The mayor of Mijas, Josele González (PSOE), and the councillor for Social Services, Hipólito Zapico (PSOE), have taken stock this week of the management of the Social Services area in the first half of 2021. In total, 6,000 people have been assisted by this department from January to June, and 2,800 families from Mijas have received some type of direct or indirect aid from this municipal department, which has a budget item, after the last modification, of 5.9 million euros.

"We want to value the work carried out by Social Services, a fundamental area within the municipal structure, especially since the pandemic began, where many families in Mijas are having a really bad time. Behind every file, every economic aid requested, there is a family drama, a complicated situation that we have to analyse from the municipal level to find a solution", stated the mayor.

The Department of Social Services processed, from January to June, 293 files related to social emergency assistance, 186 files related to family financial aid, 269 files for rental assistance and 485 files for the home help service (SAD). "The human team in the department has worked under enormous pressure to ensure that the aid reached the families as soon as possible, a task that is a reference not only in the province but throughout Andalusia", assured González, who wanted to point out: " We are not only talking about financial aid, but also about the help provided, for example, by the Temporary Reception Centre, which was launched in March 2020, and which has taken in 35 people who were homeless".

For his part, Zapico underlined the boost that the government team has given to the Municipal Food Bank through the signing of an agreement with the European Aid Fund for the most disadvantaged. It is a programme managed, among others, by FEGA, the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund, which is entrusted with the purchase and distribution of food based on the rate of poverty, social exclusion or unemployment.

"The Food Bank came out of nowhere and is currently consolidated, helping 625 families from Mijas this semester. A progressive reduction has been noted during the year, more accentuated in these summer months", said Zapico, who added that the cash cards, launched by the 'Junta de Andalucía' in collaboration with the Red Cross and which are processed through the intermediation of Social Services, have reached 92 families from Mijas.

900 students in summer schools

Zapico has also not wanted to forget about the summer schools, with more than 900 students enrolled in the centres of Las Cañadas, El Olmo, El Chaparral and Virgen de la Peña. 570 students have passed through these facilities in the month of July and 345 will do so during the month of August. "The summer school staff has been absolutely rigorous with the COVID protocol and in July there have been no contagions", assured the councillor.

It should be remembered that at the end of June, the Town Hall and the Education delegation of the 'Junta de Andalucía' signed an agreement by which the Local Council would manage the summer schools of El Olmo and El Chaparral in La Cala, after learning that both centres decided to withdraw this activity. Social Services foresees that this agreement will be extended next year to the rest of the summer schools of the municipality both in July and August.

In relation to these summer schools, the last plenary session of the Mijas Town Hall, held on July 28th, gave the green light to the summer schools ordinance, a text that creates a stable regulatory framework for these grants that were managed until then through the execution bases for municipal budgets and now includes amounts of 100 euros monthly per beneficiary and up to 300 euros, depending on the case, for students with disabilities. Likewise, the area has promoted in recent months a modification of its aid ordinance for people with functional diversity. This text, agreed with ADIMI, extends the discount to 45% of the annual IPREM to 12 months in force, which raises the amount of these grants to 3,050 euros for the beneficiaries in this section.

Administrative work

Finally, from Social Services they highlight the administrative and intermediation work that the area has carried out in this first half of the year with the dependency, exclusion and vulnerability reports, the territorial files or the processing of non-contributory pensions. "This administrative work encompasses all the preparation that is done so that projects and grants can move forward and be paid. That is why I would like to thank the commitment and dedication of all the municipal staff, because without them it would be impossible to have attended to 6,000 people and provided aid to 2,800 families", concluded Zapico.

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