Implemented in the Barra Mansa and Resende units with the support from the National Service of Industrial Apprenticeship (Senai), from the Group of Interdisciplinary Application and Apprenticeship (Gaia), and from the City Halls where they are located, the Futuro em Nossas Mãos (Future in Our Hands) Project aims to prepare young people between 18 and 29 years old for technical professions with high local employability potential. The young people are also given classes on ethics, citizenship, and enterprising, thus expanding their labor market placement chances. The Futuro em Nossas Mãos aims to employ the young throughout the company’s business production chain and among its partners.

At the Barra Mansa Unit, the project began in 2006, when 54 young people were prepared in the areas of civil construction and locksmith working. A diagnosis was performed to check about the main work demands in southern Rio de Janeiro and it realized that there was lack of civil construction handwork, forklift operations, and welders. With the reformulation and addition of new courses, 64 young people graduated in 2008. In 2009, the goal is to prepare 60 students for Welding, Industrial Maintenance Mechanics, and Materials Administration and Logistics. The Gaia partner in conducting the project realized that the employability rate two months after the course ended is 66.9% – the project aims to employ at least 50% of the young people at every edition.

In Resende, VS was pioneer. After a result evaluation for the project results in Barra Mansa, a diagnosis pointed out that it would be possible to form a pilot group of welders who would be able to also work in the future plant. The unit in Resende, which will be inaugurated in 2009, prepared 14 young people on Basic Welding Technique in a partnership with Senai Resende. About 71% out of these new professionals have already got their first job. In 2009, the project will prepare 60 young people on Welding, Industrial Maintenance Mechanics, and Materials Administration and Logistics. The Futuro em Nossas Mãos Project counts on the formation of a partner network to increase the job opportunities and launched a term of partnership which is signed by the VS-hired companies in the region.

The Conecta (Conecting) Project aims to teach the basic concepts of Informatics to the young people from lacking communities between 15 and 29 years old. The students also learn basic notions on ethics and citizenship, becoming even better prepared to get into the labor market.

The Barra Mansa Unit implemented the Conecta Project in 2007 with the support from the National Service of Commercial Apprenticeship (SENAC). 120 young people were benefited that year. In 2008, the project was conducted by the Information Democratization Committee (CDI), which stipulated – jointly with VS – the goal of preparing 1,400 young people and a group on computer assemblage and maintenance. The project forecasts the creation of two centers in Resende. The goal is to make the number of benefited young people raise up to 1,758 in 2009.

The VS Forest Unit implemented the Conecta Project in the communities surrounding the eucalyptus crops and charcoal producing farms. In 2008, 500 students were prepared, and 700 students are estimated to graduate in 2009, thus contributing with the digital inclusion of young people in the regions of Vazante, Paracatu, and João Pinheiro, in northwestern Minas Gerais state.

Despite still under construction, the new Votorantim Steel Metallurgy Unit in Resende has already been developing initiatives to upgrade the professional qualification in the region, which contributes for social inclusion of those benefited. Supported by the National Service of Industrial Apprenticeship (SENAI), 140 people living in the city of Resende and surroundings participated in the basic module to the Steel Metallurgy Operation in 2008. Out of this total, 80 were approved to take up specific technical formation, and 77 people finished the course.

The Empreender (Enterprising) Project aims to qualify young people who live in the region of Vazante on rural enterprising from technical courses. In a partnership with Votorantim Metals, the initiative seeks to strengthen the job opportunities in the region, as well as bringing forth good employability conditions to those benefited. In its first year, the goal is to prepare 20 young people in 2009, with 50% of them employed at the end of the course.