30 Aug 2024 Olivier Noblecourt visits Break Poverty programs
Olivier Noblecourt Visits Break Poverty Foundation Programs !
One month after the announcement of the Poverty Plan by the President of the Republic, Olivier Noblecourt, the Interministerial Delegate for the Prevention and Fight Against Poverty Among Children and Young People, visited Romans-sur-Isère to see firsthand the success of the Territorial Action Grant, a system designed by the Break Poverty Foundation.
Olivier Noblecourt visited the Break Poverty Foundation programs in Romans-sur-Isère, where the Territorial Action Grant system was successfully tested to mobilize local businesses against youth poverty.
The success of this pilot project encouraged the government to include this measure in the Poverty Plan. The current goal is to expand this system nationwide: “I came here to learn from you and your experience to develop it elsewhere… It is a central issue for our country to understand how territories that have experienced difficult periods restart and recover,” stated Olivier Noblecourt.
Olivier Noblecourt delved into the DAT with a series of meetings with the stakeholders involved in this system: local officials, institutional actors (CCAS), associations, beneficiaries, and businesses.
The visit began with a meeting with the Mayor, whose support in implementing and overseeing this system has been a key factor in its success. She expressed her admiration for “the DAT, which addresses not only economic poverty but also more broadly all the psycho-social suffering that can foster it: isolation, loss of self-confidence, school dropout” (Marie-Hélène Thoraval, Mayor of Romans-sur-Isère).
Poverty and responses to this multidimensional phenomenon are indeed a significant concern and daily challenge for the city of Romans-sur-Isère, where poverty statistics are nearly twice the national average.
However, concrete solutions exist through associations that, thanks to the DAT system, have been able to develop new projects or strengthen existing actions in the fight against poverty.
Olivier Noblecourt met with three of these associations: Les Plombiers du Numérique, Lab’elles, and the Digitale Académie.
Olivier Noblecourt spoke with two of the twelve young people who will join the first cohort of Les Plombiers du Numérique on November 5. This unique school in France aims to train young people who left school without qualifications or diplomas for careers as fiber technicians. “These twelve young people will undergo a training program specifically designed for them… which will allow for professional integration, but also, and most importantly, the desire and possibility to start off on the right foot” (Olivier Noblecourt).
He then visited the Lab’elles association, located in the Monnaie district, which supports young girls from this priority neighborhood by integrating them into training and insertion pathways. Thanks to the DAT, additional resources (hiring of an educator), logistics (increased hours and days of local operations), and materials (purchase of computer equipment) have been provided through the support of partner companies. This aims to improve support conditions and increase the number of young girls benefiting from the program.
Olivier Noblecourt, accompanied by project leaders from the Digitale Académie (FIPNES and Acces), then visited this new campus located in downtown Romans, which will open its doors in September 2019. This project, part of the fight against post-secondary dropout, will enable thirty young people who cannot attend university for socio-economic reasons to access higher education.
The visit concluded with a discussion with the companies that have chosen to engage in the DAT system. The feedback was unanimously positive.
Currently, 220,000 € has already been collected to directly fund six projects addressing child and youth poverty. This figure is expected to reach 1 € million within 3 years with the support of the City Hall.
Beyond the satisfaction of investing concretely in the future of their territory, companies expressed their enthusiasm for the human aspect and collective sense inherent to this system. In addition to their financial contribution, some of them now wish to go further and involve their employees in the supported projects.
The next step is to deploy the DAT nationally so that the successful experience in Romans can be replicated in other territories and benefit a larger number of people. To achieve this, Break Poverty is pleased to rely on the support and mobilization of numerous partners. “We will try, with the Break Poverty Foundation and the engaged actors, to ensure that the good ideas and initiatives here in Romans find their application elsewhere” (Olivier Noblecourt).
The challenge is significant, but it is necessary to address it to create conditions for real change and contribute to transforming our social model by giving young generations a real chance to build the foundations of a future to which they can belong.
Photo credit : Break Poverty Foundation.