The Goerlitz County

The district includes the previous areas of Löbau-Zittau, the Lower Silesian Upper Lusatian County and the City of Görlitz. The Görlitz District is the third-largest one in Saxony. It stands out with a large variety, such as the diverse beautiful mountain and sea landscape, historic Cities and Towns with unique attractions and people with century-old traditions and customs as well as the closeness to Poland and the Czech Republic. The features include, among others, the Fürst-Pückler-Park in Bad Muskau, which is part of the UNESCO world heritage, the great Zittau fasting cloth from 1742, the Upper Lusatian surrounding houses, the Zittau narrow gauge railway and the Muskau Forest railway.

Good schools:

With a consistent consideration to the development of student numbers, a school network plan was developed, creating the conditions to ensure the continuance and the supply of promotion resources for school renovation. A lot of attention is given to the rural area, to ensure that conditions are approximately the same as in the City Centers. Also a lot of focus is given to student transport, to ensure appropriate travel for the students between their homes and the schools.

Sustainable energy provision:

Wind and solar systems are very important among renewable energies, therefore 35% of the energy requirement is already obtained from renewable energy sources. However, the locations are planned in such a way that they don’t affect the landscape, or minimally. Energy production has always been a main focus for the region. Even today, energy is still obtained from lignite, with modern technology and high efficiency. All changes related to energy expansion are done with the cooperation with the Citizens, to combine monetry savings with the preservation of the quality of life-style.

Sports promotion:

The creation of additional new sports halls offers a valuable quality for school sports, as well as diverse competition sports, including sufficient areas for spectators. An important aspect is the support of recreational sports, since this is an effective method to take children and youth off the streets. Large-scale events, such as the Europe Marathon, triathlon world championship running, competitions for the elderly in athletics and the Zittau mountain running have made a splash beyond the county.

Youth promotion:

Youth are expected to experience our county in the middle of Europe as an attractive area to live in. For youth assistance, the County provides ca. 30 million Euro a year. In additional, there are promotional resources from the Federation, the Free State Saxony, Associations, Churches, Foundations, and the own resources of the Independent Organizations. An institution of the Zittau/Görlitz University has scientifically advised a comprehensive plan for youth assistance. A control procedure makes it possible to distribute the promotion resources equally and efficiently. A continuous improvement process in the planning, decision, implementation and evaluation phases helps achieve a suitable result. Special attention is given to situations of youth in times of transition between development stages and in problematic situations, through professional and sustainable assistance. Investments are given to Daycare Centers, educational promotion, diverse consultation, support of projects, initiatives and youth clubs, cross-border youth work, child and youth protection, promotion of associations, social work in schools, street workers and many others.