Praunheimer Werkstätten

The Praunheimer Werkstätten gemeinnützige GmbH (commonly shortened to pw°) is a non-profit workshop and social-services organization based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It traces its origins to a December 6, 1928 decision by the Frankfurt city council to open a training workshop for school-leavers who lacked full vocational maturity, an initiative driven by the city welfare officer Fritz Lennig. Over nearly a century the organization has grown from a single training workshop into a broad provider of services for people with and without disabilities, covering schooling, working life, housing, leisure and education. The organization describes its mission as enabling equal participation (Teilhabe) and as self-determined a life as possible for people with disabilities. Its offerings include workshop employment, day-support services, residential homes and assisted living, outpatient services and school participation assistance, and a counseling center. It operates multiple locations across Frankfurt districts such as Praunheim, Höchst, Fechenheim, Niederursel and Preungesheim. Alongside its core social work, pw° runs commercial and social enterprises. Its inclusive large kitchen, Cook Company gemeinnützige GmbH, prepares fresh meals for corporate catering, school meals and canteen supply, employing people with and without disabilities. The organization also maintains a workshop shop and various participation and advisory services. Governance has evolved over the decades. Fritz Lennig led the early workshops and retired in 1963; his son Peter Lennig took over in 1965. Wolfgang Rhein became managing director in 1993 and oversaw a long phase of expansion. In September 2018 Andreas Schadt and Thomas Schmitter assumed the management, and since September 2023 Andreas Schadt has been sole managing director. A support association (Förderverein) was founded in 1992, followed in 2000 by the Stiftung Praunheimer Werkstätten, which has accumulated substantial assets to support the organization's work. Today pw° presents itself as a modern, rights-based social organization whose guiding principle is that every person has a right to participation and should be able to help shape their own life. It communicates through an annual magazine, Standpunkt, an image film, and social media channels, and it participates in public campaigns such as Schichtwechsel (job shadowing day) and local charity and community events.

The history of the Praunheimer Werkstätten begins on December 6, 1928, when the city council of Frankfurt am Main resolved to open a training workshop (Anlernwerkstätte) for school-leavers who were not yet vocationally mature. The decision was implemented on July 3, 1929, with a workshop for boys on the garden grounds of Vocational School VI in Frankfurt-Niederrad and a workshop for girls in Frankfurt-Oberrad. Fritz Lennig, a welfare officer of the Frankfurt city administration, led the boys' workshop. In 1930 the boys' workshop moved into the former Euler aircraft production hall in Niederrad, but by 1932 it was moved back to the gymnasium of Vocational School VI for cost reasons. After the National Socialists seized power, the boys' workshops were attached to the welfare office by a city council decision of April 10, 1933. In summer 1933 the girls' training workshop was closed for cost reasons. Fritz Lennig, meanwhile working as a welfare officer for district office 8a in Griesheim, was able to reopen the training workshop for male youths at Bäckergasse 17 in July 1938, now run by the city-affiliated association Arbeitshilfe für Jugendliche. The official justification for reopening was the "making suitable of partial and residual work capacities for labor deployment." In May 1939 the training workshop for female youths reopened at Einhorngasse under the association. During World War II the association's workshops were destroyed or severely damaged in the Allied bombing raids of 1943 and 1944; the only remaining location was rooms at Sandweg. With the end of the war in 1945 the training workshop had to cease work. In June 1949 Fritz Lennig began rebuilding the Jugendhof Praunheim with a training workshop and girls' home on the grounds of the Praunheimer Mühle, next to the Praunheimer Brücke; the city made the site available as a hereditary building right. In 1957 a sheltered workshop for people with intellectual disabilities was established as a separate unit in Rödelheim. Fritz Lennig retired on October 31, 1963. In 1965 his son Peter Lennig took over leadership of the Praunheim workshop. The new workshop building that year was financed by the Stiftung Waisenhaus; the city rented the building from the foundation and made it available to the Praunheimer Werkstätten, which then had 200 workplaces. The organization continued to grow. In 1968 the Praunheimer Mühle was converted into a home for 25 male residents with intellectual disabilities, and in May 1973 the Fechenheim branch workshop opened with 100 places for people with intellectual disabilities on Gründenseestraße. In 1976 the second residential home Am Wendelsgarten in Frankfurt-Bonames was ready for occupancy, and in January 1982 the Höchst workshop began operating. In 1983 the Praunheimer Werkstätten were converted into a non-profit limited liability company (gemeinnützige GmbH). In 1985 the day-support center of the Höchst workshop opened; by 1986, 520 people worked at that location, compared with only 61 in 1960. Further steps followed: in February 1988 the first external residential group was founded in the Römerstadt; in April 1989 the Fechenheim workshop moved to Wächtersbacher Straße; in 1991 the Hohemarkstraße home opened in Niederursel; in 1992 the Starkenburger Straße home opened in Fechenheim. In September 1993 Wolfgang Rhein became managing director, and expansion continued under his leadership. In 1994 the Ambulante Dienste (outpatient services) were founded, and in 1995 the workshop shop opened in the citizens' advice center on the Römerberg. In summer 1997 renovation and expansion of the home at the Praunheimer Mühle were completed. In May 2003 the Fechenheim workshop and its day-support center were expanded. In summer 2003 the Wohnverbund West residential association was occupied in Höchst. In autumn 2005 the Starkenburger Straße residential complex was converted for a day-structuring program for older people with intellectual disabilities, and the inclusive large kitchen Cook Company was founded in Bergen-Enkheim. In 2007 the Ambulante Dienste/Teilhabeassistenz at schools was founded. On April 25, 2008 the day-support center of the Höchst workshop was expanded. In 2011 the BLICK:PUNKT counseling center opened. In 2013 the new day-support center at Alt-Praunheim 4c was occupied, and in 2015 the new workshop and additional day-support center at the Praunheim site on Christa-Maar-Straße were occupied. In September 2018 Andreas Schadt and Thomas Schmitter took over management, while Wolfgang Rhein retired. Since September 2023 Andreas Schadt has been sole managing director. Recent developments include the establishment of a central admissions and participation management in 2017, the closure of the Hohemarkstraße home in Niederursel in 2020, and inclusive expansion of housing services with new locations in the Höchst and Preungesheim districts (BeWo plus). In 1992 a support association (Förderverein) was founded, largely by affected parents, and in 2000 the Stiftung Praunheimer Werkstätten was established; since its founding the foundation has accumulated well over 3 million euros in assets.

• 2023

  Andreas Schadt becomes sole managing director

• 2018

  Andreas Schadt and Thomas Schmitter take over management

• 2015

  New workshop and day-support center occupied at Christa-Maar-Straße, Praunheim

• 2011

  BLICK:PUNKT counseling center opens

• 2005

  Cook Company inclusive large kitchen founded in Bergen-Enkheim

• 2000

  Stiftung Praunheimer Werkstätten founded

• 1994

  Ambulante Dienste (outpatient services) founded

• 1993

  Wolfgang Rhein becomes managing director

• 1992

  Support association (Förderverein) founded

• 1983

  Conversion into a non-profit limited liability company (gemeinnützige GmbH)

• 1982

  Höchst workshop begins operating

• 1973

  Fechenheim branch workshop opens with 100 places

• 1965

  Peter Lennig takes over leadership; new workshop building with 200 workplaces

• 1963

  Fritz Lennig retires

• 1957

  Sheltered workshop for people with intellectual disabilities established in Rödelheim

• 1949

  Rebuilding begins at the Praunheimer Mühle site

• 1938

  Fritz Lennig reopens the training workshop for male youths at Bäckergasse 17

• 1933

  Boys' workshops attached to the welfare office; girls' workshop closed

• 1929

  Training workshops for boys and girls open in Niederrad and Oberrad

• 1928

  Frankfurt city council resolves to open a training workshop for school-leavers

Non-profit social organization focused on equal participation and self-determined living for people with disabilities, combining social services with inclusive commercial operations.

• Workshop employment

• Day-support services

• Residential homes and assisted living

• Ambulante Dienste / Teilhabeassistenz

• Cook Company inclusive catering

• Workshop shop

• BLICK:PUNKT counseling

1. 1Teilhabe gestalten – bei uns steht der Mensch im Mittelpunkt. - pw•pw-ffm.de
2. 2Cook Company - pw•pw-ffm.de
3. 3Geschichte - pw•pw-ffm.de
4. 4Über uns - pw•pw-ffm.de
5. 5Praunheimer Werkstättenwikidata.org
6. 6Praunheimer Werkstättende.wikipedia.org