Within La Mire, the local inter-municipal mission of Bobigny, Drancy, Le Blanc-Mesnil, Kamel Ouacel, the director, is well aware of the social and digital divide experienced by young people. A study carried out by the mission among 1,200 young people aged 16 to 25 indicates that 8% of them do not have digital equipment (computers) and 49% of them ask for support. Beyond digital, the study reveals that 40% of young people feel “social uselessness” and 13% eat only one meal a day.
On the digital level, La Mire has therefore decided to accompany young people step by step, starting for example by creating a professional email address. An apprenticeship that Sarah, 21, judges « super » because it allows “huge progress, even on things we thought we knew.”
At the Roger Gouhier media library in Noisy-le-Sec, we raise another problem related to digital: the language barrier. “This constitutes the great difficulty of certain inhabitants, and in particular of the oldest”, testifies a manager of the media library, where computer courses are offered. Here, one of the main demands are “related to the impossibility of completing administrative documents“. But, regrets the mayor of the city, Olivier Sarrabeyrouse (PCF), “these people censor themselves and forbid themselves to take a place in this space made available to them”.
While the whole of Seine-Saint-Denis is particularly impacted by the digital divide, the Departmental Council, the State and four intermunicipalities (the territories Est Ensemble, Grand Paris Grand Est, Paris Terres d’Envol and Plaine Commune) signed together, this Friday, an agreement to make 80 digital advisers available as part of a territorial digital inclusion project.
This Friday, two ministers, Cédric O, Secretary of State in charge of the Digital Transition and Electronic Communications and Nadia Hai, Minister Delegate in charge of the City, traveled to the department on this occasion, first to the local mission de Bobigny then to the media library of Noisy-le-Sec. For the government, the state budget allocated to this project is part of a national digital inclusion plan earmarked in the recovery plan, which aims to deploy 4,000 digital advisers in the country, for a budget of 200 million euros, “to support the most remote French people to become autonomous with everyday digital tools.” The State must also finance, to the tune of 40 million euros, the construction of digital inclusion kits in local structures such as libraries and town halls.
–Regarding Seine-Saint-Denis specifically, the prefecture indicates that the State has allocated 1.6 million euros to digital projects in 2020, outside of city contracts.
