"In Salzgitter, child and family friendliness should not be an empty phrase," emphasized the Lord Mayor. Instead, it is a feeling, an attitude that he wants to be anchored in every Salzgitter citizen. His aim is to strengthen, network, increase and further develop the existing structures. "Child-friendliness and family-friendliness should also be Salzgitter's trademark beyond the region," emphasized Klingebiel. By 2015, the city should be one of the most child and family-friendly in Germany.

The establishment of the Department for Child and Family Promotion is a step in this direction. In future, it will be responsible for planning, coordinating and monitoring municipal activities, but this will also involve taking stock of the support, services and ideas already available for children and families in the city. In a first step, a concept for a child- and family-friendly city of Salzgitter is to be drawn up. In a second step, further development with the associated ideas, goals and measures will be developed under the leadership of the children's commissioner. The aim is to create a holistic municipal network in order to use and strengthen existing measures for child and family friendliness more effectively.

The guest speaker at the opening event was Roswitha Wenzl, Children's Commissioner of the state capital Stuttgart, who presented the successes of her home town on the way to becoming a child and family-friendly city. She praised the Lord Mayor: "You have not only made yourself the head of the movement in Salzgitter, but have also brought along everyone who can support you."

In her presentation, Dr. Roswitha Krum, Head of the Children, Youth and Family Department, outlined the city of Salzgitter's goals to become more attractive for families with children. The main focus is on daycare centers and childcare for the under-threes. Only 87 percent of children who are legally entitled to a place in a kindergarten currently attend a daycare center. However, the goal should be 100 percent. In addition, kindergartens should become centers for families and cooperation between daycare centres and schools should be optimized with the aim of optimally preparing children for school.

But it was not only the children and family policy of the city of Salzgitter that was on the agenda that evening. All children, young people and adults in Salzgitter were invited to submit proposals for a children's logo by September 1 in order to redesign child and family-related documents from the city of Salzgitter. The submitted works were publicly exhibited as part of the opening event in the town hall together with the results of a parallel painting campaign.

A jury consisting of Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel, the head of the local editorial office of the Salzgitter Zeitung, Luitgard Heissenberg, the CFO of Salzgitter AG, Heinz-Jörg Fuhrmann, the Vice President of the Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel University of Applied Sciences, Volker Küch, and Jil Grabowski, the 12-year-old daughter of an employee of the city administration, selected the best pictures. Three were shortlisted and the winner was seven-year-old Paula Schäfer.