Netherlands
Neighborhood Congratulation Service – NGC
Netherlands
Products and services
The NGC visits families with children who become 2 years old and don’t visit pre school services. They inform families about services that are available in the town district. By visiting more often the NGC tries to let families participate in pre school services or education.
The people working for the NGC are detached by the city of Rotterdam and get their coaching from the SWH.
We expect that halfway 2013 the NGC will be replaced by minnow consults.
Individual coaching are for youth between 10 and 24 years old.
Due to regular contacts of the youth work as well as clients we get from the municipality of youth, youth workers are enclosed to stay in contact with youth, most of the time on a temporarily basis. On a yearly basis we help 30 youngsters in a multi problem situation. If we can’t help them ourselves we search for the right organization which can. For the bureau of youth and work we visit over 60 youngsters to help them with problems concerning school or work.
Ambulatory youth work
The youth work of the SWH is also visible active on the streets.
The work contains making contact, activating youngster and preventing or bring back annoyance in the neighborhood. One and another can lead to project and activities in the neighborhood all pointed at a better situation for the inhabitants of the living environment.
There is an active exchange of information between youth work, municipality and police.
Recreational work
During the year the youth work has recreational activities in two different locations.
The recreational activities in community centre The Kom situated in Meeuwenplaat are for a target group of youngster who participate on a low level in society. For the municipality the main goal is preventing and brining back annoyance. Easy activities as table- tennis, table- soccer or using the music studio let the youngsters participate on low level.
The youth club called JAHZ or SooS is run by youngster participates on a high level.
Apart from regular openings they take initiatives themselves and organize activities and projects for their own group and for other groups in the neighborhood. The SWH facilitates these youngsters.
Examples for activities are a Halloween Haunted House for teenagers, skate events and the first international youth exchange of the SWH. International youth exchange April
Development business case Campus and MFA Villa Vonk
In the near future (2013- 2014) community centres will be torn down or sold.
In Hoogvliet there will be two brand accommodations to be used for different goals and youth work is probably one of those goals. The youth work of SWH has got the opportunity to describe the possibilities, wishes and costs for the new situation together with the youth concerning.
Extended school programs
The high school for practical education Penta College hires in youth workers of the SWH to establish the extended school programs. Those programs are a direct or indirect support to the regular school programs.
Examples for programs:
- Homework support
- Brassband
- Schoolband
- Streetdance
- Culture week (a week completely filled with different cultural activities).
Opzoomeren
Opzoomeren is a typical Rotterdam word. It stands for actions in the neighborhood that improve the living environment and social society. Citizens take initiatives and as a reward they get support from the bureau Opzoomeren. In a year there are over 200 different streetactions divided over 70 streets.
Examples:
- Streetparty’s
- cleaning actions
- Street diners
- Halloween or Christmas activities for children in the street
Neighborhood brokers
Instead of the traditional neighborhood building work Hoogvliet nowadays has the so called neighborhood brokers.
The goal for the neighborhood broker is to make the inhabitants of Hoogvliet less independent of public services. They help citizens build up their own social network to solve problems more on their own. If there isn’t a real possibility for a personal social network the broker connects those people to their own professional network. This way the attention and recourses can go to the people who really need it instead of the method that everyone gets help anyway, really needed or not.
The law in Holland nowadays says that people with a welfare cheque and who can’t find work, have to participate in voluntary work. For these people the broker also is a mediator.
The neighborhood broker is physically present in the neighborhood and in that way easy to reach for citizens. The broker is always busy matching people with and in need for different competences. Informal care
The informal care of SWH takes works with people who take care of a disabled or strongly ill person in their own private environment. Those people often get into a social isolation and don’t participate in society in a regular way. The informal care of SWH tries to find a way to improve their situation so that participation is possible.
Advise for the elderly
Primary goal for the advise for the elderly is to make sure that elderly people can live and participate in their own neighborhood as long as possible. The advise makes sure that elderly people are more capable of managing their own problems and situation.
Problems to deal with:
- Social isolation
- Health problems
- Financial problems
- Knowledge of the modern society
Local Culture Center “De Zevensprong”
The SWH runs the local culture centre of Hoogvliet “De Zevensprong”.
De Zevensprong has a variety of programs in the field of art and culture.
There are workshops and shows for different target groups.
Examples for the workshops:
- Drums
- Guitar
- Drawing and painting
Examples for shows
- Theatre groups for adults, youngster or children
- Dance groups
- Classical and popular music