"Sentiers", a large integration association in the Côte d'Or département, is recognized for the quality of its services in stonecutting and shaping and the restoration of the local heritage (public laundries, ramparts, bread ovens, fountains, etc.). Its managers boast 10 years of experience in the admission and training of long-term unemployed persons, handicapped persons, and persons under legal probation. With its well filled order books, the association routinely manages six to seven projects with two teams of 40 persons. Until now, however, it could only offer part-time employment. By becoming an integration agency, it acquires the possibility to create six full-time jobs in a competitive environment. An especially solid springboard to employment by private building contractors of the region, because the sector is suffering a severe labor shortage.

New Assets to Accelerate this Development

The operating budget of Sentiers is primarily financed by public funds (DDTEFP* and general councils of the Côte d'Or). But the creation of this new independent team demands new investments (acquisition of a mobile home, a site hut and additional equipment), secured thanks to the backing of Macif, the Vinci Foundation and the Veolia Environnement Foundation. Sentiers, identified as the only Burgandian integration agency specialized in landscaping masonry, is ready today to handle the growing demand from the municipalities and private individuals in this bracket. It also wants to diversify into the construction of wood frames, another vector of workforce development for unskilled persons, and is already working on several projects associated with emergency housing and leisure facilities.

*DDTEFP: Departmental Directorate of Labor, Employment and Vocational Training.