Thanks to their years of study at ITEEM, their personal and professional experiences, Pierre Delannoy, a 2014 graduate, and Pierre Dusart, a 2013 graduate, decided to dedicate their careers to the SSE – Social and Solidarity Economy. For several years, they have been involved in accompanying young school dropouts towards employment by working in the Production Schools: EPAL (Ecole de Production Automobile de Lens) and for the start of this school year, EPICC (Ecole de Production Industrielle de Couture et Confection de Roubaix).
The “Learning by doing” pedagogy of the Production Schools is bringing businesses and schools together ; the students, accompanied by the “Professional-Master”, respond to real orders placed by industrial clients within an educational workshop at the heart of the school. This anchoring in economic life and the relationship with the client implies a high level of requirement and responsibility for the young people, which brings them maturity and self-confidence. They thus develop essential know-how and interpersonal skills. General education and social and global support will complete this accompaniment to lead them to a diploma in 2 years (CAP) and to employment.
Pierre Delannoy co-founded EPAL in 2016, a garage school that takes in young people aged 15 and over who have dropped out of school, to train them in the car maintenance profession in a real business situation, and to help them obtain a CAP in 2 years.
Pierre Dusart, who was looking for a new committed professional project, took up the challenge in 2018 as Director of EPAL. He quickly put his project management skills into practice and actively participated in the school’s development. In just a few years, the school’s capacity increased from 7 to 25 young people, supervised by 5 salaried employees, professional masters (for the technical aspect) and volunteers (for the general teaching), but EPAL has also increased its production, offering car centre services (from oil changes to clutch repairs, not forgetting the costing of work to be carried out), going from 3 cars per week to 3 cars per day.
“In this hybrid training model, it is necessary to know how to adapt to the reality of young people in difficulty, and to increase the social impact of the activity. I would like to develop EPAL in a sustainable way to anchor the operation and the missions in a qualitative approach”, explains Pierre Dusart.
Pierre Delannoy, for his part, has been actively working on the creation of the EPICC, which opens its doors in september and welcomes a first class of about ten young people.
“Our mission is to accompany vulnerable young people, and in particular young girls, towards successful social and professional integration, by meeting the labour needs of local textile companies and supporting the renewal of a desirable, sustainable and committed French textile industry,” explains Pierre Delannoy.