An electric bike charger is a tool with enormous potential to develop entrepreneurial skills in young people with special needs.
Yes, Somos Capazes is a partnership between the Canelas Schools Group and the Santa Isabel Association that creates real work scenarios based on the aspirations and dreams of its young people with disabilities. A cargo bike is the ideal motivation to develop structuring skills for adult life. It can be used to transport gardening tools, do car washing at home, pick up and deliver laundry clothes, be a small mobile bar at events, among other ideas that our young people have and with which we develop their life projects.
Yes, we believe that, with the help of the family, we are able to develop a business and create our own job, yes, that job that the young person always dreamed of. A sustainable dream from a social and environmental point of view.
Sim, Somos Capazes has an approach that seeks to break with dependence, replacing it with the concept of symbiosis, giving back to society for the support it gives us. Examples of this are several activities: SIM is installed in a building belonging to the Canelas Schools Group but maintains the school's gardens; SIM has a partnership with O Trail do Santa Isabel, which intends to clean, signpost and maintain the tracks in the Serra de Negrelos (Canelas), which has already carried out several debris cleaning from construction debris and brush clearing with the support of the Junta de Parish of Canelas; SIM streamlines concerts, theaters and story time animations to the community in various contexts... We all have something to give to the community, when our young people have an intervention role in society, they are proud and committed to their acquisition of social skills and of work. This is the first step to work and reinforce self-esteem in human beings, after that, the sky is the limit and we don't put limits on the imagination and dreams of our young people and their families. Well... as long as it's not going to the moon.
About the author
The Yes We Can is a partnership between the Sports and Cultural Association Santa Isabel, this being an IPSS - legal person No 503683736, with the number of social security identification 20018215381, headquartered New Lane Cruise # 60 4410-283, Canelas in the municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto and the Canelas Schools Group with the objective of transforming the dreams of young people with disabilities into real and sustainable projects.
In addition to the partnership established with the Canelas Schools Group, we also have great support, impulse and monitoring from the Municipal Chamber of Gaia, as well as with the Canelas Parish Council.
In 2017, three young people with disabilities completed compulsory education at the Canelas Schools Group. They went home because the institutions were full and they didn't have the maturity to pursue professional training.
A father, a teacher and a social worker who were unhappy with the situation contacted the Canelas Group, which created the conditions for the project to develop. The Santa Isabel Sports and Cultural Association gives hands to the project and that is how “Yes, Somos Capazes” is born.
SIM's methodology is very simple, it believes that if young people have dreams and we give them the opportunity to make them come true, they will get much more involved and acquire the necessary skills to make them happen.
So far we haven't been wrong. In 2017, we started serving cakes and coffees at a table in the corridor of a school building where there were other projects. With the product of what was sold, we bought construction materials to carry out works and so we created Sim Café. While some were serving, others were doing works and then we found that some had the ability and taste for some things, others for others. We built greenhouses, vegetable gardens, chicken coops and found other young people who also fit these and other dreams. Today, in addition to these dreams, we have a laundry, a car cleaning service, a band, a theater group, a surf project, adapted sailing... YES, dreams are not just about work, that's why we are always involved in all kinds of projects, because we believe that “we are going to dream” (Sebastião da Gama).
Lusíadas and BB Douro launched the challenge, we believe that Yes, We Are Capable!
Budget and due dates
The Parish Council of Canelas promotes a fair of opportunities every month. We want to mark our presence at the event with the support of parents. In this way, families will be able to see that cargo bikes can be an opportunity in their children's lives. Some families, properly accompanied, could be a potential for the development of social entrepreneurship projects.
Progressively, during this school year, we want to cultivate the necessary skills in young people so that they have autonomy in the various tasks that the activities require (knowing the highway code, making change, customer service, hygiene and safety, among others).
- Bike Cargo - €2899.00
- Transport - €259.97
- PPL commissions - €321.03
