The paper focuses on two case studies selected in Italy within a research aimed to analyze lifelong learning policies for young adults in Europe, particularly for those in situations of social exclusion. The case studies are the Civic Service in Genoa and the NEETwork Project in Milan. The paper presents some insights emerged from the interviews with young adults and with experts in both Functional Regions (Genoa and Milan). The aim of the contribution is to discuss similarities and differences among the two case studies, focusing on the different policies’ governance and the target groups, as well as analyzing the intersections between the social and the economic dimensions (very different between the two Functional Regions), and their impact on the young adults. The Cultural Political Economy embedded in the policies and the perceptions of the street level implementers, which inform their relationship with the young adults are discussed too, as well as the concept of vulnerability applied to the two young adults’ sample (very different in Genoa and Milan). The identified differences show that the same problem can be afforded with different tools and tackled with different commitment of the involved actors. The paper shows how these programs are shaping ‘vulnerable’ young adults’ life courses, examining whether or not their support of the transitions across education, training and the labor market is in line with the young people’ actual needs, considering the features of the FRs contexts and the individual resources and shortcomings.

Jessop, B. (2010). Cultural Political Economy and Critical Policy Studies. Critical Policy Studies, Vol. 3, Nos. 3-4: 336-356. Mauro Palumbo, Sebastiano Benasso, Anna Cossetta, Valeria Pandolfini (2017) Young Adullllt Qualitative Analysis. Italy. Available at http://www.young-adulllt.eu/