Youth, apprentices and students

We want all students in Wiesbaden to have access to healthy, balanced and tasty food on a daily basis, both in schools and at vocational schools. Healthy eating not only supports concentration and performance, but also promotes long-term health. That is why we are committed to high-quality, fresh food, which also remains affordable, so that all young people can benefit from it regardless of their families' wallets.

In order to give Wiesbaden's youth a strong voice, we have continuously supported and promoted the youth committees, the Stadtjugendring (SSR) and the Youth Parliament (JuPa). We secure funding, increase involvement in decisions, promote democracy education and improve the visibility of youth representations for more political participation.

Young people can already participate in the shaping of political decisions via the Youth Parliament (JuPa), the City Students Council (SSR) and the City Youth Ring (SJR). In addition, we want to expand digital forms of participation, such as online voting, digital citizens' councils or interactive idea platforms, so that as many young people as possible, regardless of school or club membership, can contribute their opinion. The aim is to ensure that participation is not only symbolic but genuinely effective – from the planning of new places to cultural offerings and important urban choices that directly affect the lives of young people. The AG places was a first step. In the future, we also want to work on ways of involving student representatives such as the AStA in our universities.

We want to ensure that the valuable infrastructure for Wiesbaden's youth organisations is preserved. The fountain of youth has so far provided space for youth associations, student representatives and voluntary initiatives – a central place for participation, workshops and joint engagement. Since the fountain of youth would no longer be usable as before when renovating or selling the palace hotel, we are committed to a suitable replacement. The aim is to create a modern, easily accessible and flexibly usable place where young people can continue to carry out their projects, network and shape themselves in a self-determined way.

Young people need places where they can meet, stay and be among themselves. That's why we take their needs into account when developing districts and create meeting points with infrastructure such as benches, drinking water, toilets, shade and sports and leisure facilities. It is important to us that these rooms are accessible free of charge, that young people are allowed to bring their own drinks and food and that they can, in the best case, decide for themselves about the use and take responsibility.

A special need for youth-friendly spaces is in the city center. Therefore, we are committed to establishing a vacancy in the pedestrian zone temporarily or in the longer term as a low-threshold youth meeting point, which is also a safe place for young people to meet friends in the evenings.

Adolescent subcultures, which often express themselves through music, need specific places for their creativity – especially rehearsal rooms. Creative factory and slaughterhouse are already doing a lot here, but with the disappearance of places such as context or sabotage, important spaces for youth cultural life have disappeared. We are committed to filling these gaps and creating further opportunities so that young people can freely develop their culture and creativity and there is a suitable offer for everyone.

We are committed to the permanent preservation and expansion of the district centers (STZs) in Wiesbaden. Especially in districts with special social challenges, they do valuable work: They offer children and young people safe places where free time, education and participation are a matter of course. Offers such as homework help, holiday programs or the Girls' Day promote self-confidence and equal opportunities.

We want to expand all youth centres and meeting places without barriers – with wheelchair-accessible access, digital services and flexible spaces. In this way, we enable all young people to participate independently and safely.

We are committed to reliable and effective district social work. Our goal is to provide reliable support to children, young people and young adults at all stages of their lives – in school, education and studies. Well-equipped teams on the ground detect stress at an early stage, provide help and accompany young people before problems escalate.

We create safe spaces in which queer young people can spend their free time, receive advice and develop in a self-determined way. Such spaces are crucial for empowerment, self-confidence and social participation, especially at a time when queer young people are still experiencing discrimination and exclusion.

The free menstrual products in schools will be maintained and extended to all public institutions, such as youth centers, libraries or sports facilities. Young people, apprentices and students in particular often have little money. Free products help to reduce financial burdens in everyday life.

We want special prevention programmes for young people against gender-based violence to be established in order to start early in socialisation and break up patriarchal structures.

We want to specifically address the lack of affordable housing in Wiesbaden. Many young people who study or train cannot afford market rents. Therefore, we want to promote the development of additional, affordable housing offers for students and apprentices in order to offer them a reliable perspective in the city.

In order to achieve this goal, we will provide more support to the Studierendenwerk and other institutions in the construction of new residential spaces. Urban housing associations should also make a clear contribution to the creation of affordable housing for students and apprentices. In doing so, study-related offers for childcare should be considered. In addition, we actively support the Studierendenwerk in the search for suitable plots of land for new dormitories. A concrete project is the development of a student and trainee residence on the edge of the newly created Alsace Park in cooperation with the Studierendenwerk.

We want to strengthen vocational training and make it visible as an equivalent alternative to studying. To this end, we are investing in modern equipment at vocational schools and want the city administration to launch an image campaign that highlights the advantages of dual education.

Public transport must also bring young people reliably to the city and back in the evening. The nightliners of ESWE Verkehr connect the city centre and suburbs safely and cheaply, enable visitors to enjoy leisure and cultural activities and ensure that all young people, apprentices and students remain mobile regardless of their place of residence and budget. We want to continue to ensure that.

The newly created JIZ one-stop shop is much more than an information point. Here, young people receive advice on leisure opportunities, training paths, legal issues or personal problems. The JIZ is therefore a place where young people can easily find help when they need it.

We have significantly strengthened school social work in Wiesbaden: Since 2025, there have been professional social workers on site at all primary and secondary schools, integrated comprehensive schools and vocational schools. They are the direct point of contact for pupils, parents and teachers – be it for school, social or personal challenges. The school social work provides prevention work, supports in conflicts and crises and promotes the social development of children and adolescents. The widespread presence in schools contributes to increasing equal opportunities, strengthening cohesion and providing children with a safe, supportive learning environment.

In recent years, the cultural park has developed into a lively centre for young people. In addition to a variety of leisure and sports facilities, public and free toilets are now also available there – a seemingly small detail that is crucial for the quality of stay and shows that we take youth-friendly infrastructure seriously.

Bolzplatz has been renovated and, for example, new facilities for calisthenics or skating have been created, such as at Kransand in Mainz-Kastel. We want to offer opportunities in the city to do sports and move around free of charge.

Children and adolescents from Wiesbaden can stay until their 18th birthday. Birthday use the public transport throughout Hesse and Mainz for only 15 € per month. Low-income families only pay €10. Despite the recent increase of the regular student ticket Hessen by the RMV to around € 32 per month, the city of Wiesbaden keeps the price of the WI15 ticket stable. In this way, families are specifically relieved in times of inflation and rising costs of living.

Since December 2023, children and adolescents up to the age of 18 have been able to swim free of charge in many of Wiesbaden's swimming pools during all Hessian school holidays.

With the AG Platz, there is now a participation committee in which young people, together with administration, politics and specialists from youth work, advise on the design of Wiesbadener Platzn. Here, young people can directly say what they need and their ideas are taken seriously. The results are visible: Thanks to the impulses of the AG Platz, new calisthenics facilities, basketball courts and other accommodation options have already been created. In this way, we show that real youth participation brings concrete improvements.

At the initiative of young people at the Youth happens event, smart solar benches were set up in the urban area. There are now eight of them, for example at Dern's site. They offer not only seating, but also the possibility to charge mobile phones with solar power – a modern and sustainable example of how ideas can be directly implemented by young people.

We are committed to ensuring that young people in Wiesbaden find their education or entry into professional life simply, transparently and precisely. With the Wiesbaden Opportunities Platform, we are creating a digital contact point for young people who are looking for their way into education, studies or careers. The platform brings together information on apprenticeships, traineeships, training and local employers – easily accessible and up-to-date. The training radar makes every vacant training place in the region visible – and applicants who initially do not get a place can be recommended to other companies. The Forum Talent Initiative Industry connects companies, educational institutions and skilled workers and thus creates direct connections between young people and employers.

We Greens are committed to ensuring that young people in Wiesbaden find affordable and well-equipped housing. In September 2025, the topping-out ceremony for the new student residence on Hollerbornstraße was celebrated with 435 seats, barrier-free apartments, community and learning rooms as well as an integrated day care centre. Completion is planned for the winter semester 2026/27. Affordable housing is also being created for apprentices, supported by GWW pilot projects. Further projects, such as dormitories on Elsässer Platz or the Quartillion Studentenwohnheim, are being planned or built.