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Language and participation go hand in hand

Remco Cornielje calls himself super enthusiastic. And he is a hard worker, just like the employees of TopTaal. What does Blik op Talent, the foundation that Remco is the founder of, and what are the experiences with TopTaal?

Blik op Talent Foundation was founded in 2010 by a group of idealistic integration and participation experts. Based in Amsterdam-West, the foundation focuses on developing and providing training for specific target groups. The diversely composed Blik op Talent team, in terms of education, specialism, language skills and cultural background, works on the principle that the best results are achieved with personal contact and with an enthusiastic attitude.

Together we work on 'permanent participation' of students

Intensive cooperation

The collaboration between Blik op Talent and TopTaal is intensive. "We meet in different areas," says Remco. 'TopTaal is responsible for, among other things, the language on behalf of the municipality of Amsterdam. Within the same framework, we organize the offer to allow people to participate in society. Together we ensure cross-professional competences that positively steer career developments and give people a better chance of finding a job.
In addition, Remco regularly encounters TopTaal colleagues at the neighborhood school, where people can take second chance education to obtain a basic qualification. With this basic qualification, they can take their first steps towards the labor market. TopTaal provides language lessons for people with a language deficiency. And Blik op Talent provides the vocational training. In this way we also ensure better participation for the participants.
Conversely, TopTaal can turn to the foundation when students look for internships. Remco and his colleagues often play a mediating role in this. These internship places are very important to put into practice as quickly as possible.

Remco: 'The cooperation between the two organizations is very open. 'We complement each other. We share information from the field with each other and, where necessary, discuss solutions and possibilities. That is exactly how a collaboration should be; together we ensure with the same vision that someone makes the best possible start in the Netherlands, whereby we work towards the same goal together, among other things, by being open and flexible. '

Looking for sustainable improvement

Remco is involved with projects in the field of social participation and labor participation from the Blik op Talent Foundation. 'As a founder of the foundation, I often experience intense things. Did you know that in Amsterdam New West alone in the first quarter of 2018 one hundred and seventy girls were reported missing? It is sometimes incredibly difficult to get in touch with these girls. After that you also try to work with them in a future-oriented way. We do a lot of positive things. For example, we teach them to box to increase their resilience. "
Remco and his colleagues always look for opportunities. They involve the personal environment of a client and try to strengthen their social network. 'We first map in general what someone can do and what someone needs. That is different for everyone. We look very emphatically at the talents of people and with that we get to work.

As a foundation, we have grown from two colleagues to a team of twelve. So we are doing something right ', says Remco.
'We are very happy with the collaboration with TopTaal. TopTaal really delivers quality. They are hard workers and so are we. The good thing is that they don't have a nine to five mentality. That also doesn't work in this environment, where you really have to help vulnerable people get through the system. We know that you can trust each other's profession, our colleagues at TopTaal and we. Even though we are a very small player in the social domain compared to TopTaal, we are both looking for sustainable improvement. And as far as I am concerned, language and participation go hand in hand. "

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