Future Education: Breaking Free from Local School Districts in Essen, 2035
In several cities worldwide, innovative community-based education models are emerging, integrating neighborhood learning centres, mobile educational offerings, all-day schools with strong social support, free meals, youth participation, and robust economic transitions. However, fully comprehensive models that encompass all these elements are rare and often localised.
One such example is found in Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. These cities host a network of community learning centres funded by the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centre (21st CCLC) federal grants. These centres offer academic and social enrichment, free meals for students in high-poverty schools, and are deeply embedded in their neighbourhoods. The program has demonstrated improved attendance, engagement, and academic performance, serving over 20,000 students at 168 sites across Wisconsin.
Another notable example is the Cottonwood School of Civics and Science in Portland, Oregon, USA. This school embodies place-based education, which builds on the local community and environment to teach academic concepts, foster civic engagement, and connect students with neighbourhood resources and social networks. The school emphasises community-building, student-led projects, and partnerships with local organisations.
While not all aspects, such as free meals for all or guaranteed economic transitions, are highlighted in the available documentation for the Cottonwood School, the model is strong on youth participation, real-world learning, and civic involvement.
In addition, many U.S. cities, especially those with high poverty rates, provide free breakfast and lunch to all students in public schools through federal programs, but they do not always extend these to kindergartens operating separately from public school systems. All-day schools with wrap-around social services, such as health, counseling, and family support, are increasingly common in urban districts, though the specific “social pedagogical” model is less systematically applied in North America.
Youth councils, student governments, and participatory budgeting initiatives are found in many cities, but true youth decision-making power in educational settings is still developing. Place-based schools like Cottonwood in Portland explicitly integrate student voice and civic engagement into their curriculum and projects.
Some cities, especially in Europe, have well-developed systems for school-to-work transitions using local internships, apprenticeships, and strong ties between schools and regional employers. In the U.S., vocational-technical schools and certain charter networks emphasise internships and real-world experience, but these are often school-based rather than neighbourhood-network driven.
Mobile learning labs, bookmobiles, and STEM buses exist in various cities, but systematic integration with the other elements is less common. These are often supplementary rather than core to the educational model.
In conclusion, while no single city in the provided results fully integrates all the requested elements, combinations of these features exist across different cities, and the most comprehensive models are likely found in Northern Europe, where educational, social, and economic systems are more tightly integrated at the community level.
Volt, a political party in Essen, Germany, aims to make a vision for a truly holistic, neighbourhood-oriented learning centre a reality. This vision includes mobile educational offerings for structurally weak areas, free school and kindergarten meals, youth participation with real decision-making power, all-day schools with social pedagogical support, and transitions into training through neighbourhood internships and networks with the economy. The citizens of Essen will vote on this vision on 14.09.2025. Volt aims to shape what could be, rather than just managing the status quo.
In the context of urban development, Volt, a political party in Essen, Germany, has proposed a vision for a comprehensive learning center that combines elements of education-and-self-development, politics, and general-news. This vision includes mobile educational offerings, free meals for students, youth participation with decision-making power, all-day schools with social support, and learning through neighborhood internships and economic transitions. (Volt, a political party in Essen, Germany)
In the realm of learning, some European cities, like Essen, have progressive proposals such as Volt's neighborhood-oriented learning center, which encompasses a variety of approaches including mobile educational offerings, free meals, youth involvement, all-day schools, and integrated school-to-work transitions. (Volt aims to shape what could be, rather than just managing the status quo)
