A former college in Mantes-la-Jolie transformed into… a reception center for unaccompanied foreign minors (UMAs). Around 80 young people, aged 16 to 18 and mainly from black Africa, should soon settle down in the chalets built within the grounds of the former André-Chénier establishment, in the heart of the town of Val-Fourré. “Their installation will be done gradually over the weeks until the end of the summer”indicates the Yvelines departmental council at Parisian.
“It’s essential because we often talk about teenagers, who have a necessarily complicated life journey and who, for some, have experienced terrible things. They arrived in France without parents and without papers. Their status as children places them under the responsibility of the departmental council and we must help them to several degrees”argues the Department to our colleagues. An opinion that the former mayor of the city, Raphaël Cognet (Horizons), is far from sharing.
1,400 unaccompanied minors to be rehoused
When the project was announced, a little over a year ago, the city councilor denounced “ A“hasty decision, without consultation, which meets neither the needs of the residents nor those of the young people concerned”, regretting that we “adds an additional difficulty to an already fragile neighborhood “. And for good reason: the Mantaise city has 21,000 inhabitants and displays a poverty rate of 45%or 13 points more than the city average. In addition, one in four young people aged 16 to 25 is out of school or unemployed.
The adolescents housed in this brand new site will benefit from educational monitoring carried out by around fifteen professionals as well as an integration program just a few hundred meters from their home.
At “Cezanne Campus”they will be able to follow professional training in different sectors – construction professions, plumbing, digital, etc. – and French courses taught by Campus employees or specialized associations. In total, 1,400 minors should be rehoused in Yvelines.
