Libuše is an empty house in the middle of the biggest socially excluded locality in the CR. We want to use it for inhabitants of Janov district to enhance and foster relationships among neighbours from the majority and various minorities and marginalized groups. We are using principles of community social work for empowering people to be active citizens of our town Litvínov. Libuše provides safe space to prevent negative effects of social exclusion, ethnoracial discrimination and stigmatization

Litvínov, Ústecký region, Czech Republic,

Janov is a socially deprived area in a coal-mining region. As the coal-mining industry deteriorated, people lost their jobs and moved out, causing a brain drain. The remaining population has to face problems. The influx of poor, uneducated people, bearing an ethnoracial stigma and the absence of systematic efforts to deal with slumlording by municipalities or the state were key factors in the creation and reproduction of socially excluded localities.
This process, usually framed in the media as an invasion of unadaptables into the region deeply polarized the local population.
We will try to overcome the differences between the fractured population groups, searching for ways of peaceful coexistence, building their relations and a sense of common responsibility for the place they inhabit.

We are doing it for us, because we as citizens are part of the town, we as local patriots feel responsible for the problem solution. We are doing it for everyone who wants to join us to face the societal challenges. We aim especially on young people primarily from the town socially excluded locality Janov to show them they can achieve better life. We do it for people from the real bottom of society to show them how strong they can be, we do it for Roma people to show them they are part of the Janov community and we want them back like true members of society. We want to reach the public to show there is a solution which can be realized.

October - November 21 There will be an info campaign about the starting project via social media and in the door to door campaign in Janov streets. Which aim is for the public and locals to get them on a board. There will be an article in a local newspaper and we create posters for Janov streets.
October 21 - November 22 rebuilding the Libuše house
Novembrer 21 - November 22 We will organize sport activities (floorbal, footbal, parcour, fitness), family club, table games club, education club and music/art club twice a month each.
These activities lead to non-formal dialogue between specific groups from the district.
Than film club, handmade activities workshop every month each, community gathering every second month. And four debates with personalities per year. These activities will serve for deeper discussion between groups, and members' skill gain.

August 22 One week in summer there will be a camp where we will invite people from different countries for workshops and interactive meetings with locals.
Really special event will be the Ghetto Fest which will be the icing on the cake of the camp. Through this we try to change just for one day most of the Janov area into a festival and give people from different towns and countries a reason to visit Janov and chance to see Janov from a different perspective and meet locals. Few locals will get a role of organizers.

At the end of the project there will be more than 200 participants in activities and there will exist a group of 4-6 people from Janov who will cooperate together and engage their rights for their home. They will know about resources they can use for community progress and they will know how to use them. Next result of the project we rebuilt part of the house Libuše for the community needs which will be permanently visited by Litvínov citizens. The Janov district will be known not only as much as a socially excluded area, but more as a place where life change is possible. There will be a functional culture building for community needs.

We involve community members into the solution process through leisure time activities where start small talk debating about their problems. This part of the project is already in process. Later we will organize community meetings where we want to speak in more detail and in greater depth responses to discussed problems. Then we will plan together what community members need to learn in order to access our goals. We organize meetings, workshops with community members from other cities for knowledge transfer. Then we start small projects (like building a bench, cleaning the area) to strengthen self-confidence community members and find the active community leaders. Together we visit the city deputies council. As a biggest act we organize festival and one week last camp with foreign guests

The team comes from NGO MY Litvínov, z.s. founded in 2014 by local patriots from the town Litvínov.The aims of MY Litvínov are concerning public space, and connecting inhabitants together. We open discussions about serious problems of our town. People living in Janov and their current unenviable situation are subject to the politically misused and manipulated theme of our town. We are concentrating on the theme from 2018 and want to counteract toward current discourse. The leader of this project Petr Globočník comes originally from the Janov district and is a social worker for almost 10 years. Anna Wünschová is a project manager experienced by several successful projects. Eva Šišková is an art manager for 15 years. Tomáš Hák is financial supervisor. Our team also count a few volunteers.

Artists fee 2000 EUR
Travel and accomodation Costs 2000 EUR
Refreshments 2000 EUR
Construction work 7500 EUR
Equipment 3000 EUR
Material for activities 3000 EUR
Personnel costs 14 000 EUR
PR 500 EUR

We would be happy about any feedback :)