Through an agreement signed between the Ministers of Social Development, Martín Lema, and National Defense, Javier García, the facilities where the Army’s Engineer Battalion No. 5 worked were provided on loan. In that property, the Mides will coordinate a new reference center for social policies, with proposals aimed at social inclusion, the restitution of rights and citizen participation.
Also attending the event, this Thursday the 15th, were the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado; the Minister of the Interior, Luis Alberto Heber; the president of the State Health Services Administration (ASSE), Leonardo Cipriani; the National Secretary of Sport, Sebastián Bauzá; the general director of Professional Technical Education, Juan Pereyra, and the president of the Social Security Bank (BPS), Alfredo Cabrera, among other representatives of the institutions involved.
The new space will start operating in October, in order to decentralize and bring closer the State’s responses, and will work with the Piedras Blancas, Ituzaingó, Jardines del Hipódromo and Casavalle neighborhoods in Montevideo.
It will cover socio-labour inclusion projects, aimed at technical training and insertion in the formal labor market, through the Ministry of Social Development (Mides), the General Directorate of Professional Technical Education and the National Institute of Employment and Professional Training (Inefop). .
It will have a dining room to provide food to the neighborhood through the National Food Institute (INDA). There will also be a Mides territorial office, a collection, entry and referral center for homeless people for first care and 24-hour reception.
Likewise, it will include an ASSE polyclinic, a dependency of the National Directorate of Civil Identification (DNIC) of the Ministry of the Interior, sports proposals implemented by the National Secretary of Sports and a BPS citizen attention office.
“Social policies cannot be made alone, we need the complement of other institutions to strengthen care,” Minister Lema said in his oratory, adding that the center is key in an area that requires a comprehensive approach.
The hierarch added that the best way to see social growth is through accessibility to services and considered it essential to strengthen assistance in the area where the center will be located. “It’s about strengthening work, care and response in places that are objectively in need,” he said.
Minister García highlighted the importance of the service in an area of Montevideo “marked by many shortcomings”, stated that the State is present where it is most needed and reaffirmed the policy of closeness and support to the poorest sectors of the country.
Heber, meanwhile, maintained that many of the security issues are dealt with by addressing the causes of crime and assured that joint action by the State is necessary. “All Uruguayans deserve an opportunity, and here there will be help, assistance, recovery and support,” he said.
