The premises of the Authenti-cité association, at 129 avenue Pablo Picasso, in Nanterre, is a bit like the house of God. Alternately study room, computer room or meeting room, canteen, social café or meeting place, everyone is welcome, whatever their needs. In this district, which has the richest network of associations in the city (about fifty associations in the district), Authenti-cité is one of the most active associations.
On the site of the town hall of Nanterre, the raison d’être of the association clearly illustrates its multi-function nature: “Fight against exclusion and discrimination in all their forms”. When it was created in 1993, Authenti-cité primarily offered school support and cultural and sports activities for young people in the Parc-Sud district.
School support since 1993
This activity continues today: every evening after school, the association’s thirty volunteers offer help with homework to students from first to third grade. Until 2020, 200 families benefited from this free aid. Since the Covid-19 epidemic, the association has had to reduce their number to 100. “Fortunately, other associations offer school support in the neighborhood to supplement”, explains Loubna Benazzi, director of Authenti-cité .
200
families benefited from homework assistance until 2020.
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Between subsidies from the municipality and revenue from its clearance sales, Authenti-cité manages a budget of 130,000 to 140,000 euros per year. It is used to finance its actions, but also its two full-time employees, of which Loubna Benazzi has been a part since 2003, and a work-study contract.
Today, the association offers much more than tutoring, its activity has evolved according to the needs of the inhabitants. Thus during the epidemic, it marched at full speed to distribute masks, or to offer food aid to people impoverished by the health crisis.
Soon new premises
For several years now, Authenti-cité has also offered administrative support. “In the neighborhood, the population is aging. Most are not comfortable with computers, or even not equipped. But now, most of the procedures are dematerialized, ”laments Loubna Benazzi. The association holds a legal access office every morning, where it receives around a hundred people a week. “People don’t always know which interlocutor to turn to. We lend them an ear, we help them when we can, otherwise we direct them to a more suitable structure, ”says the director.
Finally, since 2018, Authenti-cité has been leading the citizen council of the Parc-Sud district to inform and collect the opinions of residents about the urban renewal project. The association is directly concerned, since it will have to move itself: the building in which it is currently located will be destroyed.
The town hall offered him a new location, at the foot of one of the Aillaud towers which will change its use. It will only be a few meters from the current HQ, which relieves the director: “Luckily it’s not far. Here we are identified, I do not want the inhabitants to be confused ”.
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