Foundation Disadvantaged adolescents face significant challenges in successfully navigating the transition from school to training or career. Various studies, such as those conducted by the Berlin Institute for Population and Development, confirm this. The problem is exacerbated in remote rural regions, where young people often lack the full opportunities for self-expression and skill development. The involved adolescents live in regions where political parties advocating explicitly national stances against diversity, integration, and inclusion are gaining popularity. These issues were addressed in the "Café zum Glück 2023" project. Here, disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged youth from Germany and Poland learned to operate a café together on the premises of an educational institution. In doing so, we realized key aspects of the EU Youth Strategy and the Erasmus program, such as empowerment, participation, social integration, inclusion, appreciation, diversity, cross-border mobility, rural development, and successful transitions into work, in alignment with the Paris Declaration of Education Ministers from 2015 and the Diversification and Inclusion Strategy of Erasmus Plus 2021, where diversity is seen as an opportunity and enrichment. Erasmus Program Dimension The project's uniqueness lay in the combination of economic competencies, intercultural learning opportunities, democratic learning experiences, and inclusion-integration efforts. In the face of increasing national tendencies toward xenophobia, radicalization, and the climate crisis, our junior firm set a symbol for tolerance, diversity, and sustainability. We strengthened societal cohesion and enhanced the resilience of young people. Our aim was to provide youth, despite challenging conditions in rural, border regions, the opportunity to recognize, develop, and utilize their potentials. In practical terms, we erected a protective barrier against radicalization, extremism, violence, and the exclusion of perceived weaker individuals. Empowerment The project pursued several goals. On one hand, it aimed to practically live inclusion and diversity. Many students come from special education schools and children's homes, with some having significant learning deficits or originating from precarious family and social situations. Through targeted empowerment, disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged youth were to be provided with more equal opportunities and social integration. In the structurally weak German-Polish border region, the café offered participants the chance to gain experience in everyday professional life in the service and accounting sectors, acquiring practical skills for their later transition into the "real" working world. Methods The junior firm is an educational project form associated with a high level of motivation and interest from all participants. It is an appropriate method to experientially convey economic mechanisms and improve chances for entry into professional life. To enable good and conflict-free collaboration among different "exclusion groups," themes such as diversity, intercultural learning, inclusion/exclusion, and language animation play a crucial role. We took into account the special situation of disadvantaged youth by implementing a respectful approach, ensuring reliable support, and embracing the diversity of young people with a diversity-conscious attitude. With the Youthpass certificate, we consciously, transparently, and comprehensibly documented the learning process for everyone involved. "Concept of Happiness" The name of the café, "Zum Glück" (To Happiness), naturally has multiple dimensions of meaning. On one hand, café visitors become "happy" by enjoying the offerings; they practically perceive themselves as part of happiness. On the other hand, the name provides an opportunity to contemplate the concept of "happiness" (such as living in a sustainable and healthy world). What truly makes us happy? Therefore, we plan to make the idea of happiness visible in the café itself through quotes and images. The café operators have done many things to make the visitors "happy" - through decoration, music, atmosphere. When the visitor is happy, the offering and the product are good and convincing, ensuring positive feedback towards the staff. And, of course, project participants should also feel happy in the project through recognition, responsibility, community, respect, success through inclusion and integration.