Gütersloh, 02/05/2025

‘Alliance for Education and Opportunities’ Comes To Verl

Following in the footsteps of Rheda-Wiedenbrück, the city of Verl is now working with the Center for Education and Opportunity run by the Reinhard Mohn Foundation and the Bertelsmann Stiftung, to promote educational opportunities for children at daycare centers and elementary schools. The partners have signed a cooperation agreement to this end. Four elementary schools and five daycare centers are covered by the “Alliance for Education and Opportunity.”

The city of Verl is doing everything it can to provide every child with the best possible education, regardless of any social or personal challenges they may face. To achieve this goal even more effectively, Verl has now signed a cooperation agreement with the Center for Education and Opportunities (ZBC), which is run by the Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Reinhard Mohn Foundation. As part of the new “Alliance for Education and Opportunities,” daycare centers, schools and other educational partners are to work more closely together to improve educational opportunities for all children going forward. Just recently, the “Alliance for Education and Opportunities” signed a similar cooperation with the city of Rheda-Wiedenbrück. Both cities form part of the Gütersloh district; the Reinhard Mohn Foundation and the Bertelsmann Stiftung are based in Gütersloh.

Best possible opportunities for the future

The idea is for children to receive the best possible early-stage support at daycare centers and elementary schools, be it in basic skills such as reading and arithmetic, or in social skills. Children from financially disadvantaged or new immigrant families are a particular focus, as is the transition from daycare to elementary school, which is a crucial phase for many.

At the launch of the alliance, four primary schools and five daycare centers in Verl will participate. The aim is to strengthen cooperation between the educational institutions to make more effective use of resources such as time and personnel. In addition, employees will receive targeted support through further training and exchange. A targeted analysis of the status quo will also help to better manage developments and enable a faster response to challenges.

Verl’s Mayor Robin Rieksneuwöhner and the ZBC’s managing directors Katja Hattendorf and Oliver Vorndran signed the agreement, which runs until 2028, in the presence of Reinhard Mohn Foundation chairman Christoph Mohn. The four elementary schools in Verl, the city of Verl as the daycare provider, the Protestant parish of Verl and the von Laer Foundation with a total of five daycare centers, the Droste-Haus as the provider of the open all-day school (OGS), and the AWO as the provider of school social work benefit from the support offered by the ZBC. Existing measures and structures can also be used and further developed.

Educational success less dependent on social background

“A good education is very important to us here in Verl, and we are doing everything we can to give all children optimal opportunities. The 'Alliance for Education and Opportunity’ will help us to create even better conditions for promoting the development of every child at daycare centers and elementary schools – both in terms of their academic performance and their personal development,” commented Mayor Robin Rieksneuwöhner at the signing.

Christoph Mohn added: “We are very excited about this cooperation between the ZBC and the city of Verl. The new alliance increases the chances that all children will be able to develop their potential and that their educational success will be less dependent on their social background. To this end, we are incorporating proven projects and solutions that effectively support educational stakeholders in continuously developing a self-learning, data-supported educational system at the municipal level in Verl.”

A visualization workshop on June 6 will help set a common starting point for education – initially from kindergarten to the end of elementary school – in the city of Verl.