“Sustainable Living and Working” continues to support people in three city districts
The BIWAQ project "Sustainable Living and Working" in Darmstadt can continue. Following receipt of the new grant notification, the successful program will be extended beyond its originally planned duration. This will ensure that unemployed and job-seeking individuals in Eberstadt-Süd, Kranichstein, and the Pallaswiesen/Morneweg district can continue to receive support close to their homes.
Since October 2023, the project has been helping people, especially the long-term unemployed, to develop new career prospects and find their way into training, education, or employment. The focus is on individual counseling, career guidance, and personal coaching.
Participants receive support in developing their digital skills, access to digital learning resources, and job-related language training. The project also assists them in entering work-related qualifications, internships, apprenticeships, and employment.
The offer is aimed particularly at women without vocational qualifications, single parents, people with a migration background and refugees.
“The extension of the project is an important recognition of the successful work of everyone involved. It allows us to continue supporting people where they live and to open up new perspectives for professional and social participation. The goal remains to create new opportunities for people in the job market while simultaneously sustainably improving the quality of life in the city's neighborhoods,” says Mayor and Head of Social Services Barbara Akdeniz.
Strengthening sustainability and cohesion in neighborhoods
In addition to integration into the labor market, "Sustainable Living and Working" also aims to promote social cohesion in the participating neighborhoods. Information sessions, training courses, and joint activities focused on ecological sustainability are intended to further develop these neighborhoods as social spaces for living and shaping their communities.
Participants are supported in contributing their own skills, taking responsibility and actively engaging in their neighborhood.
The BIWAQ project is being implemented by Werkhof eV in cooperation with the Jobcenter Darmstadt, the Agentur für Arbeit Darmstadt, the neighborhood workshops in the participating districts as well as other partners from education, social work and civil society.
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Construction and the European Social Fund (ESF) as part of the federal program “Education, Economy, Work in the Neighborhood – BIWAQ”.
(DARMSTADT – RED/PSD/stip)
