The establishment of the Salesian center of Resistencia dates back to December 8, 1941. Fr Horacio Lóvine, Fr Juan Rolando and Salesian Coadjutor Francisco Marozzi had been sent to Resistencia with the aim of first opening a festive oratory, a center of the "Exploradores de Don Bosco", and later an institute. Faced with the constant insistence of the bishop of the time, Msgr. Nicolás de Carlo, an old wish also came true: to obtain a favorable site for a foundation at the service of young people, deemed necessary for the existent social needs.
On June 21, 1942, six months after the start of the oratory, the Don Bosco Institute opened, with a total of 150 students, 45 of whom resided in the internal boarding house, students originating from the Chaco area and northern Santa Fe.
The structures built for the Salesian Institute also included a Vocational Training Center for young people and adults and a Higher Formation Institute where over the years hundreds of young people and adults were trained in many different job sectors and fields.
Today, the new center answers to a growing need in the country for work and training for work. "It is estimated that there are more than one million young people in the country who do not study or work," stated a 2017 report by the Adecco consulting firm. "Of this group, 700 thousand young people not only do not study or work, but do not even look for a job."
The modern structure of the Salesian Intercultural Vocational Training Center (CFPIS) in Resistencia, created thanks to the contribution of the Swiss "Papalin" Foundation and the Swiss NGO "Don Bosco Jugendhilfe Weltweit ", was inaugurated and blessed last 6 April. It will offer five vocational courses - one for each working day of the week - in agreement with the Cultural Institute of the Province.
The courses, lasting four months, shall be led by members of the Qom community, one of the country's Aboriginal ethnic groups, and will include workshops in pottery, the preparation of baskets, wind instruments, string instruments, and other instruments.
