The "Evangelischen Freiwilligendienste Diakonie Hessen" (the former "Zentrum für Freiwilligen-, Friedens- und Zivildienst") started in 2001 with EVS projects. The seat and working range of the project is the city of Kassel (appr. 200.000 inhabitants).Piano e.V. is active around the entire city, predominantly in those areas which count as socially disadvantaged and financially week. A high percentage of people living here are seen as "poor", at least living in poor conditions. Many inhabitants depend on the public minimum basic support or in addition on a retirement pension.The activity is characterised by manyfold encounters with the neighbourhood's inhabitants, who attend the social center or require visits at home. Hence the social activity "happens" in communication of the invitation to encounter, experience and daily life supportive actions, through leisure amenities and non-formal educational programs. The volunteers will learn how community support projects evolve from the combination of volunteering and and non-profit association. They will also learn how to keep such projects running. They will experience themselves as individuals with abilities to integrate their foreign background in projects, to initiate projects and to positively influence other people to be part in the improvement of a positive neighbourhood. Living amidst the community they are active in they will learn the direct connection between life and work.They will also be confronted with the different roles they play in their local area. They are provided with the chance to experience their involvement in the local community and its attitudes and strategies towards urban life and to bring these experiences back to their country of origin. They will witness and acknowledge new forms of networking.We expect the volunteers presence. It is their role in the social centers to be on the spot, to be open to the guests who show up at the meeting points, to integrate themselves into the daily schedule with support of the staff, to be part of the planning of activities and to develop their own ideas in terms of a project or to initiate a project according to their skills and the support they need.The focus of the work in which we will integrate the voluneers lies in the field of activities inside the local area/quarter. Supporting and activating programs for the different people at place will be provided by volunteers themselves. Otherwise they support the professional colleagues of piano e.V. in these activities.