MADRE TERESA

Madre Teresa is a type A/B social cooperative founded in 2001 in Reggio Emilia, with the aim of promoting the reception and empowerment of women, support for parenthood and the wellbeing of children. Its core activity involves implementing integrated educational and socio-pedagogical support within a framework of residential care, developed through a person-centred and family-centred approach.
The cooperative’s work is organised around several key areas. The first is residential reception, focused in particular on pregnant women and mothers with young children. The educational communities provide care for situations of fragility that put the parent-child relationship at risk (psychological vulnerabilities, violence, trafficking, social isolation and marginalisation) alongside supported flats for independent living, facilities for asylum seekers, and a shared housing unit for women in the care of the Mental Health Centre. In 2025, approximately 270 people were supported in total.
The second area is employment support and socio-professional empowerment, which recognises work as a fundamental tool for autonomy. Within this context sit both vocational internships and Mani in Pasta, a gluten-free artisan food workshop that offers stable employment opportunities to women on pathways towards independence.
Since 2023, Madre Teresa has also been involved in rehabilitative and educational activities for women detained at the Reggio Emilia penitentiary.
The support from Restart Italia is directed at the development of Casale ALMA, a property acquired and renovated in Correggio (RE), which the cooperative intends to regenerate as a space capable of combining reception, education and community engagement. The Casale is built around two core elements: a reception house for women and single-parent families working to rebuild their independence, and multifunctional spaces dedicated to activities for residents, employment support, community meetings, training and corporate volunteering.