Consult the ANNUAL REPORTS

Our aim is to intervene quickly in order to avoid allowing a difficult situation to worse, with the continual aim of maintaining close and personalized contact.

Our actions are specific and are taken:
at the outset: during the wait for official assistance to get going, at the end: once all U.S. and French government grants have been exhausted.

Our actions are on two levels:

a financial nature; our contributions are always targeted and concrete.
an assistance-advice nature, seeking practical solutions suited to each person.
We function essentially through regular telephone discussions in order to maintain the confidentiality, privacy and independence of each of the speakers or partners.

WHOM DO WE ASSIST?

“Breaking one’s isolation and deprivation”

We bring our assistance to French-American citizens residing in the US who experience serious and unforeseeable reversals of status, deaths, illness, divorce, employment loss and especially to:

• Elderly persons who are isolated and who can no longer get around: We bring them comfort.
• Children of families in financial difficulty: help with back-to-school needs, cafeteria costs, a child discover the country, the sea, the mountains, a sport or a passion.
• Families in extreme distress, sometimes living in shelters, to whom we try to give emotional support as well as a push in the right direction with administrative advice so they may pull themselves together again and find clarity and dignity again. And sometimes French people who are in New York temporarily find themselves in a terrible, unforeseen situation.
• Young Talents reflect our approach: “We Help You – You Help Us”. This program was implemented in 2012. L’entraide Française selects one very talented student every year and works with him/her to develop a mutual exchange of services.

HOW?

“Overcoming difficult moments”

Network

To target our efforts we work in close collaboration with the Consulate’s Social Service which bring new cases to our attention. The first step is therefore to make oneself known to this department so they may draw up a personalized assessment. All types of official aid will be considered.
Our association intervenes in the beginning: during the wait for official aid to start arriving, at the end: once all US and French government grants have been exhausted. We also receive direct requests through our network of people and through our information campaigns (word of mouth, flyers, mailings, press coverage, website). We listen to each one and put them in contact with the right organizations and services according to their specific needs and the level of urgency.

Support

In this way we bring up to date the actual scene of the French community in need, allowing us to act efficiently. We operate on a case-by-case basis but we always attach a great deal of importance to the notion of support. We consolidate our actions while ensuring the efforts and willingness of each to overcome difficult moments.