The Michelin Corporate Foundation supports Chemins d’avenirs

The Michelin Corporate Foundation is dedicated to equal opportunity. To this end, it is supporting Chemins d’avenirs, the first organization entirely devoted to young people in small towns and rural areas. 

Left behind by the digital revolution, living at home without access to information or networks, unwilling to express themselves and having few possibilities, these youngsters stack up the odds against succeeding in life. 

Chemins d’avenirs informs and supports them and champions their cause. Its one aim is to give them every chance of achieving their potential and their ambitions by helping them prepare their future studies, their entry into the world of work and their lives as citizens. 

What makes Chemins d’avenirs different is its approach. It puts all its money on the young peoples’ motivation, without reference to the usual criteria of education and social background. 

In practice, the association’s action is based on a mentoring system and the creation of a winning environment which brings together the education authorities, businesses and foundations, civil society and families in a common endeavor for the benefit of the youngsters. 

The program revolves around four fundamentals designed to overcome the obstacles gradually:

–       an innovative thought process tailored to each situation which is deployed over time and provides individualized counselling;

–       a personal tutor bringing to his pupil a detached and compassionate vision;

–       training focused on computing skills, public speaking and preparing for exams;

–       extended access to internship programs, interviews with professionals and cultural and social openings.         

Since 2016, encouraged by its success, the association has extended its geographical coverage and stepped up its support. With the result that in 2020, nearly 1,000 young people will be helped in this way within the eight education authorities of Clermont-Ferrand, Nancy-Metz, Grenoble, Lyon, Dijon, Rouen, Caen and Rennes. 

Thanks to backing from the Michelin Corporate Foundation, Chemins d’avenirs has significantly boosted its activity in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the education authorities of Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble et Lyon.

The association has also set up new programs such as ‘Elles Osent’ (‘They dare’), ‘Culture & écriture’ (Culture and writing’), ‘Les jeunes des territoires ont la parole’(‘Young people in the regions speak out’) and ‘Alumni’ (‘Alumni’). This is a change of scale to which the Michelin Corporate Foundation is pleased to give its long-term support.