Youth Education Association of Paris
"The center where you take charge of your studies and your personal development"
Point Conseil Budget
Medalist of the City of Paris
About us
L’Association Jeunesse Education: an NGO for the community
June 10, 2025 — by Cassandra Vanderhoof, intern
A brief summary
L’Association Jeunesse Education (AJE-Paris), or, in English, the Youth Education Association, is a non-profit based in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, with another site in the 14th. AJE-Paris isn’t a school, but another place that’s there to work alongside the schools and families to support them in their projects. The goal of AJE-Paris is to support low-income families in the area and help them “pilot their studies and training.” The 20th site is located right next to the schools, a convenient location to achieve their goals.
Hopeful origins
In the 1990s, Mr. Lainé-Bessettes and his friends, inspired by the influx in immigrants in Paris, the wonder of moving to the year 2000, and the breakdown of the social elevator, decided they needed to do something: “something original that would be useful, that would mark our lives at our level.” So, they founded the association with a simple objective: to help children with a regular presence and encourage academic progress.
Not just homework!
AJE-Paris wants to help with what families and youths need, and sometimes, that means a space for homework help after school. But other times, maybe they need help looking for a job, managing their budget, or expressing themselves. That’s where AJE-Paris’s partners play a role. L’AJE-Paris works with several companies in their community, like the Théâtre National de La Colline, to allow the students to be a bit more active. They put on educational and fun workshops. And for financial problems, AJE-Paris became a Point Conseil Budget to give advice. “When we help a family to manage their budget better, to find help, to reduce financial difficulties, the family feels better. The family can think about the future again. The family can smile, I'd like to say. They're not trapped in an anxious present.”
Staying in tune with the times
Since COVID, there have been some changes in AJE-Paris’s methods. The neighborhood of the 20th arrondissement is home to a lot of low-income families and elderly people who don’t have a lot of money but may also be hesitant to ask for help, especially with the social disconnect during the pandemic. The association saw this and asked itself what it could do to support them with something they needed: food. AJE-Paris struck a deal with local companies and now distributes food (even after COVID). “At the association, we're not going to help everyone, but we are going to make it possible to understand that solidarity also means food.”
A unique association
There are other associations in Paris that help with food, theatrical expression, homework, budget management, and that are a part of the social economy. But typically, these associations only do one of these things. AJE-Paris does them all, because that’s what their community needs. Like Mr. Lainé-Bessettes told me: “We have one focus: the youth. And as long as it concerns young people, as long as young people need it, we will do it.”
Advice: "Dare to imagine"
If you wish to follow a path similar to Jean-Maurice’s—you want to take steps to move your community toward a better, more equitable future (and maybe open your own community center)—he has a few words of advice: “If you're passionate, look at how we do it. Do exactly as we do, walk in the same footsteps we do for a day, a month, a year, to really feel, to really understand. And then, once you've seen that, well, dare, in your own way. Don't be a photocopy. Follow yourself. Take, be inspired, understand, live daily, meet people, discover. And then, I think it's an English group, the Beatles, who said: Imagine. Dare to imagine.”