Integration Café, Hattersheim

After the end of the Second World War, social settlement was created in Hattersheim. In the meantime, the so-called Hattersheim settlement is known as a social flashpoint. Many refugees, families with a migration background and socially disadvantaged families live there. This often causes integration problems and social challenges. Language and cultural barriers increase social isolation and make social and professional integration more difficult. This is especially true for women, as men are mainly employed in the families. The consequences for young people are also far-reaching: children and young people from socially disadvantaged families, with or without a migration background, have clear disadvantages in access to education, often lower school-leaving qualifications and thus fewer chances on the labour market later on.

In the project in Hattersheim am Main, a city in the Main-Taunus district of southern Hessen in southwestern Germany, socially disadvantaged families are supported through German language courses and a contact point. This is intended to promote the long-term integration of families with a migration background.

The project is aimed at women and mothers from socially disadvantaged families in the Hattersheim settlement. For them, starting their careers is often a particularly great challenge. In addition to the classic issues such as the compatibility of family and work and childcare options, there are also questions about the recognition of qualifications, lack of knowledge about the German labour market and language barriers. Women are therefore at above-average risk of poverty.

Since the end of 2018, the “Mama learns German” course has been offered in the Hattersheim settlement. Here mothers without a job and with small children are offered the opportunity to learn German in order to increase the families’ chances of integration. During the course, qualified childcare is offered so that the women can devote themselves to their course in peace. Here, the children also come into contact with the German language at an early age.

Parallel to the German course, the language café, which is supervised by project responsibles, has been established.It is visited by many women who have either already completed the German course and are waiting for a place in the next course or have no place in the course yet and still want to learn German. In addition, more and more women are coming who are simply looking for companionship, an opportunity for exchange or contact persons for questions and problems. In addition, the project offers homework supervision three days a week to support children whose parents do not take advantage of the opportunity to have homework supervision for their children at school for financial or cultural reasons.

Through the German course, language and cultural barriers are broken down and families are introduced to the German language and culture. In addition to language skills, the mothers are also taught reliability, security and self-confidence for the start of a new life. In addition, through the exchange with others and with those responsible in the project, the women have a contact person, which means that many problems that arise during integration can be recognised and solved at an early stage. The aim of the project is to give the families and especially the children of the settlement a better starting point for their lives by supporting and encouraging them as early as possible. The fact that their mothers learn German in the project also makes it easier for the children to gain access to the foreign language, which makes it easier for them to start in the kindergarten and school. In the long term, this increases the children’s chances of an equivalent school education.

With your donation you enable childcare during the German course and support the financing of the homework teacher.