Ahekapelle mit Familie.

Nettersheim

Family community 2025: focus on sustainability - also in the social sector

Text last updated: 2025-11-03

Nature, culture and family

The historic town center of Nettersheim, with its carefully restored half-timbered houses and quarry stone courtyards, is located in the northern Eifel. Around 8,000 inhabitants live here in the eleven villages of the Eifel municipality.

Family center and low-threshold participation formats for all generations

Karte Sieger Nettersheim

The Nettersheim Family Center is where the threads of the flagship project "Family and child-friendly Nettersheim" come together: On the one hand as a place for everyday offers for families and on the other hand as an authority for the strategic alignment of the offers with the UN sustainability goals and their evaluation.

Low-threshold participation formats allow citizens to come into contact with local politicians and administrative staff and to exchange criticism and ideas. These include village walks, for example. The children's and youth parliaments also express their views on the world. Citizen involvement has resulted in formats such as the senior citizens' cinema, PC and cell phone courses for senior citizens and the youth media center.

State prize for family-friendly communities 2025

With its wide range of services for all age groups, Nettersheim promotes the participation and networking of its citizens. The family center is the central point of contact and authority for the further development of a sustainable infrastructure. This holistic view of family friendliness convinced the jury. It awarded Nettersheim the Landespreis für familienfreundliche Kommunen 2025 in the category "Overall family policy project".

We present some of the offers in Nettersheim here. Further information, links to the project descriptions and to the North Rhine-Westphalia state prize can be found in the sidebar.

Family-friendly offers in Nettersheim

  1. Nettersheim Family Center - care, education and advice

    The family center serves as a central point of contact in Nettersheim. With a variety of programs and initiatives, it appeals to all age groups and opens up numerous opportunities such as care and adventure offers for young families, adventure and cultural activities for young people or offers for senior citizens. The offers strengthen social integration and are developed further as a community.

  2. Multi-generational living / new forms of housing

    Nettersheim promotes new forms of housing, especially multi-generational living. This is part of the family-friendly offering because it promotes community, support across age groups and integration.

  3. Exercise stations on the dandelion adventure trail

    The approx. 6 km long circular "Dandelion Adventure Trail" has been upgraded with seven additional exercise stations for young and old. The aim is to offer children and families more incentives to exercise in nature.

  4. Eifel Nature Center

    As an extracurricular place of learning / ESD regional center, the Eifel Nature Center supports schools and families with programs for "Education for Sustainable Development". It offers seminars, excursions and courses in which all participants can experience, understand and help shape nature.

The other award-winning municipalities in 2025

The cities of Siegen, Vreden and Lennestadt were also recognized either for their overall family policy concept or for an innovative individual project.

  • Siegen

    Family community 2025: Welcome to the family office

  • Vreden

    Family community 2025: Shaping modern youth work

  • Lennestadt

    Family Municipality 2025: Continuous commitment to family friendliness

Das Video aus Nettersheim zeigt eindrucksvoll das familienfreundliche Engagement vor Ort.

"Families.Community.Cohesion": this was the motto under which the Ministry of Family Affairs in North Rhine-Westphalia launched the "Family Community" state prize in 2025. Local authorities were invited to apply for the award with their overall family policy concept or an innovative individual project.