ABOUT US

Who we are and what we stand for

The BBZ is an advice and care center for young refugees and migrants* and their families. The BBZ provides advice on everyday and social issues with a special focus on and involvement in asylum and residency-specific matters. Our range of services extends from advice on asylum procedures, educational and vocational counseling to advice and support for issues concerning the child and youth welfare.

The work at BBZ is based on a variety of projects and staff with different academic, geographical and biographical backgrounds. Since many of our staff members have their own experience with flight/migration, which can serve as a means of identification, we see ourselves as a migrant self-organization.

In accordance with the principles of participatory youth work with a focus on asylum and residence law, the aim is to promote equal access to social resources such as education, work, political and personal self-empowerment and participation through advice and solidarity support for refugees and immigrant The needs of refugees should also be covered as far as possible by a conscious combination of social and psychotherapeutic work. The staff of the advice center understand social work in this context as a human rights profession.

Through political advocacy work as well as through the participation and organization of committees, working groups, etc., we are actively and outwardly stand up for human rights.

The interdisciplinary social, psychological counseling and educational work practiced has a socio-political approach. It is our claim to practice psycho-social counseling and support, which tries to meet the refugees on an equal footing and takes into account the structural and social power relations. Racism is understood as a structural and social problem that exists not only on the “right edge” but also in the middle of society. This manifests itself through the normalization and justification of massive interventions and violations of human rights and human dignity for refugees, in the form of deportations, social distinctions based on residence status, restricted access to education and work, residence requirements and much more.

These conditions of social discrimination against refugees and persons affected by racism should not be taken for granted, which is why there is a need to combine social work with anti-racist and anti-fascist practice. This means for us as an advice center to think further and not to accept social or legal exclusion and to grant every person, regardless of his or her legal status, the right to support, solidarity and help.

A professional proximity to the addresses of our work is important. We see ourselves as biased and stand in solidarity behind, next to and in front of our clients. Despite the structural discrimination that affects young people/refugees, we do not see them with a victim deficient view, but as active, responsible, with a lot of resilience and strength. Therefore we understand the support of self-organization as part of our work.