The Cabildo of Lanzarote, through the Area of Social Welfare and Inclusion, has taken a new step in strengthening the comprehensive care of minors and their families in Lanzarote and La Graciosa, thanks to the implementation of the AMEXCE project, Proactive Classroom of Temporary Education for Minors Expelled from Schools. Launched by the United Actions Association, this initiative provides academic, legal and psychological support to young people during the time they are away from the educational institution.
The Minister of Social Welfare, Marci Acuña, explained during the presentation of the project held this Wednesday in the Plenary Hall of the Cabildo, that thanks to a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach "we guarantee not only the right to education of children and adolescents, but we also act as a bridge towards full reintegration with the educational community." The AMEXCE project, which started last summer and will conclude on June 30, 2025, receives a 30,000 euros grant from the Institution chaired by Oswaldo Betancort.
"From the Cabildo of Lanzarote we have decided to support this initiative to offer socio-educational alternatives for minors and their families, always with the collaboration of schools and other social and health resources," the Minister detailed. With a proactive and preventive approach, the AMEXCE project seeks to reduce school dropout rates in Lanzarote and La Graciosa, absenteeism and the risk of misconduct.
Also present at the presentation this Wednesday was the Councilor for Citizen Participation of Arrecife, Cathaysa Suárez, who congratulated both the United Actions Association and the Department of Social Welfare of the Cabildo for the launch of "such a commendable project" and showed the "predisposition" of the City Council of the capital of Lanzarote to "continue making municipal resources available, as is the case of El Zaguán, to support initiatives such as this that seek to help people, in this case young people, and better coexistence."
Taking care of childhood and adolescence
Several professionals from the United Actions Association team have been at the call to explain their work, including Liliana Bohórquez (General Management), Miguel Ángel Hernández Concepción (Coordination and Research), María Jesús Gutiérrez (Legal Advice) and Carolina Rojas (Administrative Technician).
Miguel Ángel Hernández Concepción, academic of the IES Agustín Espinosa, reviewed the entrails of the project, recalling that "an expulsion is a stigma", and insisted on the need to address in an interdisciplinary way the eradication of "an invisible reality" that usually leads to exclusion and insecurity.
For her part, the director Liliana Bohórquez stressed that this initiative is pioneering and manages to "comprehensively care for children and adolescents in a situation of expulsion" from public and private schools on the island, trying to prevent them from losing motivation. "From the entire United Actions team we want to express our sincere gratitude to President Oswaldo Betancort and Minister Marci Acuña for their commitment to building a better future for children and adolescents. Supporting projects such as AMEXCE is fundamental in a society that increasingly demands from its public representatives, respect and unconditional support for obtaining obvious social justice," she commented.
Among the numerous public attending the presentation of AMEXCE in the Plenary Hall of the Cabildo were representatives of educational centers, social agents, associations of parents, groups of the third sector and other actors of the island's associative fabric.