ThyssenKrupp will open the company child daycare center “Miniapolis” on the campus of the ThyssenKrupp Quarter in August 2012. Building work is currently underway. Today the Group is organizing a children’s party and employee information event to present the concept behind the daycare center. Miniapolis will offer places for 105 children from four months to school age, including places for Essen children whose parents do not work for ThyssenKrupp. The daycare center will be run by the nonprofit organization “Betreuungsgesellschaft für soziale Einrichtungen” (BsE), which is part of the German Red Cross, North Rhine branch.

Miniapolis will follow the principles of the Reggio Emilia approach to pre-school education, which centers on nurturing children’s natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge. While not neglecting other educational areas, one particular focus will be on awakening their interest in technology and science – something to which ThyssenKrupp as an industrial group attaches great importance.

“The Miniapolis child daycare center will help our employees balance family and work commitments. We will offer high-quality and dependable care for their children. Together with the German Red Cross we will also be demonstrating our commitment to the community in the area of early childhood education,” said Ralph Labonte, member of the Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp AG on the motivation behind the Group’s decision to build a child daycare center.

In the German Red Cross, ThyssenKrupp has found a trusting partner whose dedicated and well-trained staff will provide a high-quality learning environment.

“The German Red Cross runs over 120 child daycare centers in the Rhineland area and is an experienced provider of pre-school education. We have been applying the Reggio Emilia approach since 1985. Our goal is to take children’s natural curiosity and nurture it carefully. We want to teach humanitarian values and in so doing make an important contribution to the future of our society,” said Detlev Schmidt, Managing Director of the German Red Cross, North Rhine branch.