This is the central political concern of Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel. Behind this is the desire to make Salzgitter a more attractive place to live and work thanks to good family policy conditions.
Families should choose to live in the city area thanks to comprehensive care, equal opportunities for education, good health care, child and family-friendly urban development, good conditions for living, working and leisure. The older generation, with its knowledge and experience, is also involved.
The first major steps have been taken with the appointment of the first full-time children's commissioner in Lower Saxony, free childcare for parents for all three kindergarten years, a comprehensive school renovation concept and a new trend-setting youth and sports promotion scheme.
Children and family commissioner
Sylvia Fiedler has been the children and family commissioner for the city of Salzgitter since 2008. Among other things, she is an advocate for children and families in Salzgitter. She represents children's rights, involves children and families, listens to their questions and wishes, provides information, establishes contacts and acts as an intermediary. Its tasks also include the development of the child and family-friendly city concept and corresponding campaigns, events and projects.
Free kindergarten place
Since 2008, parents in Salzgitter no longer have to pay parental contributions for the care of their children from the age of 3 until they start school, following a decision by the city council. This applies to childcare for up to eight hours. Only the catering costs, currently 45 euros per month, are payable if the child participates in the lunch program.
Day nursery places
From 2013, parents will have a legal entitlement to a childcare place for young children. Salzgitter is making faster progress with the expansion than other cities. The supply of nursery places in the city rose from 8 to 27 percent in 2010 and construction is currently continuing.
Schools renovation program
Another building block on the way to becoming a child and family-friendly city was and is the refurbishment of schools. Since Mayor Frank Klingebiel took office, around 30 million euros have been invested in Salzgitter as part of the school renovation program he introduced in 2007. Additional funding was provided by the federal government's economic stimulus program.
14 schools and 10 kindergartens have already undergone exemplary refurbishment and offer pupils and children not only renovated rooms that meet today's energy standards and make learning fun, but also modern equipment in the specialist classrooms.
Help with the transition from school to work
Even after leaving school, the young people in the child- and family-friendly learning city are not left alone. The BONA Salzgitter project, or more precisely "Career orientation and securing young talent for industrial-technical and scientific professions under changing demographic conditions in Salzgitter and the Braunschweig region", helps pupils with their career choices. Behind the title lies a key future project for Salzgitter as a business location in the interests of the younger generations and the city's companies.
Initiated by Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel and Salzgitter AG, BONA is supported by the Braunschweig Region project, which cooperates closely with the Federal Employment Agency in Braunschweig. VW, MAN, Alstom-LHB and Bosch are also involved. The aim is to make it easier for young people to find a career through cooperation between training companies, schools, the city and the employment agency. The advantage for the companies is that they can make contact with the young people at school, who may one day be the next generation of skilled workers in their companies.
Family-friendly Baulandförderung
In order to live up to its pioneering role as a child and family-friendly city, the Salzgitter City Council has adopted a building land promotion program. Its particular aim is to make it easier for married couples or cohabiting couples with children to build on municipal land. The land subsidy is divided into a basic subsidy and a children's component. The basic subsidy is a lump sum for all those wishing to build on a plot of land. It amounts to 2,000 euros regardless of the size of the plot. This also takes into account young married couples or non-married couples who do not yet have a child at the time of purchasing the property. The basic subsidy is offset against the purchase price of the property. For each child belonging to the household up to the age of 18, 4 euros per square meter are deducted from the purchase price of the property.