Bol.com fellows and JINC to work together to combat inequality of opportunity

In order to contribute to the creation of equal opportunities for children in the Netherlands, bol.com bollebozen has partnered with non-profit organization JINC since today. Together, they will help children from Utrecht neighborhoods with a socio-economic disadvantage to get a good start on the labor market. The bol.com bollebozen is a community of bol.com employees, partners and social organizations dedicated to combating language deficiency and the lack of digital skills in children; factors that lead to social inequality.

In the Netherlands, hundreds of thousands of children grow up in neighborhoods with high poverty and few role models. They are just as talented as their peers from richer neighbourhoods, but often have less opportunity to develop this talent. Through JINC projects, they are introduced to all kinds of professions, discover which work suits their talents, learn how to apply for a job, and develop language and digital skills.

Lightning courses and digital skills
The bol.com bollebozen contributes financially to make the JINC projects possible and makes bol.com employees available as volunteers. For example, the company will participate in the JINC project ‘Lightning Traineeship’, in which children discover what sectors and professions exist. During the year, bol.com bollebozen organizes four technical Lightning Traineeships for children from elementary school in Utrecht’s socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. During these internships they will learn more about digital professions and the skills they require. The first internship will take place at the beginning of April at elementary school De Klopvaart and De Zeven Graven and will be given by two bol.com IT specialists. In addition, the bol.com bollebozen will participate in the JINC project ‘Digital Skills’. In this project, children are playfully introduced to programming.

Fair chance
Daniel Roos, director of JINC: “Every child deserves a fair chance at the future. We try to give them that chance, but we couldn’t do it without our partners. Experience has shown that the expertise of professionals inspires young people and keeps them up to date, and that contact with professionals gives them self-confidence and insight into their own qualities. That is why we are extremely happy to welcome bol.com as a new partner of JINC.”

Jori Ebskamp, Lead CSR & Sustainability at bol.com: “Bol.com is the store of all of us and is at the heart of society. We have the opportunity to make a positive contribution to that. With the bol.com graduates we do this by organizing activities and projects that fight inequality of opportunity among children in the Netherlands and Belgium. By working together with JINC, we want to increase our impact and make an impact in the right places. For example, the schools in Utrecht that JINC works with are all schools with children who could use a little more support in their language and digital skills.”