He says he is “forever grateful” to those who welcomed him for a rewarding five-month stay in New York. Mourad Chalal is the coordinator of social centers in Aulnay-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), a strategic position given the importance of these four mediation structures located in four of the city’s sensitive districts.
In 2018, the 40-year-old won a $ 15,000 scholarship under the Ful Bright program, created just after the war by the US State Department, very selective and dedicated to foreigners on the basis of merit. “An experience that” changed (his) life, “he says.
“For five months, I spent time in social centers in New York, from Manhattan to the Bronx via Brooklyn,” says Mourad Chalal, who lived “like an American”, in his own home during this experience.
“In the USA, there is an incredible association of associations, real large-scale actions”
The observer was there to report from the USA their “good practices” in social policy. He saw “enormous differences” compared to France, “where 90% of social actions are financed by public authorities, so the capacity to act is… limited”, he analyzes. “In the United States, it’s totally different: there is an incredible association of associations, real large-scale actions,” he continues. “I came back with a question: how, in France, to give our members real power to act? I have been working there since my return. “
On the question of soft-power (the idea of identifying dynamics and leaders and rallying them to your cause), obviously, the man is cautious. “I was a beneficiary of their program: it’s difficult to criticize. Yes, the United States sometimes arrives in fashion bootcamp (Editor’s note: in military mode) to attract nuggets from here or elsewhere. So what ? As long as it works in a network, in partnership with the countries concerned, it is positive, it creates emulation. “
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