Built in the metropolitan area of Helsinki in the 50’s & 60’s, Vantaa is today one of the fastest growing cities in Finland with a population of 220,000 inhabitants. 50% of the newcomers arrive from abroad, especially a lot from Somalia, Estonia & Russia. To tackle these development the city’s ambition is to adopt a resilient & inclusive approach, trying to adjust the public offer to contemporary urban changes and social dynamics. With the aim to manage the integration of new arrivals, the city creates the conditions for strengthening civic participation and fostering social cohesion, while building on the main principles of equity and equality. The City has delivered the Multiculturalism programme (2014-17), a set of actions to tackle the higher unemployment rate for migrants and to build collaborative partnerships between the Municipality and migrant community groups. Not only, this programme is intertwined with a spectacular number of other initiatives which support migrant integration. To name a few: Sports for All – a city-wide programme, funded by the Municipality, to open up sports opportunities to everyone; Neighbourhood Mothers – a peer-to-peer support project to empower migrant women, offer them support in developing Finnish language skills and find jobs; R3 – a youth association set up by young migrants; Nice Hearts Initiative aims to create long-term networks and enable women’s active participation in the society, to promote gender equality and to strive towards the betterment of girls’ and women’s lives and living conditions in Finland.

• Public Policies which include a proactive role for migrant communities
• Great ambition to adopt a resilient & inclusive approach through participation and public engagement