"Kultur- und Initiativenhaus" (meaning "house for culture and initiatives") in our association's name

"Kultur- und Initiativenhaus" (meaning "house for culture and initiatives") in our association's name is located in Greifswald, Germany. We call it "STRAZE" (due to its address Stralsunder Straße 10). The historic building has a long history, but was at threat of being demolished to make space for office buildings. In 2008 a dedicated group of people founded our association to fight the investors and save the building. With success! For more than a decade "STRAZE" has been restored and refurbished in countless hours into the socio-cultural centre it is today. It is a centre for learning and culture, an open space for the civic society in Greifswald and beyond. Under STRAZE's roof you find open space workshops, a café, library, seminar rooms, office space for many NGOs, and at its heart the historic hall - a place for theater, concerts, and much more. Find out more on www.straze.de Our association itself - the "Kultur- und Initiativenhaus Greifswald e.V." - is active in various areas of social, cultural, and educational work. Projects of the association are: 1. The international volunteering initiative Turbina Pomerania: Supported by a network of initiatives and associations in Greifswald and beyond, a cross-border plattform for civil society engagement has been developed with many international partners. Volunteers from around the world have the opportunity to take part in volunteering mobilities at STRAZE and other hosting organisation partners in the fields of environmental, developmental, intercultural, or anti-racist issues. It is the projects aim to enable young people to play an active role in shaping the local community and therefore the society of tomorrow. 2. The non-formal education project "verquer." verquer. is an interdisciplinary non-formal educaton project about global learning. A team of around 30 people and 4 part-time employees who are committed to a global perspective and more justice in Western Pomerania are active in this initiative. For example, as part of project days and weeks with school classes and groups, with a radio project VeRa or at the summer camp and our youth clubs. 3. The "Partnership for democracy" The Partnership for Democracy Greifswald is one of over 300 partnerships that have been formed as part of the federal program “Live Democracy!”. Greifswald applied and started the partnership together with the Kultur- und Initiativenhaus Greifswald e.V. in 2019. The core element of a partnership for democracy is the promotion and strengthening of a lively, diverse and open democracy through active cooperation between politics, administration, organizations, institutions and civil society. The aim is to forge a long-term, local partnership between the partners, which, as a solidary community, sends a visible signal against racism and for human rights. 4. The [druckkammer] Using culturally significant printing techniques at the open printing space [druckkammer] (meaning "printing chamber"), the participants and visitors learn to break through their usual perspectives and ways to express themselves in the various workshops. The different approaches, which range from purely manual to digital implementation, pave the way for an individual and concise form of expression and connecting with other people during projects like screen printing for a local event. The free experimentation, as well as learning of basic printing techniques can be experienced from scratch. 5. The House of Ressources The House of Resources project in Greifswald was founded in early 2021. The House of Resources project aims to strengthen civic engagement. A special focus is on supporting regional and local migrant organizations. We also support other integrative groups, associations and committed individuals. 6. The STRAZE itself - it's cultural programme, public relations, the café, the library aims - be an open space for the active, civic society - connect local and regional people/groups - organize cultural events for the region