The former studio space right behind the entrance has been repainted, there is a billiard table in the middle, and the large couch corner creates a cozy atmosphere. Things can really get going again at the Gleis 3 youth center in Neubiberg, because the team is full again after staff shortages: “We are even stronger than ever because we now also have an FSJ position,” says the head of the facility, Christian Schuehle. The team wants to use this to intensify their work with bands, to support students with videos for job applications and to take care of young people who have fled.
Because of the pandemic, operations in the youth center were sometimes only possible to a limited extent, after all, employees also reoriented themselves. So it happened that Schuehle temporarily ran the youth center alone. A total of five employees now work there. “We never closed, but I see it as a new beginning now,” says Schuehle. The meeting place with its open offer from billiards courses to cooking together is open Tuesday to Friday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. What is new is that it is no longer just young people from the age of twelve who can come during the regular opening hours, but everyone from the fifth grade onwards, i.e. also slightly younger ones.
There would still be room for a band in the rehearsal room
A focus in the youth center is now on intensifying the work with bands again. On the one hand, Gleis 3 wants to “make an offer” to young musicians from local schools, as Schuehle calls it. “We have two bands rehearsing here that are just re-forming and setting up their space here,” he says. There is still room for one more. As part of the “Running for the Best” band competition, which the Kreisjugendring München-Land has been organizing for many years so that young musicians can present themselves, one of the four preliminary concerts will take place this year, on April 28th, in track 3. Young artists can apply until March.
With new people come new ideas. An employee of Gleis 3 is now offering, in cooperation with the schools, to create application videos for schoolchildren in order to improve their chances on the training market. Schuehle tells of a video in which a student comes down the stairs, explains why she is particularly suitable for a position, and finally in which a teacher speaks a few positive words about the young person. “It’s like a promotional video,” he says.
But Schuehle also sees tasks for Platform 3 in the near future in the area of integration: The facility wants to be there for young people who have fled and are moving into the living containers on the old runway. “It’s important for us to see what the need is and who the contact persons are,” he says. Platform 3 wants to be there for all refugees, no matter where they come from. First of all, it will also be about creating confidence among the parents that they can send their children there. In the fall, a class of Ukrainian students visited, and they had never known a youth center with an open concept.