Ms Martin, a Social Worker’s Story

1In May 2018, following an exchange by email through the insertion service of the city hall of Givors, we met Ms Martin, social worker at Mission Locale (Local Service), on a Wednesday at 2 pm. The building that houses the headquarters of the Mission Locale, near the Givors city train station, is quite atypical: it is modern, with a raw concrete façade, and a wire mesh in the lower story of the building. There is no sign or writing indicating the nature of the building or of the services located there. A Mission Locale poster is found alone on the front door, and it is quite discreet. You have to cross an empty hall, take a staircase, and walk along a footbridge to finally arrive at the reception of the Mission Locale. The activity that reigns there contrasts sharply with the impression of abandonment given by the hall of the building. Ms Martin comes to meet us and offers us her office for our interview. Ms Martin is a graduate of an IAE—Institute of Business Administration—and she was heading towards management and recruitment jobs before moving towards the socio-professional integration sector, specifically in charge of the youth. Now she is 50 years old and has a more mature level of experience in different systems and several territories. In 2016, the Mission Locale’s headquarters are located in Givors but which covers 20 municipalities, and meets more than 1,500 young people each year through individual support and/or collective actions. It is interesting to hear her first impressions from when she arrived in a territory she did not know. What struck her was the poverty within the territory, with a significant number of closed-down businesses in the city center and buildings that seemed to be abandoned. If she had no knowledge of the situation of Givors, she quickly became aware of its bad image. This is rooted in its historical past, which made it a host city for convicts before it became a working-class city with significant waves of immigration. If, according to her, this reputation is not in line with the reality of the city, she acknowledges that such a representation can complicate the professional integration of the youth, especially if they live in the working-class neighborhoods. Ms Martin then noted a link between racial discrimination and residential discrimination towards young Givordins, and in particular young people of foreign origin. The Mission Locale of Givors has been in this district for several years. There, it is engaged in a project of creation of employment, joining the two other members of the territory, which are the Pôle Emploi (the national service for employment) and the PLIE (Plan local pour l’insertion et l’emploi—the local plan for insertion and employment). The goal is to provide shared and more diverse services. This is based on a territorial action inside the working-class spaces, to respond the youth’s necessities and “capture” their interest, in order to later develop integration paths at the headquarters of the Mission Locale, where such youth would not go by themselves. According to Ms Martin, it is also the apprehension of work that has changed among young people. She sees this in the behavioral changes of most of the youth with whom she works. Many young people tend to refuse a CDI (permanent contract) because a CDD (fixed-term contract) appears to be more interesting. Among employers, it is more the question of a lack of skills that seems to be central, and which is emerging as a problem for many young people. Ms Martin also admits that she believes young people’s problems finding jobs are related to the issue of self-esteem, which is often damaged among young people. Through workshops about preparation for job interviews and non-verbal communication, the Mission Locale tries to address these issues. For instance, this type of workshop is part of the many existing mechanisms supported by the Mission Locale, whether they are implemented at the national level or based on local initiatives. She insists on taking into account the territorial context—the current sectors of activity, such as logistics, transport, and trade—the sociological characteristics of the public—low-qualified young people facing integration difficulties—and the matter of geographic mobility—a major problem for many young Givordins. Yet, it is clearly difficult to set up subsidised contracts, as in the case of the Parcours Emploi Compétences (Employment Skills Course). Ms Martin stresses the need to “take one’s time” and not to consider successful paths as necessarily being linear. The accompaniment of a young person is not limited to a job search; it turns out to be much broader, via a presence to address heterogeneous issues. This is undoubtedly the case of the Garantie Jeunes (Youth Guarantee) plan. It is intended for young people perceived as very unlikely to be employed. It provides these youths with individual and collective support. It is primarily oriented towards employment, but at the same time it draws on a significant number of related issues, such as health, access to social rights, housing, income, and communication. This system is spread over eleven months of support, it allows the construction of long-term relationships with young people, and it also identifies situations of isolation, or even distress, for some of them. Garantie Jeunes appears to them to be a last-chance option. The Mission Locale must then provide the youth with support of good quality, both in terms of the service offered and in terms of premises and equipment. To accomplish this, Ms Martin can rely on good partnerships with the many Givordine stakeholders, even if she thinks that the city could improve the image it conveys, both outside and among its inhabitants. According to her, Givors is a young, well-equipped city with rich cultural and sporting offerings. However, it is economically poor, and it does not make its geographic positioning an asset. Indeed, the territory would benefit from being more attractive and “changing its image.” At the end of our interview, Ms Martin wishes to address the difficulties that the Mission Locale may encounter in supporting young girls, notably through the issue of the veil, or their integration into several groups, which is more tense for some, with cases of withdrawal and exclusion. These matters remain rare. Those concerning the relations between girls and boys, and more generally, the place of women in society, are more worrying.