Petites-Mains mission is to help people in need, mostly women, immigrant, single, unemployed or living on Welfare. The enterprise encourages these women to come out of their isolation, to mingle with others, to learn a trade, to integrate into the job market and to live in dignity in society.

Petites-Mains is a non-profit organization that :

• An organization that helps people who are excluded by giving them social and professional training;?
• A non-profit organization employing paid employees and commercializing the goods that are produced;??
• An organization giving a global training focused on the participants’ needs and a well-structured supervision, on professional and social level;?
• An enterprise that allows to join the job market, with training or other alternatives for the participants;?
• An organization that accompanies its participants all along the process and a follow-up after their training
• An organization working in association with different partners to insure adapted responses to the women’s needs.??Petites-Mains is member of the Collectif des Entreprises d’Insertion du Québec and meets with the required quality norms of all Entreprises d’insertion. (www.collectif.qc.ca)

Petites-Mains helps mostly immigrant women :

• Women living a secluded life
• Women with difficulties of integration
• Women living alone and wishing to meet other people
• Women victim of conjugal violence or discriminated against
• Women who are single, unemployed or with a low income
• Women living on Welfare
• Women without a professional training
• Women who can not practise their trade
• Women wanting to increase their chances to integrate into the job market
• Women without work experience in Quebec and in Canada;
• Women for whom cultural differences represent an obstacle to their integration
• Women who need a personalized monitoring before their integration into the job market because of personal, family or social problems
• Women having a lack of manual dexterity, experience, motivation and self-confidence.

Petites-Mains helps women to integrate into society, especially immigrant women, accompanies and helps them to adapt in their new environment. It offers the necessary tools to face the reality of integration:

• Support towards the equivalence of diplomas and recognition of professional competences
• French courses
• Support for the reconstruction of the social situation and improvement of the socio-economical situation
• Support in the understanding of the family transformations: role changes in the couple, intergenerational conflicts
• Initiation to community commitment in order to develop a sense of belonging
• Participants benefit from a social and professional monitoring as well as a personal follow-up.