Community-Led Initiatives

Community Organizations Promoting Social Cohesion in Glendale and Memmingen

AICGS Social Divisions

Social cohesion in Glendale is limited, as the city leadership offers very few initiatives, funding opportunities, or official gathering spaces to strengthen cohesion. In the absence of this municipal support, local organizations have instead stepped up to help heal social divisions and empower minority groups.

In contrast, Memmingen’s city government provides more direct support for social cohesion and inclusion initiatives, including through the Coordinating Office for Integration, Office for Inclusion, Perspektive Memmingen, and the plans of the new SPD mayor Jan Rothenbacher. However, given the limited capacities of these offices and the newness of Mayor Rothenbacher’s tenure, Memmingen community organizations have similarly stepped up to fill gaps in the city’s cohesion initiatives.

Glendale

Native American Connections is a nonprofit providing culturally appropriate health, affordable housing, and community development services to tribal communities and notably also the general public. They also educate the public on the horrors of Native American boarding schools and on the current challenges in infrastructure, policy, and recognition faced by Native American communities.

The DEI Council, led by Dr. L. Alexander Patrick, works to ensure that all voices, including the most underrepresented, are included and reflected in decisions at Glendale Community College. Through its affordability, the college itself expands access to higher education, and the DEI Council further helps to promote social cohesion and inclusion within the college. The Council also expands its impact by offering trainings in the Glendale community.

The church is working to expand its community engagement and make its congregation more reflective of the diversity of the community. Participants learned about the church's public community events, services for the homeless, interest in future interfaith dialogue, and desire to help the LGBTQ+ community feel welcome. The church aims to serve as a community hub in a city sorely lacking public gathering spaces.

At ASU Project Cities, students and faculty devise solutions to community challenges. From 2018 to 2019, the city of Glendale collaborated with Project Cities to carry out projects across six schools. Some projects, such as the  digital media policy project  and  multi-generational engagement project , even focused on advancing social cohesion in Glendale.

The 2018-2019 projects were a rare exception and example of Glendale's city leadership funding and collaborating with a community engagement organization. The projects show how the impact of many community-led initiatives would be greatly expanded through the city's support.

Memmingen

Stolpersteine Memmingen memorializes Memmingen's Holocaust victims by installing commemorative stones at the victims' former addresses. Since 2014, 120 stones have been laid. Gradually, Stolpersteine is also widening the view of who was persecuted by the National Socialist regime, including Jewish people, Communists, homosexuals, the Roma, Sinti, and the mentally ill. By involving young students in this project, Stolpersteine helps to carry the work of remembrance into the next generation.

The Frauennetzwerk (Women's Network) Memmingen supports women's equality and social justice, works to stop domestic violence, promotes youth working groups, and educates others on the history of women in Memmingen. Initiatives include participating in  International Women's Day ,  Equal Pay Day , and  One Billion Rising .

The Frauennetzwerk explained to participants the challenges women face in the city, including difficult work-family balance and discrimination in male-dominated fields. Notably and shockingly, they also described the harassment and ostracism a woman faced in getting the rules changed so that women could participate in  Fischertag , Memmingen's traditional fishing competition.

The Stadtjugendring (City Youth Council) is an association of democratic youth organizations that engage and represent the interests of youth in Memmingen. The organization hosts holiday programs and cultural trips, convenes youth discussion groups, and arranges first-aid and leadership courses. Its myriad initiatives, which include language support for Ukrainian refugees and youth discussion groups that focus on inclusion and creating an Advisory Board for Foreigners, contribute to social cohesion on several levels.