The Polis Foundation was set up 7 years ago, as a joint effort by 8 municipalities to the North-West of Florence: Calenzano, Campi Bisenzio, Fiesole, Lastra a Signa, Scandicci, Sesto Fiorentino, Signa and Vaglia.
They joined forces owing to their shared desire to provide concrete solutions to the needs of people with disabilities, focusing on residential and family-substitute services.
From the onset, the foundation has aimed to be a tool to support and back social policies for intervention in the Municipalities, as well as other public and private concerns which share this desire to improve the quality of life of the disabled.
At the foundation we “pool our resources”, explains Barbara Cavandoli, today at the head of Polis, whom we asked a few questions regarding the foundation’s main areas of interest:

What does the Polis foundation do?

The foundation is in charge of meeting the needs of families who want to build, side-by-side with their disabled relative, an innovative “dopo di noi” project that is appropriate for the living requirements of the disabled person. Our intent is to give them concrete, daily help, which is why when I describe the foundation I always say that first and foremost here we pool our resources, we help each other out, we support one another and bit by bit we build genuine life projects.

What are the foundation’s principal activities?

The foundation performs projects capable of supporting the disabled in achieving greater autonomy, preparing them to break away from their family.
Here at the foundation, we organise holidays, weekends away, recreational activities that enable the disabled person to get out of his or her usual family context, designing a path towards independence and autonomy.
The goal is to identify, together with their families, the path to take to achieve their own life project, which often takes place in our residential projects.

Could you explain more about these residential projects?

Our foundation is a concrete tool to implement the “Dopo di noi” law; we take care of finding out and listening to the wishes and requirements of the disabled and their families, creating groups capable of supporting one another, living together, giving shape and colour to their own life projects.
Our contribution therefore consists in both defining a path towards autonomy that will lead the disabled person to be ready to leave the confines of their family’s home, as well as providing concrete, lasting support for each group of co-habiting disabled people.

For further details about the Polis Foundation’s activities, please write to: fondazionepolis.fi.no@gmail.com or call the following number: +39 0557591277