Neighborhood Management – Reinickendorf

The Neighborhood "Letteplatz" is a heterogeneous Wilhelminian-style residential area with some buildings from the 1950's and 1960's in the district of Reinickendorf. It is bordered in the north by the Mittelbruchzeile, in the east by the Provinzstrasse, in the north by the Ritterlandweg and in the south by the Marktstrasse and the "Schäfersee" lake.

Approximately 18% of the roughly 10,000 people live here on a foreign passport; 29% receive state aid and about 9% of the residents - which translates into an unemployment rate of roundabout 18% - are jobless.

Due to the observed change in the social situation, the neighborhood was included in the program "Socially Integrative City" as a prevention area. The Neighborhood Management team commenced its work in June 2009.

According to the findings of a school-based survey, the neighborhood is among the critical areas under monitoring. Networking and cooperation among social institutions, schools and community facilities is currently underperforming. Through qualifying the services provided and networking among the participating institutions, a wider impact on education and services of public interest is expected.

Selection of projects carried out to date

Lette 09 +

The "Association Lette 09", consisting of the Neighborhood Management Letteplatz, the youth center LUKE and the Children's Recreational Center Pankower Allee, offered a range of activities on the "Letteplatz" square within the scope of the project "Lette 09+" between June and September 2009. The project enabled the residents to use the Letteplatz in a family-friendly way, with no fear of threatening situations. Interest was raised among children and b youths for the other facilities offered by the aforementioned organizations, whereas responsible social behavior was strengthened and promoted on the square. Involving the parents into the planning process has a supportive effect on the parental work of the participating organizations and encourages intercultural exchange.

Women-Café

The "Letteplatz" is a meeting point for many mothers who spend time there with their children. It is a place for social contacts and exchange between the families. In order to accommodate the request of the women for a permanent place to meet, one of the mothers organized a weekly "Women-Café" with lectures and group discussions at the Childrens' Recreational Center Pankower Allee.

Neighborhood project "Our Neighborhood at Christmas time"

The illumination of the Letteplatz from 10.11. through 31.12.2009 was organized to mobilize the residents to participate and develop their own ideas. The main objective was to encourage the neighborhood residents to make new contacts and jointly plan and implement activities. The success of this approach was visible in front of every door of the houses in the direct surroundings. Each front area had been furnished with a Christmas tree or an existing tree jointly decorated by at least three residential units.

Various members of the Neighborhood Council volunteered to support the campaign through providing organizational and promotional support and were able to mobilize neighbors to participate in the activities. A total of 15 trees in front of the houses surrounding the Letteplatz were decorated.

Language and mobility training

Since October 2009, two teams from the "Learning-Experiencing-Program "Little Star" have rendered extra language and mobility trainings to three daycare centers in the Letteplatz area. The main goal was to achieve a noticeable improvement of the children's level of language skills by the time of primary school enrollment. The teachers were trained on the principles of the "Learning-Experiencing-Program" and are expected to organically adopt them in their everyday pedagogical work. Accompanying activities conducted with parents aimed at raising parents' enthusiasm and commitment for the project and related subject matters. At the beginning of the project, the children demonstrated very different levels of language skills, whereas after completion of the program, almost all of them were able to understand and reflect the topics presented to them without any assistance. Worth highlighting are the achievements made in the area of independent phrasing. The children were observed to be putting into practice many elements of the program in their daily routine.

Reading suitcase

Suitcases full of books, audio-CDs and indoor games for children are available for lending by families at one of the daycare centers in the neighborhood. There are two different sets; one is for children aged between 1 and 3 years and one for children from 3 to 6 years.

The project primarily aims at supporting and promoting children's speaking and reading skills. Parents shall be motivated to actively co-operate in the development of their children's capability to speak and write fluently.