Clair et Net: dispersing the fog of the Goutte d'Or
Paris 18e
The Goutte d'Or neighbourhood in the 18th arrondissement of Paris is an area bordered by Boulevard de la Chappelle to the south, Boulevard Barbès to the west, the railway lines of the Gare du Nord to the east and to the north by Rue Ordener, which borders SNCF land and has no exit to the periphery. The neighbourhood has been classified as a sensitive urban area (City Policy) since 1996 and has a population of over 22,000 (one of the most densely populated districts in Paris).
The majority of the population, a third of whom are foreigners, is "poor"; language, health, vocational skills and drug problems are often the cause of precarious situations and a source of conflict and insecurity.
In 1997 Clair et Net was formed and, assisted by the neighbourhood prevention club, became an integration enterprise
Enterprises for integration through production or temporary work employ people with multiple social and employment difficulties. They offer them a personalised social and employment retraining plan based on putting them to work, the gateway to sustainable integration, autonomy and citizenship. (source: www.cnei.org)
The initial idea was to channel the energy of young people of the neighbourhood who had nothing to do and were damaging telephone boxes into cleaning them up. The association naturally turned to France Telecom, signed a contract and recruited two young people for integration employment to clean and renovate the neighbourhood's 25 telephone boxes.
The enterprise soon developed its work to offer cleaning and maintenance services for buildings (public and private); it now employs 15 people with integration contracts.
The rest of the team is composed of the director, a secretary and a person responsible for integration, whose task it is to assist employees throughout their development in the enterprise until their return to stable employment.
In addition to the specialised follow-up, the Wednesday morning of each week is set aside for the employees' personal development. The whole team meets for various activities: French and literacy classes, work on socialisation and behaviour or group cultural outings, such as museum visits.
For the employees, who often have serious social or behavioural problems, it is an opportunity to forge links and develop their human and vocational capacities.
Additional internal training guarantees that the work runs smoothly: the employees learn the basic principles that will lead clients to appreciate them.
Clair et Net is thus able to offer a quality service, as is proved by the faithfulness of its clients. Even the recent (June 2007) cancellation of the contract with France Telecom (it is slightly more expensive to use Clair et Net than to do the work itself) has not affected the stability of the enterprise, which now has a turnover of €500,000 per year and relies little on subsidies.
Primarily a local enterprise
Clair et Net fosters links with the community in the choice of its employees as well as of its clients. It is also involved in the life of the neighbourhood and has links with the local voluntary sector.
Its work is mainly concentrated in the Goutte d'Or neighbourhood and none is outside the 18th and 19th arrondissements. The fact that it is located in a shop with street frontage increases its visibility.
Laurent Gomis, the director, testifies to this: "Lots of people come in looking for work". As it is dependent on ANPE (French National Employment Office) selection criteria, Clair et Net cannot, unfortunately, recruit as it pleases, but refers the people concerned to the appropriate services, which usually results in their subsequent recruitment.
While it is easy to evaluate the results in terms of stable employment when leaving the enterprise (50%), it is more difficult to do so with respect to the social and human outcomes. We can only rely on the testimony of Laurent Gomis, who is astonished at the significant improvement in the behaviour of his employees, whether in terms of sociability, health and hygiene or manners.
