Digital Coaching to get through the Crisis – Smart Hero Award for “Straßenkinder e. V.”
Lots to celebrate at Berlin’s “Straßenkinder” association: its “Digital Coaching – Not Only in Times of Crisis” project was awarded a special coronavirus-related prize at the 2020 Smart Hero Awards in late September. The “Digital Chancen” Foundation and Facebook give their Smart Hero Awards to projects in several categories that use social media for good causes. The special prizes worth € 7,500 each also honour outstanding commitment in our coronavirus era this year.
During the lockdown in the spring of 2020 traditional meeting formats and consultations as part of the youth welfare programme were impossible for weeks, even though these are essential as contact points especially for adolescents outside the family in socially deprived areas. In this particular situation, the “Straßenkinder” team opted for video calls, Mindcraft workshops and co. in order to keep in touch with the children and youngsters from Berlin-Marzahn and support them in completing their homework assignments. In addition, the staff distributed important school material such as laptops and mobile dongles to families that did not have the technical requirements for home schooling.
The Software AG Foundation (SAGST) has been a long-term project partner of the association, which is involved in various programmes for children and young people without a permanent address as well as for adolescents in other precarious life situations. In 2009, for example, the foundation supported the construction of a centre for children and young people and has promoted offers of assistance for homeless young people in Berlin-Friedrichshain for several years. “We congratulate you sincerely on your award and we’re pleased that the association has succeeded in constructively tackling the completely new challenges presented by the coronavirus crisis”, said SAGST project manager Silvia Eller. “Unfortunately, social inequalities have increased in many places during the pandemic – which makes it all the more important to provide targeted support to school students who are lacking resources.”