Cluj tech hub

What started as a meet and greet to continue the second part of a twinning between JCI Basel and JCI Cluj postponed due to the pandemic quickly transcended into something much more.  In our planning meetings to discuss the Cluj visit to Basel, the topic of the crisis in Ukraine was raised and the displacement of many Ukrainians across into the Romanian border.  Our colleagues in Cluj quickly stepped up to action to help the youth impacted, leveraging experience from similar projects they executed previously, they shared with our Basel team their ambition to set up a Tech Hub for Ukrainian youth. The goal was to provide access to laptops, play areas, opportunities to learn Romanian and generally a safe space as a refuge. The team in Cluj dove into identifying a location, sourcing supplies and setting up space, and in parallel Basel AK Training International mobilized a team to collaborate with AK Social and AK Events to drive fundraising for the hub. Through relentless efforts from the JCI Basel advocating at various events our generous members, family and friends donated 2’400CHF, which was then kindly supplemented by the JCI Swiss Foundation with another 1’000CHF for a total of 3’400CHF. The donation was quickly put to use and thankfully the Hub has kicked off exceptionally well with daily traffic and enthusiasm from the participants.  We look forward to continuing to grow our twinning with Cluj and will host them for a visit in August, with plans to discuss the Tech Hub and how to continue the positive impact it has had on the community.