RWDM and Telenet are joining forces for the "Crampons-Crayons" homework club

Molenbeek, March 27, 2019 - In partnership with Telenet, RWDM inaugurated the brand-new space dedicated to its Crampons-Crayons project. This service offers academic support to the 1,000 or so youngsters who come to train at the club. Objective: to enable them to benefit from a real homework club available between the end of the school day and the start of training. The support is provided by volunteers, staff members or students from ULB, among others. The project was set up with the support of Telenet, which renovated the space dedicated to the pupils and will offer them free Wi-Fi.

On Wednesday 27 March, Racing White Daring de Molenbeek (RWDM) and Telenet inaugurated the new space dedicated to the Crampons-Crayons project in the heart of the Edmond Machtens stadium in Molenbeek. Crampons-Crayons is a project initiated by the club offering academic support to all the children who would like it, in the form of a homework club in the RWDM premises. The 1,000 or so children (700 boys and 300 girls) who are members of the club can thus benefit from this academic support after school and before the start of their training. The aim is to more closely associate the 'leisure' side of these youngsters’ lives with the importance of their academic success.

Launched in September 2018, the project is led by Thierry Dailly, chairman of RWDM, and Jean-François Lenvain, the former head of RSC Anderlecht's social unit but also a school teacher who has worked for a long time with youngsters who are failing at school. It is already benefiting from the support of several local schools, BECI and ULB.

“It's quite obvious that starting your homework at 9.00 p.m. after training isn't the best idea in the world. There is also the fact that we consider we have a responsibility towards these children's schooling, and that we want to offer them real support, and not limit ourselves to fun activities or just providing premises. On this level, Molenbeek is a fantastic laboratory: there are already many projects, there's a real community which we can count on, and the club alone allows us to reach out to more than 1,000 children and young people."Jean-François Lenvain, initiator of the Crampons-Crayons project.

A renovated space and connectivity

Telenet, which is increasingly active in Brussels, was also attracted by the project and felt it was important to play its part. The group therefore financed the complete renovation of RWDM's space where the academic support is held, Internet access for the whole building as well as free Wi-Fi for the homework club's members. At the same time, Telenet has become the club's new internet provider.

The initiative fits in well with its social responsibility programme, since Telenet has been focusing for several years already on projects that stimulate the education, training and social integration of children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds (CoderDojo, YouthStart, BeCode, etc.). More broadly, Telenet is now active as a telecommunications operator in 13 of the 19 communes of Brussels and intends to play a leading role in the city's social fabric. This commitment is therefore part of a more overall desire to give a boost to the city and citizens of Brussels within the framework of its 'We will boost the city' campaign, by offering leading-edge connectivity (such as in the area of Molenbeek) and by investing its expertise in initiatives with a positive impact on the local community. Moreover, Molenbeek is part of the six communes to which Telenet recently extended its geographic coverage following the takeover of SFR in 2017.

 “This type of partnership is very important, because it validates our desire to work with a wide range of players to lead the project, while creating social links. Crampons-Crayons was already in the process of being launched, but the new facilities will make things easier for both the children and the people supporting them. Above all, we hope that this will encourage more children, parents and support workers to participate in the homework club." Thierry Dailly, Chairman of RWDM

 “We have become a major telecoms player in Brussels, but our ambition goes further than that: we want to be an important stakeholder in the city as such, participate in its activities, in the management of large stakes. The Crampons-Crayons project corresponds exactly to our philosophy on the subject: to support concrete, local projects directly linked to issues concerning education and access to skills for disadvantaged youngsters. We're delighted to be able to support them and we're already exploring other similar partnerships with associations in Brussels.” John Porter, CEO Telenet

Contacts

Coralie Miserque
​Spokesperson Telene
​[email protected]
​0484 00 64 42

Robert Krynski
​Community manager RWDM
​[email protected]
​0474 57 37 98