Buurtkamer Quellijn: Community centre in De Pijp, Amsterdam

De Buurtkamer Quellijn is a neighbourhood room at Quellijnstraat 62 in De Pijp in Amsterdam, a place for all local residents with particular attention for those who could use extra support. You can walk in for a good cup of coffee, read the paper, have a cheap lunch or get your hands dirty in the large garden. It is an initiative of Stichting Prisma, which works with Amsterdammers with a mild intellectual disability on leisure and social networks. The programme is built with residents and partners such as TEAM ED and the Buurtteam De Pijp. There are coffee hours, lunches and parent and child meetings, a youth group, a Monday breakfast, painting classes with natural ecoline, and movement sessions for all levels. Neighbourhood dinners are part of the programme too. The garden is looked after by the Tuingroep, a group of residents who are planning a vegetable and a flower garden, and in good weather it is used for shared meals. Some activities are open to all and others are closed groups, and residents are welcome to bring their own initiative. A large workshop room and an open drop-in room with kitchen can be hired, at rates that depend on the type of use, but not for private parties.