Our 1893 has its origins in 1893, when the "Eberswalder Spar- und Bauverein" emerged from a great housing shortage and built affordable and healthy living space for its members. There was another big wave of apartments in the 1950s and 1960s, when cooperatives were founded again out of a housing shortage to build apartments for their members. They organized themselves, built themselves, repaired themselves, celebrated together. Neighborly, it must have been a great time.
But how can neighborhood and togetherness be organized today? Today, when the 1893 is a housing association and relieves its members of every inconvenience. Today we meet for celebrations, surprise our members with early bloomers or invite them to the Christmas market for punch and singing. We offer very good service, create common rooms and inform our members four times a year with our 1893 whispers and even citywide with our magazine the 1893. We encourage participation as we collect stories and photos. We accept every 1893 child into the Meerkat Club. We support barbecue evenings with grilled food and a beer after work. And yet the response is often small.
Why is that? And how can the identity from the early years be restored? This is a topic that we want to deal with intensively in 2023. A good year for that, because in 2023 our 1893 will be 130 years old.
