Yerevan /Mediamax/. The Izmirlian Foundation is scaling up the project aimed at supporting the social entrepreneurship where autistic youth are employed. In 2020-2021 the Izmirlian Foundation supported the establishment of a paper cup production facility in the social enterprise of “Step Forward” Social NGO aimed at empowering socially vulnerable groups of society and social enterprises as well as promoting environmentally friendly production.

With the current initiative the Izmirlian Foundation will support the expansion of production capacity of the paper cup social enterprise though the provision of additional machinery that will allow to close the production cycle. The new machinery will allow paper printing and cutting for the production of paper cups. Besides saving time and resources, the project will contribute to the creation of 10 additional employment opportunities for youth with autism spectrum disorder and expansion of the production line. Besides eco paper cups production the equipment will enable the production of paper bags and boxes.

Project direct beneficiaries are youth (16+) with limited access to any kind of employment due to having autism spectrum disorder, their families and “Step Forward” Social NGO.

The Project implementation partner is “Step Forward” Social NGO.