The Department of Social Welfare of the Arrecife City Council, headed by Maite Corujo, consolidates its commitment to the protection, prevention and integral development of adolescence in the municipality through the Specialized Service aimed at minors and families attended by the Municipal Specialized Team for Children and Family (EMEIF)
This resource, which began its activity on March 17, 2025, is financed by the Department of Social Welfare of the Arrecife City Council and managed by the Canarian Association for Family, Educational and Psychosocial Intervention and Mediation +Family, being developed in the municipal and community sphere of Arrecife.
The service is structured into two complementary lines of action: "Living Adolescence without Risk," focused on the prevention of risk behaviors, healthy leisure, and personal and social development, and "Aula Mentor," aimed at academic reinforcement, the acquisition of study habits, and the reduction of the digital divideDuring the period between March and December 2025, the service has assisted 31 adolescents between 12 and 17 years old, mostly in Compulsory Secondary Education, as well as their families, many of them with socioeconomic, educational, or emotional difficulties. In total, 22 minors have been referred to the Mentor Classroom, while the group of participants has taken part in prevention and socio-educational support activities
The Councilor for Social Welfare, Maite Corujo, highlights that "this service is a clear example that betting on adolescence is betting on prevention, on education, and on the future of Arrecife". In this regard, she underlines that "we are not only talking about academic support, but about creating safe spaces where young people can grow, relate positively, and acquire tools for life, always with the support of their families".
The Specialized Service has an interdisciplinary team made up of coordination, a social educator, a social integrator, and a teacher, who carry out their work mainly in the afternoon, facilitating family reconciliation and adapting to the daily reality of adolescentsThe performances include individual and family interviews, personalized interventions, educational and creative workshops, group activities, cultural and community outings, coexistence meetings and open days, as well as academic follow-up coordinated with educational centers and school tutors
“One of the great values of this resource is the networking and constant coordination with the EMEIF, educational centers, and families. That comprehensive view is what allows the processes to be truly transformative,” says Corujo.
The space "Living Adolescence without Risk" has consolidated itself as a reference resource for youth, observing a progressive increase in participation, improvements in personal autonomy, in social skills, and in peer coexistence. In parallel, families value the service as fundamental support to reinforce their parenting skills, improve communication, and face day-to-day difficulties
In the scope of the Mentor Classroom, an improvement has been detected in the involvement, organization, and academic performance of participants with regular attendance, as well as advances in the responsible use of technologies and in the acquisition of study routines
The technical report also confirms that the service attends to a higher number of minors than initially foreseen, which demonstrates the existing demand in the municipality and the usefulness of this resource as a preventive and socio-educational support tool“Investing in adolescence is investing in a more cohesive, fairer city with more opportunities. From the Arrecife City Council, we will continue to reinforce these types of resources that care for, accompany, and protect our young people and their families,” concludes the Councilor for Social Welfare, Maite Corujo.