HOT – healthy, occupied, together – supporting parents with an immigrant background

The HOT ­– healthy, occupied, together – supporting parents with an immigrant background project strengthens the integration, education, employment, and daily life management of parents with an immigrant background taking care of their underage children at home. The families and other target groups' support networks also benefit from the project services.

The project is implemented in the Päijät-Häme and South Karelia regions and conducted by the LAB University of Applied Sciences and the Lahti Academy of Liberal and Fine Arts.



The HOT project aims to create an operating model to support parents with an immigrant background to find their path to employment and education. The project strives to realise its main goal via the following sub-goals:

1. To recruit participants and identify their needs.

2. To increase the target group's work-life skills and support their health and well-being.

3. To strengthen the participants' literacy skills, develop their Finnish language skills.

4. To develop and pilot different modules and to create an operating model.

5. To develop a model for guidance into professional and/or educational pathways.



The target number of participants is eighty parents with an immigrant background taking care of their underage children at home. Participants find their path to employment and training through the project activities. Their inclusion and language skills are strengthened, and their social and employment network is expanded.

The information gathered during the project increases the regional authorities’ understanding of the situation of the target group of immigrants. The HOT project creates an open and accessible model as a tool for the integration and employment of various groups of immigrants.



The HOT project starts with the recruitment and mapping of the target group. According to the needs and objectives identified, immigrant parents participate in the different modules. The activities for the participants include several consecutive modules of short duration, such as getting to know the environment, health and well-being, work-life skills and the Finnish language. The aim is to engage the participation of the target group and strengthen their inclusion.

The modules piloted in the project serve as a model for action. The policy and support materials are intended for representatives of the target group and those collaborating with them.

The project activities will be communicated throughout the project through various blogs and press releases, to the target group, regional authorities and the public.