The Berlin Senate is ending funding for a mobile social work project run by the organization Gangway. The non-profit association for street social work in Berlin has been offering help for young people at Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg since April 2025 – an area known for its problematic nature. Now the black-red state government is likely to cut the funds to continue and consolidate the Kotti project amounting to 100,000 euros.
The offer is aimed specifically at young people who use substances. Gangway did an “extensive field analysis” and found an increase in drug use at Kottbusser Tor, explains Hanna Lauter. She coordinates the work at Gangway in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and knows the situation on site. “The young people mainly resort to amphetamines, cocaine and crack,” reports Lauter.
The area around the Kotti urgently needs support and on-site presence, demands the social worker. The few offers that exist for young people who consume are too high a threshold for the target group: in some cases, colleagues from Gangway had to carry young people to the nearest emergency shelter because they were not able to go there themselves, says Lauter.
The team has a mobile bus with which the social workers can provide initial care and arrange help. The bus is also equipped with information material about support services for safe drug use.
But Gangway has to stop the project with immediate effect due to the lack of financing, the association complains. Hanna Lauter says she is irritated by the Senate’s decision: “The project had an extremely positive response and the need is high.” By discontinuing the Kotti project, jobs will also have to be cut.
Lost work of trust
The approximately 100,000 euros for the Kotti project were part of the comprehensive package of measures, that emerged from the so-called security summit of 2023 was. The Senate wanted to use around 30 million euros to combat problems with drug use, neglect and crime in Berlin. According to Clara Herrmann (Greens), district mayor of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, the process for applying for the funds has changed.
Until now, a so-called steering committee was responsible for the distribution, which awarded the money to the gangway project. Now applications would have to be submitted directly to the Senate Environment Administration – and they apparently rejected it. And this despite the fact that “Gangway urgently needs to be continued,” as Herrmann demands. The Senate did not provide her with a reason for the decision.
Herrmann says she cannot judge whether the decision was politically motivated or whether the actors “simply had no awareness” of the precarious situation at Kotti. The district mayor appeals to further support the project. It’s also about building trust, she makes clear.