According to ISTAT 2021 estimates, in Italy, there are more than 1.9 million households in absolute poverty (with an incidence equal to 7.5%), for a total of about 5.6 million individuals (9.4%), stable values compared to 2020 when the incidence reached its historical maximum and was equal, In the United Kingdom, for example, the figure is 7.7% and 9.4%.
From these alarming data comes the desire of the OTB Foundation to create a real network of multifunctional centers created to help families struggling with the economic crisis, job loss, and general impoverishment.
The” Emporio Solidale” is a multifunctional space that provides a service of distribution of necessities organized as a real supermarket, within which beneficiaries can find free food and non-food, to the extent agreed with the social welfare agencies that develop the accompanying project; there is then a reception area where beneficiaries are followed by professionals and addressed, according to needs, the various offices of competence already existing in the territory with the ultimate aim of facilitating their reintegration into society through support at several levels (e.g. training courses, support for women victims of violence, etc.).