Youth work does not only take place in youth centres. Young people meet in squares and parks, spend a large part of their daily lives at school, come up with their own project ideas, play music and take part in sport, get involved in their local neighbourhood, or want to have a say in decisions that affect them.
Under the banner of ‘Jugend Marzahn-Hellersdorf’, we therefore bring together various projects that are not tied to any single organisation. What they have in common is that they reach out to and support young people where they live and spend their time. We create mobile services and temporary youth spaces, provide premises, equipment and other resources, support young people’s own projects and events, and open up opportunities for participation.
The aim is not only for young people to make use of these services, but also to enable them to help shape social and cultural life in Marzahn-Hellersdorf themselves. Our projects complement one another and can be combined depending on the idea or need.
Our projects
mKJZ MaHe – Mobile Children’s and Youth Centre
The mobile children’s and youth centre brings open children’s and youth work activities directly to squares and parks across the borough. Play and sport, open drop-in sessions, information and advice, as well as youth culture, come together to form a mobile youth hub. Regular locations create reliable meeting places even where there is no youth leisure facility in the immediate vicinity.
mKJZ MaHe Plus – Mobile Services in Schools
With mKJZ MaHe Plus, we bring the opportunities offered by the mobile children’s and youth centre to schools. These include, for example, a mobile kitchen and group sessions on healthy cooking, graffiti and creative activities, sport and games, as well as support for school fetes. We also support pupils and other groups with their own projects and events, providing technical equipment and other resources as required.
Marzahn and Hellersdorf Youth Forums – Have your say and help shape the future
The Youth Forums help young people to develop and implement their own ideas for their neighbourhood and the borough. Young people receive advice, contacts, resources and financial support for their own projects. At the same time, the Youth Forums create opportunities to articulate their own interests, engage in dialogue with politicians and local authorities, and participate in social and political processes.
Youth Resource Centre – Turning ideas into projects
The Youth Resource Centre supports teenagers and young adults who want to get things off the ground themselves. We offer advice on developing and funding projects, facilitate contacts and provide spaces and work opportunities. A pool of equipment, including event technology, cameras, portable furniture and other resources, is available for youth groups to use for their own projects. Our approach is this: we provide as much support as is needed – the ideas and decisions remain with the young people themselves.
diveRcity – Youth culture in public spaces
Through diveRcity, we support young people in bringing their own youth culture to the fore. Concerts, jam sessions, graffiti, skate and BMX contests, and open-air events are organised in public spaces in collaboration with young people. We help with planning, funding, permits and technical support, thereby enabling young people to become organisers and active shapers of cultural life in the borough themselves.
A shared toolkit for young people
The projects do not exist in isolation; rather, they complement one another. An initial encounter at the mobile youth centre can lead to a young person’s own project idea. With support from the Youth Forum or the Youth Resource Centre, an idea can develop into a self-organised project. The necessary technical equipment and materials can be provided; contacts with cooperation partners, politicians or local authorities are facilitated; and what starts as a small initiative can ultimately grow into an event organised by the young people themselves in public spaces.
In this way, we combine open child and youth work, youth culture, participation, political education and support for self-organised initiatives. What matters is not which of our projects an idea fits into, but what young people are planning – and what support they need to carry it out themselves.