The aim of this contribution is to describe how the engagement of so-defined second-generation migrants in nonformal education projects can play a key role in their upward mobility and in their participation in present-day Italian society. This happens also because the simplistic intercultural approach towards young migrants, underpinned in the EU youth policy for many years, has been problematized by the intersectional approach. The paper challenges the definition 'second-generation youth', which exacerbates differences among young people, in contraposition to Italian young people without migration background. Finally, it describes a best practice that took place in Italy some years ago, concluding that relations and patterns of participation are much more complicated than traditional dichotomies based on different discrimination grounds. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

Participation Intersectionality nonformal education EU youth policy young immigrants' Gender empowerment

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