The Youth Residences are a service of the Foyer Notre Dame Association which welcomes and supports more than 1,000 people on a daily basis in the Bas Rhin region.

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The history of the Foyer Notre Dame Association is part of an evolution whose foundations rest on the missions initiated by its founders at the beginning of the 20th century. The establishment's first mission was to welcome young female workers from rural areas who came to work in Strasbourg. There was then no other specialized reception system, and the Notre Dame home thus gained a certain notoriety. At the end of the war in 1945, the reception was extended to female students, as well as to wards of the State.

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In 1977, the public authorities were confronted with the reception of refugees from Southeast Asia. It was then that the Foyer Notre Dame de Strasbourg obtained approval as a Provisional Accommodation Center for people from all countries.
This activity of welcoming refugees and asylum seekers has developed over the years and has become a fundamental mission of the Foyer. It is organized around several structures: reception platform for asylum seekers, emergency reception, reception center for asylum seekers, integration center for refugees.

From 2000, the Association Foyer Notre Dame diversified its activities aimed at young people, in order to help them in their social and professional integration. Thanks to partnerships with the State, the Departmental Council and local authorities, the AFND has created new reception structures for these young people: the Rosa Parks Center in 2006, then in 2008 the Saint Exupéry Residence in Illkirch and in 2017 the Tomi Ungerer Residence .

The reminder of the evolution of the activities of the Foyer Notre Dame de Strasbourg, shows how much the successive leaders have taken to heart to respect and perpetuate the will of the founders, by fully enrolling in the missions of reception, accommodation, support and solidarity.

Our values

Questioning what we do and why we do it means looking for what values we want to prioritize to serve as benchmarks, as a guideline for the practices implemented in the various establishments and services managed by the Association du Foyer Notre Dame .

In the name of human dignity, the essential values that guide the Association are: Welcome, Respect and Solidarity

Home

Hospitality, the founding value of the Association du Foyer Notre Dame, above all conveys humanity, attention to others, consideration and recognition.
Through the reception, the Association recognizes in each one his quality of being in the making. To flourish, to achieve, to develop one's potential are essential dimensions of man to which the Association du Foyer Notre Dame intends to contribute.

The respect

All beings need to be considered with respect in order to find or keep their dignity.
Respect for the person, their difference, their culture, their privacy and their situation.
Respecting people means ensuring that their rights are respected, but also informing them of their duties and taking their choices into account.

Solidarity

Solidarity requires protection and assistance enabling each person to live with dignity and achieve autonomy.
Through this value, the association also wants to promote the spirit of brotherhood and mutual aid between people.