Renovation for a successful back-to-work project

« The values, the pragmatism of the projects, the doggedness and enthusiasm of the team of La Passerelle powerfully contribute to the effort towards the social and professional integration of the population of the western districts of Toulouse. Friendly and trustful relations have been established with Veolia Environnement locally, and this has led the association to participate in the Veolia Compétences program, as part of the meetings between players of the worlds of employment and training. »

Pierre Dissaux

This concerns a set of projects in workforce development which, while conventional, are highly effective. For the last 19 years, La Passerelle, an intermediary association founded by former volunteers of Secours Catholique, is helping persons in a vulnerable situation or on the sidelines to reintegrate professionally and socially.
This comprehensive accompaniment involves the construction of a professional project, a search for appropriate training, and finally, constant supervision in the search for a job.And all of the time, the association's volunteers also counsel the beneficiaries on all the other aspects of their lives that face a problem.

Four hundred persons aided ever year

In a second type of project, La Passerelle offers back-to-work jobs to the persons it welcomes, in the area of assistance to private individuals - household tasks, garden upkeep, handiwork and cleaning, small-scale moving, etc. - and to companies - handling, packaging, secretarial services, janitorial services, guard services.
On the whole, in 2008, La Passerelle accompanied four hundred persons.
Half of them found a job under an open-term or fixed‑term contract for more than six months, and 11% of them underwent training associated with their professional project.

Since its first premises were relatively small and insufficient to accommodate all the persons that it handles, La Passerelle is renting a second, alongside the first.
It has applied to the Veolia foundation to help it carry out the necessary planning and development. This project will be the opportunity to "begin afresh" in two places, and also to replace the furniture, equip several workstations with IT hardware and reproduction equipment, and finally, to carry out indispensable works to make the two facilities accessible to handicapped persons.
One of them will then be used to welcome companies seeking to hire persons under a back-to-work contract : this renovation is therefore extremely useful in broadening the range of jobs available to the most disadvantaged persons.