Developing skills for the jobs of tomorrow in a priority neighborhood

“Créaquartier is a budding organisation trialling a practical, effective and free for beneficiaries training programme which draws on a network of neighbourhood businesses willing to deliver immersion training to the young people. Their first year of operations has shown that their approach galvanises and interests these unemployed young people who have no hope apart from claiming RSA (supplementary welfare allowance) from the age of 25”
Sonia Ouldali

They both graduated from business school and are committed to helping young people in the nineteenth arrondissement of Paris. Lucas Gorsky and Jonathan Verger founded Créaquartier in 2013 and the organization aims to enable young adults who dropped out of the education system and who are now long-term unemployed to develop skills in the jobs of the future. The two founders are very attached to Paris’s 19th arrondissement and have based the association in the area around Crimée subway station. Créaquartier is endeavoring to make a difference in this area hit by long-term youth unemployment and pupils dropping out of education. They have made the area a testing ground for an innovative back-to-work scheme.

Créatextile in 2015

In 2015, the first program was trialed. The program was called Créatextile and was followed by five young people aged 18-25 from the 19th arrondissement. The young people benefited from 30 hours of training a week for four months. Training combined workplace immersion, an introduction to setting up a business, and personal development workshops. Mornings were dedicated to learning about an occupation (sewing, textile screen printing, digital screen printing, web development) and acquiring skills. In the afternoons, beneficiaries attended workshops on personal development (written and spoken French, self-esteem) and video editing, as well as e-learning lessons on business-related topics and setting up an association. Four of the five young people supported by the association in 2015 have found employment.

Jeun_ESS_Créative in 2016

In 2016, Créaquartier launched a new program called Jeun-ESS-Créative with the Veolia Foundation's support. The program included a month of digital screen printing training. Program beneficiaries constructed some of the equipment needed for screen printing, managed a budget, and found equipment. This helped them learn the basics of project management. A major factor in the scheme’s success is the organization’s ability to mix socio-economic stakeholders from an area (including young people, employees, entrepreneurs, managers, and volunteers) and to vary host organizations (artists’ studios, business incubators, start-ups, the Cité des Sciences, and businesses).

Le Bendo créatif in 2017

In 2017, the Créaquartier team worked on developing an innovative educational and training site: "Au Bendo Créatif". This space is intended to allow young people to be accompanied by entrepreneurs from the region to help them become autonomous by mastering a variety of professional practices. Le Bendo Créatif will regularly organize events to create ties between the different audiences. This place of work, experimentation, and sharing, supported by the Veolia Foundation, is a stimulating space where beneficiaries, volunteers, and entrepreneurs can meet and inspire each other. Three rooms will compose this space of 150 m²: a production room, an audiovisual production room, and a showroom to display and possibly sell the finished products. The screen printing activity started in 2016 will be located there.

The entrepreneurs behind Créaquartier remain demanding with themselves: monitoring indicators are planned to measure the activity and its results (number of visitors, accompanied young people, organized events and workshops, rate of completed projects, etc.). In a nutshell, the aim is to give the keys to jobs of the future to a young person in a difficult situation and to create sustainable back-to-work solutions.