Staff of the Empuju and Ecovid employment programs improve several areas in Benidorm

Over the last eleven months, staff from the Empuju and Ecovid employment programs have carried out maintenance and refurbishment tasks in public spaces in different areas of Benidorm. The Councilor for Employment and Local Promotion, Mónica Gómez, explained that "this personnel, assigned to the Maintenance occupation of both programs, have worked with the municipal technical services brigade in actions to improve the urban scene, among them painting works of urban furniture and public spaces such as parks, children's play areas or bollards of the railings of the beaches ".

Among the areas in which they have acted are Beniardá, Jaime I, Ruzafa, and Andalucía avenues, the surroundings of El Cruce, Poniente and Levante beaches, bullring, cemeteries, Carrascos roundabout, Sanç hermitage, educational centers, Castell, municipal warehouse or the parks of Foietes, Aigüera and Elche.

Gómez recalled that the staff of the Ecovid program joined their positions on November 19, 2021, while the Empuju participants began their contract on December 1. Through both programs “the City Council has hired 141 unemployed people of all age groups for a year, thus injecting economy into families at a time as necessary as the current one, where the economic consequences of the pandemic are added to the inflation and the rise of something as basic as the shopping basket or energy”.

Both the ECOVID and Empuju programs are financed by European funds. Specifically, the ECOVID program was endowed with 2 million euros, of which the City Council contributes about 750,000. The remaining amount, just over 1.2 million euros, is financed with resources from the European Social Fund, through LABORA within the framework of the 2014-2020 Operational Program of the Valencian Community (Avalem Experiència Plus). The ECOVID has led to 84 contracts: 55 people for customer service in different departments and municipal facilities, 10 Building Maintenance, four Maintenance and Repair Electricians, seven Forest Laborers, and eight Public Works Laborers

For its part, the EMPUJU program has reached 1.7 million euros. The City Council contributes more than 625,000 euros, thus complementing the LABORA subsidy of 1.1 million euros, also from the European Social Fund within the same Operational Programme. 57 young people have benefited from this program, in which, in addition to 16 maintainers of municipal facilities, qualified personnel has also been hired for different departments.