Partnership “Sport dans la Ville” (“Sport in the city”), France, 2020

Sport dans la ville

Created in 1998, Sport dans la Ville is the main professional integration association using sports in France. By building sports centers in priority neighbourhoods, Sport dans la Ville offers free sports sessions for young people aged 6 to 25, which is their first step in the association’s integration program. These sessions teach the beneficiaries values such as respect, teamwork and assertiveness, necessary qualities for their social and professional integration. To support the young people in a long-term dynamic, Sport dans la Ville implemented different programs to encourage social and professional integration, by actively participating in their progression and personal growth. Located in 4 french regions (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France, Ile-de-France et Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur), Sport dans la Ville has built 46 sports centers and shares a close link with the inhabitants. 

“Passe Decisive” program / “Industri’elles” project

“Passe Decisive”  is a program part of the “Job in the city” initiative, the orientation and professional integration component of “Sport dans la Ville”. The “Industri’elles”  project aims at removing preconceptions concerning young women from priority neighbourhoods in industrial professions. The Air Liquide Foundation has been supporting this program and this project during its partnership with “Sport dans la ville” since 2020. 

“Passe Decisive” targets young “dropouts” without any diploma. It offers customized support to these young people who are searching for a job or a training course, through business workshops and professional integration actions.   

The project was awarded funding in the "100% inclusion" category of the French government’s Investment in Skills Plan in 2019.

Decisive Pass includes:

• Individual guidance and support over several years by a Sport dans la Ville Guidance Counselor, who will help the young person with their choices and career plans
• Company visits to discover the business sectors and jobs of the future
• Workshops preparing young people for the business world: presentation of various professions, resume writing, mock interviews, self-confidence, public speaking, English classes
• Mentoring by employees over one year or one day ("A Day in the Life") to offer first-hand experience of a job
• Access to work experience and employment opportunities (internships, work-study programs, fixed-term and permanent contracts) via recruitment events and the association’s network of partner businesses

Industri’elles is offered to 1 600 young women enrolled in the “L dans la Ville “ (“She in the City”) program. The project focuses on organizing visits in industrial sites (remotely or in person) and the presentation of industrial professions.

The Air Liquide Partnership 

The 3-year partnership with the Air Liquide Foundation has a dual objective:

• Guiding 735 early school leavers into training and lasting employment, with a success rate of over 50% in Ile-de-France and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes through the Passe Décisive project
• Developing the attractiveness of jobs in industry to girls through the Industri’Elles project

The Air Liquide Foundation

• contributes to the development costs of the Job dans la Ville program, and particularly the wages of the guidance counselors helping the youngsters
• relies on the Air Liquide Group entities' engagement to support these young people. The Air Liquide entities that are located where “Sport dans la Ville” is present in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Ile-de-France are part of the program through the employees’ contribution to the different steps of the project. A particular attention is given to the students’ discovery of the industrial and health sector

Specific actions are also carried out as part of the "Industri’Elles" project to encourage girls to consider careers in industry as openly as boys do. 

These actions should result in a fruitful partnership both for the young people concerned and for the local Air Liquide employees. Together, the employees have made a real commitment to prepare young people for employment, a hugely rewarding experience for them, and an opportunity not only to unite employees around a common cause, but to prepare a pool of potential employees for the future.

"This new partnership with the Air Liquide Foundation is a terrific opportunity to introduce the early school leavers we help to the medical and industrial sectors, and to eventually guide them, boys and girls alike, towards great jobs that they did not know about before. Thank you for your invaluable support, which should help us reach our targets as regards positive outcomes, i.e. the number of these young people who end up in training or employment." 

Sofiane Kassmi, Head of the “Passe Décisive program” in Ile de France

Project review

More than 700 young people were supported as part of this 3 years project with the active participation of several Air Liquide Group entities in the various programs of Sport dans la ville. To close the project, the Foundation team had the pleasure of meeting the young beneficiaries in Lyon and sharing a sporting moment with them!