30 Aug 2024 ACTING COLLECTIVELY TO PREVENT POVERTY AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE IN OUR REGIONS
On June 22, over 80 public and private players took part in a national videoconference organized by the Break Poverty Foundation on the deployment of the Dotation d’Action Territoriale (DAT).
THE 3 PILLARS OF THE DOTATION D’ACTION TERRITORIALE
In France today, 26% of young people live below the poverty line, compared with a national average of 14%. Out of 9 million poor people, half are young people and children.
In response to this problem, Break Poverty has created the Dotation d’Action Territoriale (DAT), which encourages local companies to support associative projects dedicated to underprivileged young people in their area for a period of 3 years.
Presentation by Denis Metzger, President of Break Poverty Foundation
Denis Metzger, President of Break Poverty, reminded us of the three pillars of this scheme :
The solution is local, the solution is prevention, and the solution is corporate commitment.
Effective and pragmatic, DAT is structured in four stages :
- carrying out a diagnosis to identify local priorities,
- selection of associative projects to be scaled up,
- mobilizing companies to create a collective momentum and finance these projects,
- monitoring and assessing the impact of these actions over a 3-year period.
AN EASY-TO-IMPLEMENT APPROACH
How to set up a local DAT?
Presentation by Valérie Daher, Executive Director of Break Poverty Foundation, and testimonial from IDEIS, the organization behind the Montbéliard DAT.
DAT is easy to deploy, and has already proved its worth in nearly 25 French territories, with the aim of reaching 40 by the end of the year.
As Valérie Daher, Executive Director of the Break Poverty Foundation, reminds us, the DAT is piloted by local players, known as DAT referents, “who take ownership of the system and receive free training from Break Poverty’s regional delegates”.
They can be local authorities, associations, foundations or business clubs. To launch the process, they are asked to dedicate a half-time person to the project in the first year, then a quarter-time person to monitor and evaluate the projects.
The IDEIS association, a merger of the Mission locale and the Maison de l’Emploi, is the DAT referent for the Montbéliard region. Its Director, David Pan, spoke of the advantages of this initiative for his region: “DAT enables us to take a more global approach to establishing links with companies”. On the operational side, “we have a project manager who steers the approach on a day-to-day basis […] and we are supported […] on individual and collective occasions. We also benefit from a national community of DAT referents who share experiences, practices and solutions”.
Maïlys Feron, Regional Delegate, pointed out that the Break Poverty team “provides a rigorous methodology, a training program and all the tools needed to implement DAT throughout the process”.
Today, five Regional Delegates support a large number of territories :
- Ile-de-France et Grand Est : Anne-Claire Petit– acpetit@breakpoverty.com – 06 12 88 52 21
- Ile-de-France et Normandie : Sabrina Djaouti – sdjaouti@breakpoverty.com – 06 59 63 71 54
- Grand-Ouest : Juliette Ovelacq – jovelacq@breakpoverty.com – 06 58 26 45 43
- Sud-Est : Maïlys Feron – mferon@breakpoverty.com – 07 64 20 88 11
- Hauts-de-France : Sarah Philippe – sphilippe@breakpoverty.com – 06 64 93 60 94
MORE THAN FINANCIAL SUPPORT, A CLOSE LINK BETWEEN COMPANIES AND LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS
Social philanthropy is an essential vector for creating links between young people and companies. While the DAT’s primary ambition is to mobilize funds to finance local associative projects, it also creates a space for these players to meet and get closer to one another. Benoît Ozanne, a partner at Forstaff, a recruitment firm and patron of the Nantes DAT, spoke of his company’s commitment.
The FORSTAFF corporate sponsor and the BRIO association (Nantes DAT) share their views.
Already aware of the issues of equal opportunity and inclusion, he was convinced by “this very concrete and pragmatic scheme” and “won over by the quality of the projects supported and the follow-up actions […] with regular updates”. In addition to financial support, the 8 employees of this very small business also helped the association, La Cravate solidaire, with skills sponsorship, by simulating job interviews.
The Brio association is also one of the 10 projects supported by the DAT in Nantes. Ellen Kouzoubachian, Program Manager, explains: “The DAT has enabled us to move on to a new stage […], to recruit an additional person and thus be able to support more high school students […] The DAT also enables us to join a network of committed companies”. […] The DAT also enables us to join a network of committed companies”.
AN EVALUATED SYSTEM WITH A PROVEN IMPACT
What DAT makes possible at local level: results of the 2022 impact assessment
Break Poverty has set up a rigorous evaluation system, using the Koreis consultancy, to measure the impact of the DAT: around 2,000 young people are supported in each area (from 1,000 to 10,000 depending on the DAT’s scope), and almost 70% of them see their situation improve, go back to school or find a job.
The impact of projects is measured every six months, with precise reporting to financial partners.
For associations, the DAT makes it possible to allocate an average of 25,000 €/year per association, thanks to the mobilization of 3 to 4 new private partners. On the corporate side, 78% of the amounts collected come from very small businesses, SMEs and ETIs, with the DAT helping to develop the social patronage of these local players.
AN APPROACH SUPPORTED BY THE PUBLIC SECTOR
At local level, DAT is also mobilizing local authorities, who are key players in the scheme. In Melun Val de Seine, community councillor Denis Didierlaurent described the deployment of DAT in his area. Managed by the Cité de l’Emploi, the DAT provides complementary solutions to existing schemes, and stimulates a collective dynamic. “From the outset, we wanted to get all the partners around the table to ensure an effective steering committee, so we asked the MEDEF, the CCI, Pôle Emploi, etc., to work with us”, indicated Mr. Didierlaurent.
Testimonies from government and local authority representatives: DAT complements public policies
On a national level, the DAT integrated the National Strategy for Preventing and Combating Poverty as a prevention tool for disadvantaged young people back in 2018 : “These businesses are an opportunity to get out of poverty,” emphasized Cécile Tagliana, Commissioner for Combating Poverty Ile-de-France. Convinced of the importance of assessing the impact of the actions undertaken and the need to create local dynamics around these issues, Cécile Tagliana actively supports the deployment of DAT in her region.
Sylvain Reymond, Director of Corporate Affairs, said he was “impressed by the mixed partnerships (financial, skills, etc.) established via the DAT”. A partnership that naturally intensifies with this initiative launched by the Haut-commissariat à l’emploi et à l’engagement des entreprises :
Our challenge is to enable the 97 departmental “Les Entreprises s'engagent” clubs to get closer to the DATs (...): a turnkey scheme that promotes the reconstruction of intermediary bodies and a profound transformation of the role of business in society.
In conclusion, Valérie Daher summed up the Dotation d’Action Territoriale in three points: “it’s a scheme that has a proven impact on the most disadvantaged young people in the territories, that mobilizes companies in a concrete way for social patronage and that enables associations to change scale by multiplying by two or three the number of their beneficiaries […] to help these young people out of precariousness”.
If you’d like to join the initiative and pilot a DAT, contact us !
The next training session will be launched in September 2022.
Photo credit : auremar – stock.adobe.com