The city of Schongau supports the TOP integration project and helps finance the rent for one year. A meeting café is also to be opened.
Schongau – Ingeborg Bias-Putzier (Asyl im Oberland) and Adel Youkhanna (Caritas refugee and integration advice) had already presented the TOP project to the city council at the meeting at the end of February. The terms participation, orientation and perspectives are hidden in the name. This is exactly what we want to offer people who have had to flee their home country and have recently arrived in the region, without major bureaucratic hurdles.
How is that supposed to work? At the contact point, refugees can find out who they should contact to get a kindergarten place, how to apply for a bank card or which doctor they can seek treatment from. The concept, which has been very successful in Weilheim since last summer, stipulates that the initial information for refugees comes from compatriots who are already well integrated, which creates a win-win situation: communication is more direct and relieves the burden on advice centers and others Volunteers. At the same time, it is also recognition for these “cultural interpreters” who are also compensated for their efforts.
Consultation rooms including a meeting café can move into Leonhard-Zill-Platz
The search for an optimal location for TOP in Schongau was successful. The consultation rooms, including a meeting café, can move into a Heiliggeist Hospital Foundation building at Leonhard-Zill-Platz. Until recently, the “Institute for Animals in Action” was housed there on Karmeliterstrasse; it was previously used by the Heimerer School. The rooms on the ground floor are barrier-free, and the sanitary rooms and kitchenette are on the ground floor. The space around the fountain could also be included for joint celebrations and meetings. There are also rooms on the first and second floors, the AWO is in the immediate vicinity.
In principle, the city council had already assured its support at the February meeting, now it was about concrete figures: a rental subsidy of 700 euros per month had been applied for, initially for a period of one year. The application does not comply with the funding guidelines, explained manager Bettina Schade. “But that doesn’t mean that you can’t decide.”
Discussion in the city council
Esra Böse (Greens) once again urgently promoted the project to her city council colleagues. “On behalf of the social officers, we monitored this very closely.” The group of helpers is also very supportive, having wanted a meeting café for a very long time. “Intercultural exchange would have a very positive impact on social coexistence,” the social affairs officer is convinced.
“I have a small problem with the city’s responsibility,” said Hans Rehbehn (CSU). He also wanted to know what would happen after a year and wanted an interim report after six months. And he questioned “whether German citizens who have problems can also go there.”
Mayor Falk Sluyterman explained again that it was an offer for people with a refugee background who had just arrived in Schongau. Gregor Schuppe (ALS), the second social officer in the city council team, was bothered by Rehbehn's formulation. “The question of whether this is also an offer for Germans is now a question,” he criticized the CSU city council. The need for advice for seniors has nothing to do with this offer, “they play it off against each other”. Bettina Buresch (Greens) also found the CSU city councilor's objection inappropriate.
Promote integration and revitalize the old town
Rehbehn defended himself: “I find it impossible to put myself in any corner.” Schuppe made it clearer again: “You don’t take anything away from a German, but you offer the refugee something that goes towards integration.” They are also cultural mediators a relief for the volunteers, emphasized Ilona Böse (SPD). Schongau's manager added that the city is not the sole donor, the Diakonie is putting a lot of effort into it. “This project needs to evolve.”
Sluyterman also argued this. The advisory service promotes integration and revitalizes the old town. The city council will decide again in a year, “I think an evaluation after six months makes sense.”