In front of more than 200 citizens from all areas of public life, Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel presented the second part of his work program entitled "Guidelines - City with a Future" on Monday, 20 September, in the conference center of the Hotel am See.

At the same time, it was the start of a strategic reorientation of Salzgitter against the background of the Hesse report on regional and administrative reform in Lower Saxony.

Klingebiel made it emphatically clear: regardless of who forms the state government in 2014, the reform will come. Either Salzgitter would shape its own future or it would be shaped in Hanover.

Like many other municipalities, Salzgitter is facing the challenge of over-indebted budgets. Declining revenues, exacerbated by the economic situation, and a growing mountain of debt were threatening the city's ability to act, the Lord Mayor explained. Even with a continued restrictive spending policy, the debt would amount to over 850 million euros by 2020 if no countermeasures were taken.

The population forecast is closely linked to the city's financial situation. Like everywhere else in Germany, the population of Salzgitter is declining. This is due to a continuing decline in the birth rate and fewer people moving in than moving out. The number of inhabitants is in turn linked to the employment and labor market situation. A favorable economic trend also has a positive impact on people's migration behavior and on population development. Many indicators show a positive future trend for Salzgitter as a business location.

Klingebiel recalled that even before the Hesse report, concrete steps had been taken to strengthen population and education policy with the strategic reorientation of Salzgitter as a child and family-friendly learning city, which had been initiated in 2006, together with politics, business, associations, clubs and citizens. Many individual measures, such as free daycare, have helped to improve living and housing conditions and make Salzgitter attractive for qualified young families.

Combined with an education offensive, child and family friendliness is Salzgitter's answer to demographic change. Consistent family and education policies make the city fit for the future in competition with other locations and can secure its independence. Successful school and vocational training opens up a life path that enables independent family planning. At the same time, an increasing number of young people with vocational qualifications relieves the burden on the city's social budget and gives it financial room for maneuver.

According to Klingebiel, the second step in the work program was to formulate guidelines that would serve as a framework for action for the administration and its partners. The catalog that has now been published should be seen as a basis for discussion. The proposed projects should be weighed up and supplemented in a broad democratic dialog between the city administration, experts, politicians and the population. He is not concerned with the perceived "child and family friendliness", but with measures whose effectiveness can be measured by key figures and facts.

The Lord Mayor knows he has strong partners at his side in this process. Wolfgang Räschke, 1st representative of IG Metall Salzgitter-Peine, Provost Joachim Kuklik and Father Ludger Wolfert from the Protestant and Catholic churches, Ute Behrens-Schröter from the working group of welfare associations, Maritta Jäschke-Bortfeld and Reinhold Jenders from the "Leben mit Kindern" alliance and Clemens Löcke, chairman of the district sports association, assured him of the support of their organizations.

The supporting program of the event included performances by a Fit-4-Future sports group from the Grundschule am See elementary school, the 6fl3 choir class from Kranich-Gymnasium and the Fuego Mijagas cheerleaders from TSV Salzgitter. Ventriloquist Kai Wedeking from Braunschweig will also be performing a show.

In order to steer the process, eleven working groups will now be formed on various topics to develop projects that are suitable for implementing the guidelines and achieving their impact. As far as possible, the projects are to be backed up with key figures in order to establish a direct link between them and their impact on child and family friendliness.

The projects proposed in the working groups will be presented to the city council at the end of 2011 as a recommendation for a decision. The Lord Mayor emphasizes that this will ensure that Salzgitter develops sustainably into one of the most child- and family-friendly learning cities in Germany on the basis of a broad democratic participation process.