In the immigrant enclaves outside France’s major cities, the U.S. embassy in Paris sponsors urban renewal projects, music festivals, and conferences

The United States Embassy in Paris has formed a network of partnerships with local governments, advocacy groups, entrepreneurs, students and cultural leaders in the troubled immigrant enclaves outside France’s major cities

writes Scott Sayare from Bondy in a New York Times article sent by Duncan who adds that "I guess Obama can't resist organizing a community."

The residents of this poor, multiracial Paris suburb say they have been abandoned. For 30 years, they say, the French authorities have written off Bondy and neighborhoods like it, treating their inhabitants as terminal delinquents and ignoring their potential.

This, residents note, is not the approach taken by the United States Department of State.

…Begun in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks as part of an effort to bolster the image of the United States within Muslim communities across the globe, American outreach in these hard neighborhoods — often referred to collectively as the “banlieues,” or suburbs — has grown in scale and visibility since the election of Barack Obama.

…With an annual public affairs budget of about $3 million, the Paris embassy has sponsored urban renewal projects, music festivals and conferences. Since Mr. Obama’s election, the Americans have helped organize seminars for minority politicians, coaching them in electoral strategy, fund-raising and communications.

Oh, great! Export ACORN's "experience" to France's banlieues…
In an April meeting organized by the United States Embassy in Paris, Samuel L. Jackson meets students in Bondy