SafePlace International has three years of experience working to meet the needs of DMRs in Greece and other parts of the world. Greece’s bleak economic environment has meant an unemployment rate of twenty five percent, making it especially difficult for DMRs to find work. In order to assist DMRs to be competitive in a job market that excludes a significant proportion of the local population, let alone migrants, SPI has established the Dream Academy and expanded on the vocational and skills training provided in the ACC to support DMRs with attaining the skills they need to be successful in gaining employment.
The Community Center currently serves as the hub for DMRs in Athens, offering individual casework sessions to all beneficiaries, daily Greek and English language classes, basic maths and financial literacy classes, weekly workshops facilitated by fellow community center residents or partner organizations (previous workshops include dance, theater, community organizing, yoga and meditation), trauma-focused counseling, and comprehensive vocational training which encompasses CV building, computer literacy and programming, physical presentation, and finding opportunities to match skill sets and interests. In addition to the 80 residents that usually reside in the Athens Housing Collective and Moms2Moms shelters, the center welcomes up to 100 marginalized refugees in the greater Athens region daily to access the community center’s resources.
