Municipal action plan against child poverty: interim status of development
19.01.2024
In the summer of 2022, the Offenbach City Council decided to draw up an action plan against child poverty in order to mitigate the negative effects that poverty regularly has on affected families in Offenbach and, above all, their children. "The municipal action plan against child poverty is being drawn up by the Youth Welfare Office," emphasizes Sabine Groß, Mayor of the city and responsible for children and young people, "which we have actively campaigned for. We see combating child poverty as more than just looking at income-related backgrounds. Child poverty causes discrimination and prevents access to education and participation, which often leads to lifelong impairments," says Groß. "Offenbach is one of the poorest municipalities in Germany and, according to the State Statistical Office and a study by the German Economic Institute, ranks last in Hesse in terms of per capita income. "These results show how important it is that we address the issue of poverty in the city and develop concrete measures. Although there are already numerous offers in Offenbach to sustainably support socially disadvantaged children and young people, we need to check where there are gaps and whether the target groups are being reached well," adds the mayor.
The Youth Welfare Office has sought support from the Hessian Working Group for Health Promotion (HAGE), which supports the state program "Präventionsketten Hessen. Growing up successfully. Living children's rights" state-wide. The Auridis Foundation from Mülheim an der Ruhr and the state of Hesse are providing funding for this. "It was a fortunate coincidence that the HAGE's invitation to tender for participation in the prevention chain programme came at almost the same time as the city councillors' decision, because the content of the state programme also relates to the development of a long-term municipal overall strategy against child poverty," emphasizes Wanda Krautter, who coordinates Offenbach's participation in the state programme at the Youth Welfare Office and therefore also plays an important role in the development of the action plan.
Youth welfare office wants to create action plan by fall
A lot has happened in the last year to advance the topic and make further plans: "We have set up an internal city steering group with the management levels of various offices under my leadership to manage the overall process. The newly created coordination office reports directly to the head of the youth welfare office. This means we don't lose any unnecessary energy in order to be able to make direct and quick agreements," says Sabine Groß. The Youth Welfare Office identified the need for action through targeted interviews with experts from administration, education, sponsorship and initiatives, as well as a broad survey of professionals. The initial results were presented in December 2023 at the symposium "Together against child poverty. On the way to a municipal action plan". Among other things, measures were proposed in the areas of leisure activities for children and young people, early access to support in child daycare, strengthening parents in their parenting behavior and offering healthy free meals.
The event was accompanied by two specialist presentations by Dr. Irina Volf from the Institut für Sozialarbeit und Sozialpädagogik e.V. in Frankfurt. In addition to the presentation of initial results, the professionals present were also asked to share their experiences in order to take a further step forward in identifying needs.
"Yesterday, we presented the interim results to the Youth Welfare Committee and we are currently in the middle of planning to survey children, young people and families affected by poverty in order to incorporate this perspective into the needs assessment. We see this participation as an important contribution to designing measures that are as targeted as possible and have a high level of acceptance among the population," Wanda Krautter concludes on the current status. The action plan against child poverty should be drawn up this fall and then presented to politicians.