“Around 800 volunteers provide important learning assistance week after week and ensure in the learning cafés that as many children as possible are taken along on the educational journey. The learning cafés are an absolute flagship project and they are urgently needed. Unfortunately, the waiting lists for a place in a learning café are far too long, and the need for free learning support for children from families affected by poverty has recently risen sharply due to increases in rents, energy costs and food. We are very pleased that, together with Bank Austria, we are now able to accompany and support 16 children at the new location on the Austria Campus. Because we know: Education is the best way to prevent poverty,” emphasizes Caritas director Klaus Schwertner at the ceremonial opening. The challenge: Poverty and education are still inherited far too often in Austria. Children from families affected by poverty have significant disadvantages right from the start of their educational journey. Due to the increased cost of living, more and more parents cannot afford expensive tutoring and afternoon care for their children. “We know from many studies: Without support, these children run the risk of dropping out of school early or failing. These are human dramas and a disadvantage for us as a society and the business location. We are convinced that all children should have the same opportunities – regardless of their parents’ income or education,” said Schwertner.
Robert Zadrazil, Country Manager Austria UniCredit: “Our goal is to pave the way for young people to successfully complete their school education, prepare for a career or enter working life. UniCredit Bank Austria provides the premises and the entire infrastructure for the Caritas Lerncafé, and Caritas is responsible for the professional content design and operation with the usual high quality. In addition, volunteers from our bank will also support the children and young people with learning and homework.”
Around 800 volunteers in more than 70 Caritas learning cafés throughout Austria currently provide around 1,850 children and young people between the ages of six and 15 with free support – with learning, homework and preparation for school work and presentations. “In our learning cafés, we also place a special focus on giving children and young people the joy of learning, strengthening their German skills and promoting social skills,” says Martina Polleres-Hyll, the head of the learning cafés at Caritas of the Archdiocese of Vienna. “The experience makes us certain: Together we can give the children the support they need. 96 percent of the children who attended a Caritas learning café last year completed the school year positively.” Schwertner adds: “The Caritas learning cafés receive funding from the Federal Chancellery, the Ministry of Education and from funds from the European Social Fund and the state of Lower Austria. Without the important donations from companies like Bank Austria and private donors, and especially the hundreds of volunteers, the learning cafes would not be possible. Thank you to everyone who helps together and makes this free learning aid possible.”
30 years of Bank Austria Family Fund – help for 800 families in acute crises
Caritas and Bank Austria also used the ceremonial opening of the learning café as an opportunity to emphasize the successful cooperation within the framework of the Bank Austria Family Fund. This fund, founded in 1994, gives the Caritas social counseling centers of the Archdiocese of Vienna the opportunity to support families in crisis situations quickly and unbureaucratically. The help ranges from support with moving, purchasing furniture for children’s rooms, with energy costs to keep the apartment warm in winter, to securing livelihoods and preventing eviction in particularly serious emergency situations.
Robert Zadrazil: “As we all know, those who help quickly help twice as much. Through the Bank Austria Family Fund, Caritas has been able to support 855 families with underage children in need with over one million euros over the past 30 years. My heartfelt thanks to Caritas for the excellent long-term cooperation around the Bank Austria family fund, which has already benefited so many families in crisis situations!” Schwertner adds: “Many thanks to Bank Austria for the valuable decades-long cooperation that has been in the lives of many makes a real difference to families.”
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Photos of the ceremonial opening will be available upon request.