Cafe Bickolo

Founded in 2008, Cafe Bickolo is a community organisation based in Köln, Germany working on community development, children & youth, arts & culture +5 more.

Cafe Bickolo is an ecumenical community meeting centre (Begegnungsstätte) in the Bickendorf district of Köln, Germany. It is run by a registered association, the Ökumenische Begegnungsstätte Cafe Bickolo e.V., founded in 2008 with governance drawn equally from the Catholic and Evangelical parishes. The centre works as a neighbourhood hub in the Westend/Bickendorf area, which it describes as a district with particular development needs, offering services for all residents regardless of social or cultural background. Its work covers meeting and community activities, a café, a free weekly lunch, a second-hand clothing store, a homework and tutoring group, and holiday programmes for children and young people. It also provides holistic, solution-oriented counselling, help with forms and benefit applications, housing search support for families, and pastoral care. Arts projects, a girls' group, senior activities and a community garden are part of the offer. Many services are provided by volunteers alongside freelance professionals, and the association works closely with city offices, schools, kindergartens, churches and housing companies in the area. The association describes itself as a non-profit and recognised charitable body whose donations are tax-deductible, and it is a free youth welfare provider organised within the Diakonie Rheinland umbrella body.