Milan, Italy: First Steps in Milan

In 2023, the City of Milan, Italy, was selected as a grantee of the Global Cities Fund for Migrants and Refugees (GCF), the MMC’s instrument to channel international funding directly to cities to implement inclusive projects of their own design. With support from the GCF, the City of Milan launched tailored education and orientation plans for newly arrived migrant and refugee families with children aged zero to six. Using a two-generational approach, the program introduced personalized early childhood development activities and access to preschool and daycare services for children, while providing their caregivers with language courses, orientation workshops, and psychosocial support. The program reached more than 320 migrant and refugee children and 250 caregivers, helping strengthen their social inclusion in Milan over the long term. 

The City of Milan is home to more than 120,000 migrants and refugees. Around twenty percent of the city’s population is foreign born. Milan’s migrant community, especially children and their caregivers, often struggle to access essential services. For example, a lack of documentation and social support networks can hinder migrants’ access to education and stable employment.  

As migrant and displaced children gain asylum and/or are reunited with their families, they exit the national process and are often left without follow-on support to secure their socio-economic inclusion in the city. The City of Milan plays an important role in bridging this gap, particularly by supporting children’s early development and access to education. 

With the support of the GCF, Milan enhanced its reception of migrant children and their caregivers by providing them with personalized educational and psychosocial services. The First Steps in Milan project focused on families with children aged zero to six, especially families who were recently reunified or granted asylum in Italy. 

Through the project, migrant families had access to a team of education, psycho-pedagogical, and neuropsychiatric experts who defined personalized educational plans for their children. These experts also supported children’s enrollment into existing educational services, including Milan’s school system. Children in the program participated in 13 creative laboratories and three early childhood education services to develop linguistic, cognitive, motor, and emotional skills, while strengthening relationships with caregivers.

While children participated in early childhood education and care services, the project provided caregivers with Italian language courses in venues equipped with childcare services, as well as psychosocial support and guidance to meet their children’s needs. They also attended workshops on accessing essential educational, health, and social services.  

The project created synergies with the LGNet 3 project, funded by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Ministry of the Interior, particularly through its transcultural psychology desk. 

In implementing First Steps in Milan, the City of Milan built its capacity to deliver early childhood development services to migrant families. The city trained its education and social affairs service providers to better assess the needs of and carry out activities with the target groups; enhanced cooperation between the Welfare and Health and Education Departments of Milan and third-sector organizations in the city; and promoted the long-term socioeconomic inclusion of migrant families by taking a two-generational approach focused on both children and caregivers.

First Steps in Milan supported 328 refugee and migrant children with access to quality early childhood education services. More than 70 children aged from zero to six were enrolled in high-quality preschool and daycare. The project also engaged 250 caregivers, all of whom reported an improved understanding of how to access childcare services in Milan and a greater capacity to support their children’s social, emotional, and educational development. Essential psychosocial support was provided to more than 50 low-income migrant families, and 95 caregivers improved their Italian language skills. 

Beyond expanding access to early childhood and family support services, the project contributed to strengthening how the City of Milan responds to the needs of migrant and refugee families. By co-designing and implementing First Steps with a multi-sectoral partnership of 13 civil society organizations, the city piloted new ways of working with the third sector to identify and address previously unmet needs among migrants and refugees. The project also strengthened the institutional capacity and knowledge of education and social service providers in Milan, enabling them to respond more effectively to specific challenges faced by migrants and refugees. 

Building on the GCF-supported project, Milan launched “Next Steps” in collaboration with Progetto Integrazione and IRC Italia, mobilizing €400,000 of municipal funding to ensure the continuity of project activities. As of June 2026, the initiative had served 854 clients from over 31 countries and generated 116 referrals to specialized service providers.