The Convergence program makes it possible to pool all the actors of the integration projects to promote the integration of the most deprived.
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C. Girardon / 20 Minutes
Eight years after its launch in Paris, the Convergence program is spreading in Lyon.
It is about pooling the skills of the different actors of the integration projects (employment, housing, social) to support the most disadvantaged.
20 Minutes
was able to meet two beneficiaries of this program.
The device was born in 2012. It took 8 years for it to spread and take root for the first time outside Paris.
The Convergence program, which aims to strengthen support for people in a situation of great exclusion within the integration projects, has now been applied within the metropolis of Lyon since January.
Three associations, the Foyer Notre-Dame des sans-abri, Lahso and the Salvation Army are part of this process.
Concretely, it is a question of offering a job to the people in greatest difficulty, those who live in the street or those who are furthest from employment.
And coordinate their needs: help them find accommodation, take care of themselves if necessary, and get internships if necessary.
The support can last up to five years to avoid returning to the streets as much as possible.
125 employees in Lyon
The objective is to reach 200 employees by the end of 2021 in the metropolis of Lyon.
125 have already joined the program.
Among which Bebi, 32, met in the textile sorting workshops of the Foyer Notre-Dame des sans-abri in Décines.
Leaning over a large table, she tirelessly repeats the same gestures.
With her gloved hands, she collects and classifies a part of 5 tons of clothes sent to the association.
In a box, the men's clothes arranged according to the sizes, the seasons.
In another, women's clothing.
All will then be resold at flea markets or distributed to homeless people.
"Sometimes, I also prepare the orders," says this Congolese, arrived in France in 2012 and happy to have landed a permanent job, paid at the minimum wage.
“Before, I sent lots of CVs but I never found a job because I had no paper,” explains Bébi, a seamstress in her native country.
And to add: “Here, they trust people like me.
Even if you have no professional experience, they make you work ”.
In the front row, Magnola, 31, works with a smile.
This young blonde woman, originally from Kosovo, joined the team for almost a year.
And measures the distance traveled since arriving in France in 2018. At the time, she did not speak a word of the language and did not have a home.
“Before being hired in this workshop, I worked as a cleaning lady in a hotel chain,” she explains in remarkable French.
But my working hours did not allow me to go to language lessons.
The advantage of working here is having time to study ”.
"I owe him a lot"
Magnola finishes its service between 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. depending on the day.
She can thus go twice a week to the Red Cross to learn French and pass “level B1” in November.
"My dream is to become a security guard," she continues, explaining that she has started the process of taking training.
She is waiting for an internship.
“The assistant of the Forum Réfugiés association, who follows me, was able to get me an internship in a police station, subject to obtaining my B1 level.
She is the one who assists me in all the administrative procedures and it is also she who found me this job.
I owe him a lot, ”she concludes.
After Lyon, the cities of Lille, Nantes and Strasbourg should be the next three territories to implement the Convergence program.
The deadline is scheduled for the beginning of 2021.
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