in the living conditions of the citizens of the Aragonese community. In total, the foundation will contribute 16.5 million euros this year to develop social, educational, cultural and scientific activities.
For Lambán, this signing demonstrates “la Caixa’s commitment to Aragon”, a relationship model “very favorable to the community” that also includes the existence of Caixaforum in the Aragonese capital. “All the cultural volume that takes place there is one of the most estimable things that takes place in Zaragoza”, he added.
Among the basic objectives set out in the agreement, collaboration to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable children, promoting the active aging of the elderly, facilitating access to employment for disadvantaged groups, ensuring comprehensive care for patients with advanced diseases and contribute to the well-being of people with disabilities or at risk of exclusion.
The main amount goes to the CaixaProinfancia program, whose objective is to fight child poverty and in which almost four million euros are invested. The initiative is aimed at children and adolescents between the ages of 0 and 18 whose families are at risk or in a situation of exclusion. During 2022, this project served 3,596 minors from Aragon from some 2,000 families.
Also noteworthy are the labor integration projects, among which the Incorpora program stands out, which encourages the hiring of groups with special difficulties in finding work. This project is carried out in the region in collaboration with 11 social entities and has 39 insertion technicians .
With regard to the cultural and educational field, the agreement is committed to developing an ambitious plan that includes the programming of exhibitions and concerts. Likewise, it follows the EduCaixa program for the entire educational community, which in 2022 had the participation of 258 centers and involved some 9,500 teachers and 57,500 students.
Finally, the research and knowledge section aims to develop lines of research with the training of young scientists, and includes collaboration with centers and programs, the sharing of research results and the list of exhibitions and activities to apply the programs. scientists.
During the meal prior to the signing, Lambán also discussed with Fainé the “refounding” work being carried out by the regional government with Casa Aragón in Barcelona, ??which the community took over to save it from architectural ruin and ” strengthen relations between Aragon and Catalonia”.
Regarding its future, the regional president conveyed his interest in having la Caixa in the design of its future uses when the modernization works are already advanced. “The president has shown interest in seeing it and studying it,” added Lambán, closing an act in which Fainé did not intervene and no questions were allowed.
