FCBARCELONA.CAT

18.05.2010 13:36

First XICS centre in Barcelona

www.fcbarcelona.cat

Next September, the FCB Foundation will open its first XICS centre here in Barcelona. The project is being set up in conjunction with the Barcelona City Council and the foundation of the La Caixa savings bank.

The project to set up the latest centre in the FCB Foundation’s XICS network – and the first in Barcelona - was unveiled last Tuesday. The network was started in 2006 and there are already 12 XICS centres around the developing world, all of them aimed at helping children out of poverty and deprivation through the medium of sports and education. The launch was attended by Club president, Joan Laporta, the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, the director general of the FCB Foundation, Marta Segú and the deputy director of the La Caixa foundation, Elisa Duran.

Support for 80 children

The new centre will be housed in an existing secondary school (the IES Ferran Tallada in the Carmel district of Barcelona) and will cater for 80 boys and girls aged between 10 and 16, all of whom come from vulnerable and underprivileged backgrounds. The aim will be to provide support for these children in a broad range of areas, including education, sports, computing, family relationships, psychological support etc. The children will be able to attend classes outside of the normal school timetable.

Over the next few months, the facilities will be renovated in time for the opening in September 2010. The centre will have a classroom, three offices and two multi-propose areas, as well as having access to two extra classrooms in the school.

“A crowning achievement”

Joan Laporta told us: “This is a crowning achievement. I am very satisfied because the idea of re-thinking the Foundation has been a success. This is the last XICS centre that I will unveil. I’ve travelled all over the world taking the heart of Barca with me. This unveiling means that Barca is continuing to grow”.

For his part, the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, was equally delighted: “Sport has always been important in the life of the city. Today we are seeing the social side of a club that wins league titles on the pitch but that also helps to win other leagues in our suburbs. I am very proud that before coming here to Barcelona, you have taken the XICS programme around the world”.

Objectives of the centre

The main objective of the new centre will be to help prevent vulnerable children aged 10 to 16 from dropping out of school and becoming marginalized. The centre will provide a programme of health and educational support and encourage a healthy lifestyle and access to sport. The work of the centre will also extend to the families of the children.

The centre will also provide training for pupils at the host secondary school as well as from other schools around Barcelona in different aspects of social work and physical education.