The donation was made possible through an internally set-up campaign for employees of VDAB. In the first place, we would sincerely like to thank VDAB for this inspiring initiative. The internal fundraising project was linked to a good cause to which VDAB would donate a particular amount of money.That good cause turned out to be Close the Gap. With the total amount of funds raised, we were able to support four projects located in Belgium with computers.

With this donation, VDAB is helping us bridge the digital divide by giving people the opportunity to develop their digital skills.

The following Belgian projects received laptops in this context:

• Opvoedingswinkel Genk
• Tejo
• Bxl@work 
• Kras VZW 

Opvoedingswinkel Genk

De Opvoedingswinkel in Genk is a place where young parents can gather knowledge about raising children and how they grow up in today's world. The organisations offers advice by consultants specialised in raising children, but they also bring parents in contact with other parents so they can learn from each other. De Opvoedingswinkel also organises information sessions and workshops around the different topics of raising children.

Tejo

Tejo is an organisation that offers therapeutic help to youngsters. They created safe places, so-called Tejo houses, for teenagers and young adults where they can talk about their problems and personal lives. By dropping by the house or scheduling an appointment, young people can talk anonymously to consultants and receive professional advice. For free, they are offered ten short sessions with a therapist where they can express their issues through words, pictures or even drawings.

Bxl@work

Bxl@work supports and offers guidance to people with a migration background who are actively looking for work and are largely disconnected from the labour market. The project is a joint effort of four different organisations that each provide one consultant that helps these people in their job hunt. The goal is to help as many people as possible obtain either jobs or training programmes.

Kras VZW

Kras VZW is an organisation based in Antwerp that sets up varied leisure activities for children and young adults. They find it important to include everyone, and to be open and easily accessible as well to young people that would otherwise find it difficult to participate in similar initiatives. They work specifically in neighbourhoods where there is a high number of school drop-outs and poverty. It is typically in such areas that the offer of leisure activities for children is limited. Kras wants to change this by offering these children an opportunity to join in. They also offer support in areas such as homework and entering the job market.

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