The campaign for zero regional long-term unemployment

For many years, Patrick Valentin was both a creator and owner of non-profit companies which enabled the most disadvantaged people to integrate themselves into society. In 1994, in Seiches-sur-le-Loir, he launched a campaign which was the foundation for the association. Having raised awareness among key people in the region about long-term unemployment, he asked these eighty people what they were able to do, and what they wanted to do about the situation. Fifty-nine of them said they were ready to invest. A company project employing them all was set up, and the number of tasks identified on a local level were sufficient in order to make it work. To balance the books, it was still necessary to pay the association the unemployment benefit allocated to the unemployed, and to reimburse the association the social security contributions which it had to pay to the State. Initial enthusiasm was quickly curbed by the regional prefect who declared this transaction illegal. Some years later, the conditions now seem to be in place in order to find a legal framework for this project and to expand it to several regions.