garagErasmus Foundation wishes you a Happy Holiday Season & a Memorable 2022!

This past 2021 has entailed significant obstacles and challenges for everyone. Nevertheless,mobility restrictions have not impeded our new activities and projects, always focusing on building the professional network of the Erasmus Generation.

It has not been an easy duty; nevertheless, the approval of the new Erasmus+ programme for the 2021-2027 period –almost doubling the funding available for exchanges and projects- demonstrates to us that these efforts have well paid off!

garagErasmus is eager to new projects and opportunities for 2022, a year that will mark a double landmark: the 10th anniversary of our Foundation and the 35th anniversary of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, which turns out to be its most emblematic one. In fact, so far this autumn we have promoted its novelties through local events in 8 different EU ontries within the framework of the Erasmus&EU: Time to Shine Again project, organised with the support of our umbrella organisation, the ESAA.

During this year we have done our outmost to mitigate the effects of the pandemic over Erasmus exchanges and activities by organising online activities (Europe Day Online Apéro) and overall training events for hundreds of participants (such as The + of Erasmus in Italy & Belgium). 

The European Year of Youth is another milestone that we do not intend to miss, as gE is also looking forward to the approval of the first Erasmus City in Europe, garagERASMUS City in Milan. A ground-breaking project that we have been planning for years which intends to revitalise the area of Ponte Lambro by bringing together international students and the local community offering capped prices for the first ones. garagERASMUS CITY will be the first of a set of similar projects at the EU level, 5 by 2028

During this 2021 we also went to great lengths to engage the Erasmus Generation in the Conference on the Future of Europe through the EUth Pages for Europe project by organising -at least- one event per EU member state. We also supported the City Council of Milan at the time of reaching EU expats in the city through the Siamo Europei e Votiamo a Milano campaign, which aimed at promoting voting rights at the local election. And we kept being part of many Erasmus+ projects’ networks such as EYVOL, DIGI-SPORTING, SEND and EUROPIAMO. But not only: we have also were part of the ENHANCE Alliance (European Universities Initiative) and Democracy is Europe (Europe for Citizens) partnerships.

However, this is only the beginning. New projects are yet to come, and we have many new ideas that will be implemented during this 2022! We look forward to seeing you all at the next annual (face-to-face) meeting, where we hope to incorporate new members and, above all, to expand the Erasmus Generation community with which to lay the foundations for the future of Europe!