Music on Wheels, Frankfurt

Many children in Germany are excluded from certain areas of social participation due to the weak socioeconomic situation of their families. This often leads to less educational opportunities for them, a lack of space for development and fewer opportunities for them to interact with other children. As a result, the children’s development is affected from an early age, which minimizes their future opportunities and can lead to a lack of future perspectives. A major cause of social disadvantage is the lack of access to educational and cultural opportunities – especially in rural areas and in areas of low socioeconomic development in cities. This can lead to consequential damage to children’s emotional and social development. The increasing ghettoization in large cities leads to the exclusion of certain social classes, because of which the value system of young people suffers and isolation, violence and drugs can become an issue.

In order to tackle these challenges, help alliance, together with its partner organization Heartbeat Edutainment, supports socially disadvantaged children and young people through musical and entertaining educational programs. Film and photo productions, song recordings, documentary films and music clips strengthen democracy building and integration and promote cultural communication. The combining of educational learning content with the performing trainings, especially through hip-hop, creates a space for self-expression. The personal contact with the coaches and their attention gives the children the feeling of being seen and valued, which strengthen their self-confidence.

The target group of the project are socially disadvantaged children and young people at the age of 8-18 years.

The project helps young people to express their feelings and thoughts through music. It gives them the opportunity to share their message with the world, for example, by recording their own song and performing it in front of an audience. The innovative project activities are easily accessible for children and young people and promote clear values such as peace, unity, respect, tolerance and love, which in return supports them personality development.

As children begin to stand up for themselves and their rights and want to actively participate in society, the pressure on state structures to take children’s voices seriously and open up spaces for them to participate increases. At the same time, the debate about children’s rights and better protection for children becomes more prominent in the public, which gives an opportunity to bring children with social disadvantages back into the center of the society’s attention.

With your support, you enable socially disadvantaged children and young people to get an access to creative educational and cultural programs and contribute to their successful integration.