Homburg shines with a Ko-Pionier Prize: Homie project inspires young people!

Homburg shines with a Ko-Pionier Prize: Homie project inspires young people!

The city of Homburg celebrated a great success at the Ko-Pionier Prize 2025: In the category "Social Cohesion", the city came in second place with its innovative "Homie" project. The project aims to offer young people between the ages of 13 and 25 an open meeting place in the middle of the city center, and has thus conquered the heart of several young Homburger. This reports the Wochenspiegel .

Homburg's mayor Manfred Rippel took over the certificate at the last city council meeting and emphasized the importance of such initiatives for the community. "Openness and trust are fundamental to positive urban development," says Rippel.

The way to success

At the KO-Pionier Prize 2025, Homburg received the award as one of seven award winners. On the occasion that took place in Berlin during the "Digital State" congress, the joint project "Stadtlabor2Go" from Mönchengladbach and Wiesbaden, which was able to first place, was also honored. At the forefront is Homburg with his creative approach to transform an empty shop into a meeting point for young people. The project was funded as part of the funding program "Future concept for trade in Saarland 2030" and realized in cooperation with the Cologne Institute. Authority mirror emphasizes that this is an excellent way to actively involve young people in urban design.

The home project not only encourages young people to shape their rooms themselves, but also to develop their own formats and opening times. During the week, the room serves as a learning center, while it acts as an event location at the weekend - a real plus for the young generation!

The price with importance

The KO-Pionier Prize was awarded for the first time on March 18, 2025 to promote successful examples of subsequent use in administrative digitization. The patronage took over Dr. André Göbel, President of the Federal IT cooperation (Fitko), which was launched together with the Allianz Re: Form. Over 40 projects were evaluated and three main categories enabled a clear structure for the award ceremony. In addition to the category for social cohesion, there was also a digitization of the administration and bureaucracy relief. In this context, the DStGB that the subsequent use of existing solutions is of central importance for future administrative innovations.

The success of Homburg's home project not only shows the potential in the participation of young people, but also how important such initiatives are for living and sustainable urban development. With such a positive response to the city center, Homburg will continue to serve as a model for other municipalities.