Turnkey environmental mediation at Saint-Denis

"As partners of PPV 93, we offer our expertise on the control of water consumption and the education of the inhabitants in ecogestures, and we train the mediators on these issues."

Françoise Millour

The nonprofit Partenaires Pour la Ville à Saint-Denis (PPV93) was created in July 1997 with the city of Saint-Denis, the SNCF French National Railways, the RATP Urban Transit Authority, the utilities EDF and GDF, Plaine Commune Habitat and the universities Paris VIII and Paris XIII. In association with the companies and authorities of the area, it offers services to the population by promoting social bonds and professional integration of the young people of the Seine-Saint-Denis district. Its missions today range from urban proximity management to raising public awareness of ecogestures, and include the management of water, electricity and gas, waste source-selection, stand animation, keeping order at Landy France and Carrefour Pleyel, mediation with public service structures, guidance for vulnerable persons in the postal system and the policing and ordering of primary school entrances and exits.

Two Mediation Service Info Points

The nonprofit is creating two Mediation Service Info Point branches (routinely called Point Info - Info Point) at Pleyel, southwest of the city, and at Sémard, to the northwest, at the boundary between Épinay-sur-Seine and Stains. These centers of reception, information and guidance for the inhabitants of Saint-Denis offer mediation in association with utilities, provide information on access to rights (reading bills, access to aid, recommendations for use, etc.) and educate the population in consumption control and ecogestures. They are aimed at the inhabitants of Saint-Denis who face difficulties in access to utilities, to jobseekers beyond the public services or socially isolated. The Points Info are run by two experienced mediators, possessing a technician's diploma in mediation services, as well as a mediator in office for the last four years in the nonprofit and a person receiving the public for the first time, employed under a job counseling contract.

A project carried out with the regional authorities

To ideally meet the needs and expectations of the inhabitants of each neighborhood, the project has been constructed in close cooperation with the local players in the area: the inhabitants and the neighborhood association, the partner companies (particularly Veolia Water) and the personnel of the City of Saint-Denis who sit on the steering committees. The aims of this project are to identify vulnerable households, to guide them toward the appropriate services and to offer them training in utilities control, with due consideration of their specific needs in order to provide concrete answers to their problems.

A "show" apartment of ecogestures

The Veolia Foundation is supporting the nonprofit to help it carry out its educational mission with the creation of several stands and the furnishing of an educational apartment at Pleyel to make ecogesture demonstrations. The solutions proposed in this "show" apartment range from economizing water, gas and electricity to hints on maintenance, and include hygiene and health advice.