Entrepreneurs for the most vulnerable
People in exile
For several years now, Groupe SOS, a non-profit group that works to combat all forms of exclusion, has been supporting people in exile, with the belief that they are an asset to French society, culture and history, regardless of where they are form. Provided that they are welcomed with dignity and assisted towards full integration into society.
Housing and Social Action Advocacy
Carried by Groupe SOS, the Housing and Social Action Advocacy suggests practical and ambitious actions, which are carried out by its teams, as well as an invitation to a profound shift in support methodologies and schemes. The Mission Statement is based on a simple but ambitious guideline: the success of rehousing relies on helping everyone unconditionally, in a progressive way, while accepting all singularities, including people coming from abroad.
Our schemes in detail
Reception centres for asylum seekers (CADA)
CADAs offer quality housing in individual serviced flats. The multi-disciplinary teams help the residents with their asylum applications, and with administrative, social, health and schooling procedures, while they await their status.
Emergency accommodation for asylum seekers (HUDA)
HUDAs offer an alternative to collective or hotel accommodation for families facing problems in accessing housing.
Temporary accommodation centres (CPH)
CPHs welcome statutory refugees leaving CADA and offer them support towards work and social integration and assistance in finding sustainable independent housing.
Specific support services
We maintain legal services for foreigners, provide employment support, socio-linguistic workshops, etc. We support the legal procedures of the people detained in the four French detention centres.
Unaccompanied minors
Unaccompanied minors are, above all, children
Every year, Groupe SOS takes in more than 2,500 unaccompanied minors and provides them with educational, pedagogical, social, administrative and health support on a daily basis. An unaccompanied minor is above all a minor, before being a foreigner. Every child has the right to be protected. Let us guarantee them the same opportunities as all other children. This requires quality support. We adapt our care to the specific life paths of these vulnerable children, as should be the case everywhere: French as a Foreign Language classes (FLE), personalised school support, access to care and psychological support… Today, this should be implemented everywhere. For it is only by scaling up, by giving ourselves the means to care, that we will not only be able to respect our commitments to the law and the CRC, but also to consolidate integration policies. This way, we can give the same opportunities to each child, whether they are from France or elsewhere.
Integrating refugees through employment
Action Emploi Réfugiés
Our non-profit organisation, Action Emploi Réfugiés (AERé), helps refugees to integrate through work by providing them with appropriate support as well as through a digital platform that puts them in touch with employers and offers numerous training courses. Based in Paris and Bordeaux, the organisation supports between 350 and 450 beneficiaries each year, involves many employers ranging from individual companies to multinational corporations and SMEs, and provides more than 700 jobs per year. More broadly, all our services include support to help asylum seekers find training or jobs and help remove any obstacles to employment that may arise.
The Tempo project, helping migrants become entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship is a great opportunity to promote the socio-economic integration of refugees, while allowing their talent to be expressed to enrich our society. Based on this belief, our network of PULSE incubators, the La Ruche incubator network and their European partners have launched the Tempo project to test and implement programmes helping refugees become entrepreneurs.