EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Employment Service Desk

Employment Service Desk - Venlo

Introduction

As a result of decentralisation, part of the Venlo social services' tasks has been transferred to the Employment Service Desk. The Employment Service Desk is located in North Venlo, a national urban policy district. It is part of the district information centre, which has been located in the neighbourhood for some time.

Problem

North Venlo is a typical national urban policy district in which many problems come together. The district has much to be desired regarding the physical-spatial, social and economic structure. The heart of the problems in North Venlo lies in the neighbourhood of Genooij. The economic structure in Genooij, on which this practice is primarily focused, can be described in three points:

highly concentrated long-term unemployment;
low labour market participation; and
limited participation of employers in the neighbourhood.

Description

Alongside many collaboration partners, a social services consultant has an office in the district information centre. This has had the following key psychological effect: whereas a visit to the social services used to be a visit to the social services institution, it is now a visit to a consultant with a presence in the neighbourhood. Having a consultant in the district itself has thus had a threshold-reducing effect. Through the Employment Service Desk, Venlo's social services are now able to reach those unemployed persons for whom mediation was previously impossible.

The partners that play a key role in strengthening the economic structure, are added to the network partners which have been operating for some time at neighbourhood level. This strengthens the network at the neighbourhood level.

Approach

In North Venlo an attempt is made to breathe new life into the district via urban regeneration. The district information centre plays a key role in this process. A number of neighbourhood partners work from the neighbourhood centre, maintaining good mutual contacts and keeping the lines of information on the residents' problems short.

Visitors to the district information centre are welcomed by a hostess, who offers them coffee or tea. If a visitor is seeking employment, the hostess refers him/her to the consultant, who runs the Employment Service Desk in the district centre.

Results

Contact between job seekers and the institutions has become more personalised.
Even unemployed persons with whom mediation is virtually impossible have found a new job.
In a general sense, it can be stated that the percentage of people leaving the district is considerable. One beneficial side effect of this practice is that the Genooij neighbourhood, which has had a doubtful reputation for years, is slowly improving. The district is reviving.

Contact info

City of Venlo
J. van der Heijden, tel. +31 77 3596910

Project start date

18/10/2001

Links

City of Venlo

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Quality of life

Keywords

Social services