Non-profit youth travel organisations publish statement on the design of the special education and care fund

Statement for download

The undersigned organisations expressly welcome the new federal government's intention, as formulated in the coalition agreement "Responsibility for Germany" of the 21st legislative period (2025-2029), to invest in "places of youth work, youth leisure and extracurricular youth education facilities" (cf. line 3204f). This announcement sends a significant political signal and recognises the urgent need for investment in this key infrastructure for young people.

It is high time that youth education centres, youth hostels and other non-profit leisure and accommodation facilities for young people finally receive the political attention and support that does justice to their social importance. Decades of underfunding have led to a profound and considerable investment backlog that seriously jeopardises the structural substance and future viability of many of these facilities. Catching up on this backlog requires decisive political action - and above all: substantial financial resources that are made available to independent non-profit organisations through a practical, unbureaucratic and low-threshold funding programme. In line with the objective of a sustainable education and care system, these funds must be provided from the special education and care fund. This is because youth education centres, youth hostels and other non-profit leisure and accommodation facilities are not only central locations for youth work in Germany, but also indispensable for the expansion of all-day programmes in schools and holiday programmes, the provision of extracurricular political and cultural education and a wide range of leisure activities, as well as the promotion of social learning, democracy education and civic engagement among young people. They are therefore an integral and indispensable part of the education and childcare infrastructure in Germany.

The massive need for investment in youth education centres, youth hostels and other non-profit leisure and accommodation facilities can only be met by an independent, comprehensive, targeted special investment programme, which must enable investment in the digitalisation and accessibility of the facilities in addition to energy-efficient refurbishment. It would not be economically justifiable, for example, to only fund investments for the purpose of energy-efficient refurbishment without also enabling the conversion of the building to make it accessible, if necessary and feasible. In order to avoid multiple construction costs, a standardised overall subsidy is required for the various investment areas.

For the concrete implementation of the investment programme, the undersigned child and youth work organisations are calling for

• An independent, structurally sustainable investment programme is needed that is geared towards the actual needs of youth education centres and other non-profit leisure and accommodation facilities. Based on available surveys from the last three years, there is already a nationwide investment requirement of at least one billion euros.

• Under the investment programme, non-profit facilities that are primarily active in youth welfare in accordance with Book VIII of the Social Code are eligible to apply.

• In order to take into account the numerous facilities in rural areas in particular, the eligibility requirements must be designed to be practical and low-threshold. Conditions such as those stipulated in the guidelines of previous, impractical funding programmes with regard to national and/or international significance would exclude the majority of facilities.

• For funding from the special investment programme, a feasible and viable solution under state aid law must be agreed with the EU. Ideally, the programme should be notified separately.

• In order to be able to effectively implement refurbishment and modernisation measures, sufficient funding is required as well as extended approval periods and flexible implementation deadlines. This is the only way to fulfil the sometimes complex building and structural requirements.

• The facilities' own contribution required must be set as low as possible so as not to overburden the providers. Especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, provisions once earmarked for renovations have been lost. An own contribution of more than 10 per cent should not be exceeded under any circumstances.

• The basic structure of the special investment programme can be based on the tried and tested elements of the "Renovation of municipal facilities in the areas of sport, youth and culture" programme(SJK programme) - provided that it is an independent funding instrument that exclusively addresses the needs of non-profit youth education centres, youth hostels and other leisure and accommodation facilities for young people.

• It requires a sufficient lead time for expressions of interest and the application process.

• The undersigned umbrella organisations are happy to contribute their existing (funding) expertise to the implementation of the special investment programme in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as the central offices of the associations responsible for their facilities.