Feedback on the Dotation d’Action Territoriale (DAT) at a national event

On January 26, 2021, in the presence of Marine Jeantet, Interministerial Delegate for the Prevention and Fight against Poverty, Break Poverty brought together over a hundred regional players (local authorities, business clubs, philanthropic players, etc.) at a national videoconference to present its alliance scheme against youth poverty.

Marie-Hélène Thoraval, Mayor of Romans-sur-Isère, and Philippe Choteau, Managing Director of In Extenso Nord de France, took the opportunity to talk about their commitment to this initiative in their respective regions.

Urgent need for collective action for young people

Denis Metzger, founder of Break Poverty, began by recalling the urgent need to act in favor of underprivileged youth, and to address the causes of social determinism: “In France, 26% of young people live below the poverty line”.

The Foundation’s action is based on two convictions: companies have a role to play, as the public authorities alone will not be able to reduce poverty, and the solution must be territorial, as it is on this scale that alliances can best respond to the problems of poverty. To this end, it has created the Dotation d’Action Territoriale, “a simple and effective method to facilitate the commitment of companies to youth in their territory”, and which has already proved its worth in Romans-sur-Isère, Nantes and Béthune, where some twenty associative projects have already been supported by local companies.

DAT, an alliance methodology serving disadvantaged young people in our regions

“Today, over 850 beneficiaries have already been supported in Romans, and 92% of the companies involved have a better understanding of the role they can play in the fight against poverty”, testifies Marie-Hélène Thoraval, Mayor of Romans-sur-Isère, the first area to deploy the DAT. Romans-sur-Isère was immediately won over by the innovative nature of the scheme, which enables companies to show solidarity with young people.

Testimony from Marie-Hélène Thoraval, Mayor of Romans-sur-Isère, the first DAT territory (since 2018): her vision of DAT and her role in this scheme, the results in Romans and her motivation to continue.

The Mayor of Romans-sur-Isère also emphasized that “Break Poverty’s support in implementing the scheme has been decisive in the project’s success (…). Their method, based on accountability and impact measurement, enables us to commit our partners over the long term.”

Nearly 3 years after the launch of the program, Marie-Hélène Thoraval is determined to maintain the momentum created by DAT : “Trust is born of the results we’ve achieved, of the involvement of each of the parties; it’s what makes the link, and this link is what we’re going to use for the next three years.”

An opportunity for companies to make a local commitment

While only 9% of companies in France are involved in corporate philanthropy, and less than 2% in social philanthropy, Philippe Choteau, General Manager of In Extenso Nord de France, has chosen to make a commitment to young people in Béthune thanks to the DAT.

What convinced this company director to take part in the DAT ? “The collective nature of the operation, which involved the community, the state, local associations and, above all, entrepreneurs.”

Testimony of Philippe Choteau, Managing Director of In Extenso Nord de France, involved since 2020 in the Béthune DAT: his motivations, the choice of the project supported, the involvement of his employees, the impact of the current crisis.

He was won over by the effectiveness of the approach and the link created with his employees : “When you’re a company director, you think a lot in terms of action plans (…), with objectives that are monitored and quantified, and that’s also something I really liked about DAT. (…) I also wanted it to be a collective project within our company and for employees to take ownership of it.”
Asked about the current context and the impact of the Covid crisis, Philippe Choteau assured us that he would do his utmost to perpetuate his commitment:
“indeed it’s complicated for us (…) nevertheless we are very aware of the fact that this crisis will aggravate the social divide and increase poverty figures, and our commitment remains strong.”

A call to join this network of committed territories

The DAT is currently being rolled out across France, with a target of 50 territories in 3 years, to benefit 100,000 young people.

“Any organization that shares our ambition and our desire to change the scale of the fight against youth poverty can set up a DAT ! Our teams are already working with town councils, departmental councils, business clubs, a local foundation and an incubator,” explains Charlotte Wambergue, Break Poverty’s national manager for the scheme.

DAT : why, how, what results? by Denis Metzger – Chairman, Valérie Daher – Managing Director, and Charlotte Wambergue – Programs Manager.

In concrete terms, “we have a rigorous, tried-and-tested method. We provide training and support at no cost to the DAT owner at every stage, adapting our tools to his or her context and expectations. The only requirement is to provide a part-time resource for the project.

A method supported by the National Strategy to Prevent and Combat Poverty

Marine Jeantet, Déléguée interministérielle à la prévention et à la lutte contre la pauvreté, also reiterated her support for the Dotation d’Action Territoriale.

She recalled the difficult economic and social context and its repercussions on the most precarious, and in particular the youngest, who are the first to be affected. To meet the challenge of youth insecurity, the Poverty Strategy is built around three pillars : COLLECTIVE, LOCAL and IMPACT.

Speech by Marine Jeantet, Déléguée Interministérielle à la prévention et à la lutte contre la pauvreté, reaffirming her support for the DAT

This is why Marine Jeantet is encouraging local players to support DAT, which combines these three pillars: “We need everyone to change scale (…). In particular, we need the private sector, which is too often far removed from these social actions (…), and we can see from Break Poverty’s action that it works, since 35% of the companies we support had never been involved in social sponsorship before.”

Valérie Daher, Managing Director of Break Poverty, reported on the strong impact of the territorial alliances created by the DAT: “The scheme already has over 3,000 beneficiaries supported in Nantes, Romans and Béthune, and an average of 30,000 euros in additional funding per year and per association supported”.

Marine Jeantet called on local authorities to mobilize to ensure the effectiveness of these territorial alliances :

Photo credit : Break Poverty’s team