**Community Partner:** Lithuanian Children’s Day Care Centre

**Social Issue:** Community Cohesion – At Risk Youth

**Ambassador:** Arnas Butkevicius, Dovydas Giedraitis

**Main Life Skills:** Tolerance, behavior development and empathy

**About the Program:**

Zalgiris Kaunas is continuing to implement its One Team program with the Lithuanian Children’s Center Association, its social partner, for the second year in a row. It is an association with community-established centers which cooperate with governing bodies. From there, it is able to assist with providing day care for children, putting on classes, meeting essential needs which some families cannot provide, and supporting family members by improving parental skills. The organization’s main aim is to integrate children who are at risk of exclusion back into school and society; it looks to protect them from exploitation and prevent them from being placed into foster care. Zalgiris Kaunas’s program this season involves 12-17 mixed-gender participants between 10 and 18 years old, who have difficulties with their behavior and are from economically disadvantaged families. The objective is to induce and encourage them as they better integrate into society. The club will carry out its sessions between October 2023 and April 2024. The sessions will be accompanied by One Team coaches and a sports psychologist every week. Moreover, the goalball national team and the stakeholders will be invited as guests to be involved in some of the sessions.