This Friday, January 13, 2012, at 6 pm at 140 Boulevard de la Madeleine in Nice, Agora-E, a solidarity grocery store for students from Nice and the French Riviera, will be inaugurated. Nice, after Lyon, is the second city in France to open such an establishment.
This initiative called “Agora-é,” launched nationwide by FAGE (Fédération des Associations Générales Étudiantes), aims to combat the exclusion and precariousness faced by students. The “Agora-é” project is based on several levels: food aid, social connection creation, access to rights, access to associations, and solidarity.
To bring this project to life quickly in the Nice area, the city of Nice has provided a house of more than 100m² to FACE 06 (Fédération des Associations et Corporations Etudiantes des Alpes-Maritimes), the local manager of this space for exchange and solidarity. In this new living space, students will be able to meet, get information, receive food aid, and be listened to and supported in some of their endeavors.
The city of Nice is mobilized alongside all partners (University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis, other local authorities, student associations, social landlords…) to offer pleasant study conditions and a living environment to the 35,000 students in Nice:
– Improvement of housing offerings,
– Creation in 2009 of a dedicated internet portal for students and associations / etudiants.nice.fr,
– Organization with Face 06, since 2009, of the “Student Welcome Day” each year in November,
– And other support actions in the fields of culture, professional integration, health, etc.
Moreover, in 2011, the city of Nice moved from 10th to 8th place in the ranking of cities “where it is good to study,” conducted by the group l’Etudiant last September.
