50 years of AIB - a success story

The following achievements are among the main successes of the AIB:

The Foreigners and Integration Advisory Board has campaigned against xenophobia and for an open society from the very beginning: With festivals for personal encounters, with podcasts, with campaigns as well as with statements and rallies.

Particularly at the beginning of its work, the AIB organized information campaigns for immigrants. These focused on the topics of residence and attending regular schools and kindergartens. Immigrants were informed about their rights and how important it is for their children to learn German in kindergarten and regular school.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Advisory Council for Foreigners and Integration took up the topic of asylum anew. Since then, the council has been actively involved in the integration of asylum seekers.

The advisory board introduced the "Intercultural Month", which was organized over 25 years with intercultural activities. This has enabled people to meet and get to know each other, overcome prejudices and celebrate intercultural diversity.

Theadvisory board published a newspaper in the 1990s. It brought integration issues to the attention of interested Erlangen residents and informed immigrants about new regulations.

At the request of the AIB, the city created a position for intercultural parental work. The officer provides information about the Bavarian school system and acts as a linguistic mediator in discussions with teachers and parents.

The "Deutsch Offensive " program has created a low-threshold and affordable range of German courses. Since then, many have been able to take part in an affordable German course. Mothers also had the opportunity to improve their German language skills while their children were looked after next door.

The Advisory Board has made efforts to ensure that Jobcenter applications are explained in simple language. Implementation is still in progress.

Islamic religious education was introduced as a pilot project in Erlangen and later implemented throughout Bavaria. This means that children from Muslim families receive religious instruction taught by state-approved teachers according to a certified curriculum.

The AIB co-founded Cafe Villa (formerly Cafe Asyl), which is still running very successfully today. With the help of volunteers, refugees receive support in learning German and with their integration.

In cooperation with the immigration authorities, we have managed to make it easier to issue fictitious certificates. Thanks to our efforts, employment contracts of foreign students are also recognized as proof of funding.

At the request of the AIB, the city council officially classified the N-word as racist two years ago.

We have written to large employers in the region with people in the low-wage sector. The employees are often immigrants and some of them have inadequate German language skills. The employers were very interested in offering German courses for their employees.

A declaration of peace regarding the war in the Middle East was created on the initiative of the AIB. This was signed jointly by the mayor, the Islamic religious community, the Jewish community and the AIB.

Together with the senior citizens' office, we provided information on the limits and employment opportunities for foreign live-in staff in home care. Following our joint application by the AIB and the Senior Citizens' Advisory Council, the City Council lobbied the German Association of Cities for a change in the law. This should significantly improve the working conditions of foreign care workers.

Do you have any issues that are important to us? Do you have further questions for us? Feel free to write to us at auslaenderbeirat@stadt.erlangen.de. If you would like to work with us, please get in touch.