Germany, Austria & Switzerland

J.P. Morgan is committed to serving as a catalyst for meaningful, positive and sustainable change, in communities of highest need across the firm’s global footprint. We dedicate our time, investments and resources to effectively respond to highly significant society issues that we identify. Responding to the issues within Germany, our main focus is on supporting organizations working in the area of education and integration of young people from migrant or disadvantaged backgrounds.

Our active local commitments in Germany and Switzerland include:

JobAct®
JobAct® is a transformational skills development and employment initiative run by PROJEKTFABRIK, an educational social enterprise based in Germany. JobAct^® works with young people aged 18-25 years who have left education with few or poor qualifications, have no apprenticeship secured, and face multiple difficulties entering the job market. The programme provides participants with both professional and social skills using a combination of general application training and creative theatre work as a means to enhance their self confidence and social skills. The programme has achieved a significant impact beyond government job centre schemes: An average of 60 percent of the young people it works with move into employment, compared with the 24 percent success rate of government job centres.  With a three year investment, J.P. Morgan is funding the scale-up of JobAct^® from a project-based initiative to a national programme with the aim of becoming government endorsed and self-sustaining. German Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Ursula von der Leyen is patron for J.P. Morgan’s support of PROJEKTFABRIK.

Download brochure on JobAct and possibilities to support Projektfabrik (in German)

ArbeiterKind
ArbeiterKind.de encourages and assists high school students from families who have not been to university, to become first generation undergraduate students and, importantly, continues this support through to graduation. Through the programme, students join ArbeiterKind and meet their peers dealing with similar challenges and together through mentoring, gain confidence and self encouragement. The additional problem of the lack of accessible, comprehensible information about university is addressed through a bespoke website and a one-to-one mentorship programme.  Through this programme, the organisation is able to build up a local network of mentors who go in to schools and specifically promote the possibility of attending university. J.P. Morgan is funding the organisation to develop this successful model of approach in 6 further cities in the state of Hesse. The continuing interest in and success of the programme means that in the long term, this model could be implemented by the state education system to encourage students to look towards increased career opportunities.

Polytechnische Gesellschaft
Polytechnische Gesellschaft is dedicated to working for the benefit of Frankfurt and its citizens. J.P. Morgan is funding the development of the new Diesterweg School Academy, a new integration programme for teachers, which will be delivered concurrently with the already established Diesterweg Scholarship Programme, developed by Polytechnische Gesellschaft. The focus of the scholarship programme is targeted to primary school children from migrant backgrounds that have a high potential but, as a result of language issues, inadequate support at home and limited understanding of the German schooling system, have little chance of developing their full potential. Building on this scholarship programme,The new Diesterweg School Academy has been developed to focus on the schools as institutions, with the aim of training the teachers on how to integrate, encourage and provide support to migrant children.

Verein zur beruflichen Förderung von Frauen e.V. (VbFF)
Founded in 1978, VbFF has been assisting women of diverse backgrounds in their professional development, with a specific focus on young immigrant women. The range of programmes that VbFF provides for these women is what makes them unique in Frankfurt. They provide part-time and full time vocational training, assistance for the long-time unemployed to re-enter the job market as well as career planning advisory, professional re-orientation and job preparation training. With potential public sector cuts, the priority at VbFF has been to professionalise their fundraising approach and methodology to become more independent from public funding and develop a more diversified funding stream. The aim is to ensure sustainability of their current programme range and find opportunities to develop further opportunities for more young women. J.P. Morgan is funding the professionalization of VbFF’s fundraising approach

MENTOR – Die Leselernhelfer

Founded in 2001, MENTOR works with disadvantaged and migrant young people between the ages of 6-15yrs to develop their reading and writing competencies in the German language. Results of the programme show that more than 60 percent of mentees improve by one grade after only six months. MENTOR has experienced a rapid growth rate across the country, and after ten years, the organization is already working with 5,000 mentors, organised through 47 local associations, across 14 states supporting 7,500 young people. J.P. Morgan is funding the adaptation and scale-up of Mentor’s programme to include the age group of 16-24years with the pilot programme being tested in 3 cities – Frankfurt, Hamburg and Oldenburg.

Young Enterprise Switzerland

Founded in 2006, YES develops and supervises practice-orientated business education programs for students, with the aim of connecting the business world with schools. YES focus on training young people to take a comprehensive approach to business matters, act entrepreneurially and provide them with the self-confidence to believe in their potential. J.P. Morgan is funding the adaptation and localisation of the YES programme material in the respective languages of Switzerland – English, German, French, and include regional components. The funding also is enabling the adjustment and translation of the current IT platform to the regional needs. These two components are enabling the YES programme to scale-up from limited availability in the German region, to being available to schools across Switzerland.

J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge

J.P. Morgan also provides substantial support to young disabled athletes in Germany via Deutsche Sporthilfe with funds raised at the annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge in Frankfurt. A contribution from each runner in the race is matched by J.P. Morgan. More than 1.25 million Euros have been raised in six years (2007 to 2012). Deutsche Sporthilfe is our current partner for the donations from the annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge in Frankfurt. Deutsche Sporthilfe has been supporting German athletes in their personal development for more than 40 years. Together with J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Sporthilfe identifies opportunities to effectively support young disabled athletes with the funds raised at the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge.