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Interview with Christine Tarbouriech, General Delegate of the Sycomore Foundation.
Since its creation, the objective of the Sycomore Foundation has been to promote interactions between the educational and professional worlds. In this context, we support many projects aiming to improve young people's academic orientation, their knowledge of the business world and their professionalization. For example, we are co-founders of the Fondation pour l'écriture, which seeks to encourage the pleasure of writing among young people in great difficulty. We also support various projects such as an urban "micro-pousses" farm, which helps "school dropouts" reintegrate into the world of work through working the land, and the association L'Ecole à l'Hôpital, which helps hospitalized children maintain and continue their schooling.
The "Imagine La Suite" project aims to identify the difficulties encountered by patients affected by genetic diseases who are trying to integrate economically, socially and professionally, and who are confronted with an environment that is unsuited to their situation and their disability. The objective is then to remove the peripheral obstacles they encounter, and to allow them to reach their full potential by means of devices that promote their socio-professional integration.
When Imagine presented this project to the Sycomore Foundation, our board of directors immediately agreed 100%.
First of all, because this project allows us to invest in the fields of medical research and disability that we did not yet support.
We were especially touched by the tremendous commitment of the Institute's doctors and researchers who, in addition to the scientific and medical aspects inherent to their profession, go beyond themselves to reflect and act on the social consequences of the disease, in order to find solutions so that each patient can integrate socially and economically into society, in particular by achieving financial and professional independence.
Finally, we were very impressed by the seriousness and responsiveness of the teams who presented their project to us.
It also appealed to all of our 70 employees. Two of them voluntarily chose to join the steering committee. For a Foundation, involving employees in these initiatives is essential. Here, we are proud to be able to participate directly in its construction, which is rare enough to be highlighted.
We also want to go further by welcoming young patients into the company, giving them the benefit of our network, and allowing some of our employees to meet patients. In the future, the Sycomore Foundation could even participate in fundraising for this project.
With the "Imagine La Suite" project, we are proud to participate in the socio-professional integration of young adults affected by a rare genetic disease and living with a visible or invisible handicap.
In this way, with Imagine, we are drawing up the outlines of a global approach to their life course, in order to install them now in the world of tomorrow.
