Preparing Immigrants for Army Service - And A Brighter Future

JDC works with immigrants, ultra-Orthodox, at-

risk youth, and other population groups to help

them smoothly integrate into army service

because the IDF is such a critical rite of passage

for all Israelis.

Photo: JDC Website

When Malash A., 21, an Ethiopian Israeli, received his draft notice from the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) three years ago he was filled with shock and worry. His family had moved from a rural village in Ethiopia to Jerusalem only a few years before and was still struggling to adapt to the cultural realities of life in Israel; his parents did not have the personal experience to advise him through the recruitment process.

Malash's instinct was to wait until his friends received their notice and follow their lead. Little did he know that not showing up to the army base on his assigned recruitment date could land him in jail. That's when JDC stepped in to help, bringing Malash in an army preparedness program that would change the course of his future.

Because civilian life in Israel tends to naturally separate into distinct cultures—with separate neighborhoods, communities, and schools—disadvantaged new immigrants, impoverished Israelis, and others from vulnerable backgrounds have little chance to understand the role of army service in Israeli society. JDC's army preparedness programs aim to fill this critical knowledge gap.

At-Risk Youth Turned Aspiring Entrepreneurs

JDC’s Turning Point Program helps Israel’s
at-risk youth garner business acumen,
a paycheck, and the self-confidence to
create a promising future for themselves

"Fakhera" was only 15 when her father lost his job and her mother left their home to find work in order to provide for her seven children. Struggling in class, fraught by the family's economic stresses, and getting into trouble for acting out, Fakhera dropped out of school to try to find whatever job she could in her Israeli-Arab village in northern Israel.

Fakhera found work cleaning at the local supermarket—working 10-12 hours a day for less than minimum wage—but the extra income came at a high price to her future. That's why the counselor from the Ministry of Education's Youth Advancement Service for youth dropouts encouraged Fakhera to enroll in an alternative setting that would enable her to complete her studies. Soon afterward Fakhera joined JDC's Turning Point program.

Turning Point introduces Israel's at-risk youth to the real world of business, equipping them with job-readiness and entrepreneurial skills and placing them in mainstream work opportunities.

Fakhera was among the 350,000 Israeli children and youth who are considered to be "at-risk"—the troubled state in which one out of six Israelis under age 18 find themselves today. Of these, approximately 50,000 are on the verge of dropping out of school or have already dropped out, show extreme signs of truancy, or are juvenile offenders. They have few ambitions, do not pursue gainful careers, and lack hope for their future, while their delinquent behavior and sense of alienation put them on the fringes of society.

Turning Point appeals to these hard-to-reach teens by focusing on issues which are relevant to their lives—finding a job, earning money, and achieving financial independence. The program helps them restore vision by providing guidance and practical tools to break out of the destructive cycle they are in. As young people like Fakhera learn real life business concepts and job skills, their self-confidence grows and they begin to see themselves anew and recognize opportunities for success.

For Fakhera, joining Turning Point helped her cope with her family and school troubles and allowed her to envision a brighter future. While she was proud of her financial independence and ability to help her family, now she saw that she could get a better job and chart a path for herself in the workforce. "The visits to different workplaces and the meetings with business people opened my eyes and showed me that I could want more from my work," she said.

Learning to interview successfully and build a social network, Fakhera developed a support system and the confidence to look for jobs in other fields.

Today she is waitressing at a popular coffee shop and says the collaborative environment gives her great job satisfaction. Prior to Turning Point, she had never experienced the feeling of being part of a team; now she has a social circle that supports her in pursuing her dreams.

"We fully believed that Fakhera had what it took to develop and advance in the workforce because she exhibited such commitment, trust, and energy in her work," says Samir, one of her program facilitators. "She has accomplished her goals in her studies, too. She earned a certificate for 12 years of study and is continuing on to complete matriculation exams."

Turning Point has reached over 6,400 15- to 18-year-olds in 66 locations across Israel through its mentoring, job-readiness and entrepreneurship education, and youth-run business venture program modules. This year alone, some 1,000 at-risk teens will participate in Turning Point programs.

Now 17 years old, Fakhera is happy among her Turning Point peers—a unified group that works in cooperation, fulfills commitments, and is thirsty to learn. "With this support system I feel strong and know my future is in my hands."

*Additional Note: Turning Point operates in partnership with the Ministries of Education, Social Affairs and Social Services, and Industry, Trade and Labor; the National Insurance Institute; Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship; International Bank of Israel; Matan (Israel's United Way); local authorities; Israeli philanthropic and non-profit organizations; and the Israeli business community.

Basketball Fun Keeps Israeli Kids Off Streets

At 13, Dror was the kind of teenager who made his parents worry about what was going on in his mind. A middle child of three, he was withdrawn and introverted, unlikely to participate in school and unwilling to confide in his family. His hardworking parents were busy balancing jobs and family; they didn’t know how to get their son to come out of his shell or ensure that he didn’t veer off on the wrong path at such a critical juncture.

When Dror’s dad, Shmuel, learned about JDC’s Fathers and Sons Basketball Program, he was excited to engage with his son in a constructive activity. He felt the team experience could strengthen their family connection, which he learned was especially critical for boys who lack strong male role models and might otherwise turn to self-destructive or violent behavior. Dror, who initially didn’t even want to hang around his dad, reluctantly agreed to sign up together for their local team in Hatikva, TelAviv.

Part of JDC’s Ashalim partnership with the Government of Israel and UJA-Federation of New York to improve services for Israel’s children and youth at risk and their families, the Fathers and Sons initiative aims to strengthen relationships between adolescent boys and their fathers during the period when teens are defining their identity and transitioning towards adulthood.

Healthy parent-child relationships, which kids living in troubled neighborhoods and families disproportionately lack, are a proven factor in building resilience among teenagers. Research also shows that a teenage boy’s perceptions of his relationship with his father are directly related to depression, his performance in school, and his feelings of self-worth. For teenagers like Dror, who come from areas with few opportunities for positive recreational activities or facing difficult social or financial circumstances, this basketball league is an outlet that helps curb potentially risky behaviors like substance abuse.

These teams pick up more than just basketball techniques on the court. “Before we start playing I meet with the fathers and make sure they understand what the program is about,” says Dror and Shmuel’s coach. “We all practice together every two weeks and in between I meet with the dads to discuss issues relating to the team as well as their sons’ progress.”

Dror, now 15, successfully completed the program with his dad, and today he continues to play on the Bnei Yehuda boys' basketball team. He spends time with Shmuel in group practices and they often train together outside, too. He has opened up, begun to excel at school, and has his first girlfriend—all of which he attributes to the support and confidence that he has received from his dad and being part of the team.

“I am delighted to see my son’s confidence grow,” says Shmuel, now team manager. All 35 father and son pairs who have participated have improved relationships, begun to do better in school, and have stopped loitering and vandalizing in their neighborhoods.

All the boys are now proud to spend time with their dads, while the fathers have learned just how important their role is in their teens’ healthy development.

Ariana, the program coordinator, describes the progress she’s seen over the past two years: “The difference today with the fathers from the group is incredible. When they first joined, many of the fathers did not realize how absent they were from their kids’ lives. Today, all of them are ‘there’ for their sons. They are providing support, warmth, and personal attention. This program is truly a chance to do a mitzvah and save a child.”

Checkmate: JDC Uses Chess to Empower Immigrants

Israel is considered a chess superpower, largely thanks to the massive immigration of over 1.1 million immigrants from the former Soviet Union, which brought some of the best players and coaches in the world to the country. Israel has six players ranked in the world's top 100; has 30 chess Grand Masters, with some of the highest concentrations of Grand Masters in the world.

The Israeli Chess Federation (ICF) – JDC's partner in this program – was founded in 1946 and today unites some 100 chess clubs around Israel. The ICF holds national league competitions in which 400 teams compete, representing over 4,000 registered chess players.

Chess and Education
The value of playing chess is well known. International research shows that chess has a positive influence on educational performance, improving both critical and creative thought. School students who study chess in a systematic way show improvements in numeric and verbal reasoning – leading to stronger reading and memory skills - within a year of starting chess.

Expanding Chess Playing Among the Young
JDC seeks to capitalize on the chess resources within Israel for the benefit of children and youth living in Israel's social periphery through the Checkmate! program, by introducing chess clubs in schools and youth centers. The program trains young adults with strong chess skills – in all likelihood, immigrants from the former Soviet Union - in the art of chess instruction through the Chess Coach Training Course. This will ensure that a new generation of chess instructors develops in Israel. These new instructors will then turn their hobby into their profession, finding employment within the chess clubs, where children from all backgrounds will have a chance to grapple with the challenges posed them by a game of chess.

Chess clubs are offered in local schools, as well as in youth centers. They are offered in kindergartens as well as in senior centers.

Following success in JDC's pilot of this program – seven coaches certified and 800 children learning chess in each location, JDC expanded Checkmate! further, adding another two locations by the end of 2008. School staff reported that the students who participated in the chess program improved their concentration levels and academic performance, as well as their overall behavior and self-esteem. In the weakest neighborhoods of Israel's periphery, the introduction of chess has a real impact on children who would otherwise have no structured activity during after-school hours. In addition, this program will help connect Israelis from all walks of life; immigrants and veterans, religious and secular, and Arabs and Jews will all have chess as a common denominator.

Bagrut Program Betters Academics, Builds Leaders among Ethiopian-Israeli Teens

As Ashgaram, now a confident and ambitious 18-year-old, prepares to begin his Israeli army service, he barely recognizes himself as the little boy who emigrated from Ethiopia what feels like a lifetime ago.


Dedicated time with a tutor helped Ashgaram
prepare academically for his matriculation exams.
Photo: JDC Website

 Years of hard work and dedication in the Birth-to-Bagrut program in Rehovot, a JDC partnership with UJA-Federation of New York, helped Ashgaram graduate with honors near the top of his high school class and earn a matriculation certificate this past year. The program has also brought out the moxie in this teenager, who after serving as a combat soldier plans to earn a university psychology degree and create a bright future for himself, his family, and his community.

These are milestones Ashgaram never thought possible.

When the Alames made aliyah to Israel from Ethiopia, they fulfilled a life-long dream. But as it is for so many members of the Ethiopian-Israeli community, the Alames’ transition to a vastly different, westernized country proved extremely difficult for the whole family, including then four-year old Ashgaram.

These difficulties evolved into a chronic state of despair for Ashgaram as a young boy, and by the time he entered 7th grade, he simply didn't believe he could do well in school and lacked the motivation to even try. At best, he hoped to achieve the bare minimum: to avoid dropping out of school; earning a high school matriculation certificate (Bagrut) was nowhere on his radar.

Then Birth-to-Bagrut got involved.

Ten years ago, Birth-to-Bagrut—a hands-on collaboration with the local Ethiopian-Israeli community—extended JDC’s already successful PACT (Parents and Children Together) early-childhood education program for Ethiopian-Israeli youngsters and their families in Rehovot to include academic and other support through the completion of high school and earning of a matriculation certificate.

Birth-to-Bagrut tutors worked with Ashgaram and his high-school peers in small groups after hours, helping them understand the necessary materials for matriculation exams. Throughout the process, these tutors and the program coordinator built up Ashgaram’s confidence and engaged his family so that they could provide him with at-home support and conditions to help him succeed. In fact, he attributes his achievements—and his belief in himself—to the simple and powerful fact that people, some total strangers, believed in him.

Ashgaram's succes makes him a
model for his Ethiopian-Israeli peers.
Photo: JDC Website

“The program coordinator told me that there was no way she would let me leave Birth-to-Bagrut without a matriculation certificate,” Ashgaram recalls. “I realized that if someone who barely knew me believed in me so strongly and was willing to exert herself on my behalf, then maybe it was worth it for me to try after all.”

Ashgaram harnessed this encouragement, coupled with his mother’s unwavering support, and by example became someone whom his teachers and mentors call “an adored leader among his peers and a positive influence on the less motivated students in the program.”

Today, Ashgaram’s story speaks for many, reflecting the program’s overall achievement in helping more than 3,000 vulnerable youth reach their potential and have access to a brighter future. Now some 62 percent of the city’s eligible Ethiopian-Israeli high school students receive their matriculation; this compares to a national Ethiopian-Israeli average of 40 percent and a citywide Rehovot result of 58 percent.

For its success both in numbers and in engaging the local community members, Birth-to-Bagrut was recently highlighted in the city of Rehovot’s 120th anniversary celebration as a model for bolstering immigrant absorption and integration in the city.

JDC Ashalim: Inspiring Entrepreneurship in Israel's Youth

JDC Ashalim and The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) are inspiring young people to succeed in school and in life by seizing educational opportunities and starting their own businesses.

Update from Jerusalem: Israel's Children

Update from Arnon Mantver, Director of JDC-Israel


Shalom all,

Young Adults for themselves and their Communities
I know you are aware that we are extremely concerned about the deep budget cuts at JDC and the effect these cuts are having on JDC's unique position as an R&D organization for social issues in Israel. This week an event occurred that was so uplifting as to temporarily wipe these concerns from my mind. The second annual Conference of Young Adults in Israel was attended by thousands of Israeli young men and women – the vast majority of them from among the 250,000 who are immigrants or children of immigrant parents. A major portion of these young adults are members of the network of 30 Centers which were established and supported by JDC as a means to helping immigrants access higher education, get jobs and integrate into Israeli society. These young people are truly the next generation of leadership in Israel and seeing them advocating for themselves and seeking ways to help others is truly inspirational.

All Children Deserve a Good Start
The newspapers in Israel are full of stories and exposes regarding the situation of foreign workers in the country. The situation is complex, political and hits an emotional nerve. JDC, which zealously guards its non-political status in Israel, is not involved in lobbying or advocacy for this population be we are attempting to assist the children who are innocent victims of their own situation. With assistance from the European Union and the Bader Foundation, we are upgrading the early childhood frameworks located in Tel Aviv which serve the children of foreign workers and asylum seekers. We have also replicated the JDC-developed Gamla program on behalf of this population, using adult volunteers to provide social activities for these children. Meeting the needs of children-at-risk is a top priority for JDC, no matter who their parents may be.

Child Help Connects At-Risk Family with Resources and Jewish Education

Dylan is four years old and has experienced precious little stability in his young life.

The relationship between his parents, Cecilia and Ernesto, is strained. The couple is separated and the family has been forced to live apart. Dylan stays with Cecilia at her mother’s tiny two-room apartment in Buenos Aires, but since space there is so limited, Dylan’s 13-year-old brother, Maximiliano, has to stay with his father—a situation that causes Cecilia great anguish.

There are other pressures: Ernesto is a part-time caretaker, a job that pays little. Cecilia is employed by a real estate firm but the situation there is tenuous. She suffers bouts of severe depression and sometimes misses work. And her mother, an elderly woman with health problems of her own, can only do so much to help the family.

Fortunately, help does come…from JDC’s Child Help program.

Thanks to Child Help, the family has access to welcome financial assistance through one of dozens of welfare centers that JDC established in partnership with the local Jewish community in the wake of Argentina’s 2001 economic collapse.

Where Child Help is having the biggest impact, however, is on the children’s education: the program covers the cost of transportation, food, and half the tuition of a Jewish day school (with the school itself absorbing the other half). Older brother Max finished Jewish primary school last year on a 90-percent scholarship. Dylan’s future is looking brighter as well. Since 2007, he has been attending a Jewish preschool and kindergarten where he is flourishing in an atmosphere of support and encouragement.

The transition to school was rough at first. Dylan suffered from cognitive problems as a toddler. His teachers report that in his first few months at school, Dylan also had a hard time making friends and would frequently be involved in fights or shouting confrontations with classmates. Fortunately, the patient and strategic intervention of Dylan’s teachers has brought steady improvement in his behavior and his healthier relationships with other children.

Academically, Dylan is also moving forward, with a noticeably enriched vocabulary.

Dylan’s progress and improved behavior is a testament to the dedication of his teachers and the support of JDC through Child Help, according to his mother. “I am really grateful to JDC’s Child Help for giving Dylan the chance to receive a high level of education,” Cecilia said. “At the same time, Dylan has been able to learn about Judaism and our roots. He feels very comfortable at the school. The institution welcomed us with open arms.”

Cecilia also believes that young Dylan will one day be inspired by the generosity that others have shown him.

“One day, when he grows up, he will remember all this and help others in need.”

On a Hillside in Rwanda, Orphans Find Semblance of Normalcy

From the Huffington Post
July 30, 2009
by Judy Flumenbaum and Ben Gittleson
Photo by Judy Flumenbaum

"Can you tell me about your family, your past?" a counselor at a Rwandan youth village for orphans happily asked one of us on our recent visit to his country. He took notes, probing as to how journalism and writing could help his young friends open up and learn about the world. When it came time for the questions about his family, though, his speech slowed and he looked toward the floor. His grandmother, killed by murderous militiamen, his sister, "violated" during the genocide, before she too was murdered. But suddenly his somber expression turned more upbeat as he glanced at his watch and said, "Ah, it's time for dinner. Let's go see everyone!"

For one week in May, we lived and worked at the beautiful Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in rural Rwanda. The youth village, located an hour outside of the capital Kigali, houses 125 Rwandan teenagers who were orphaned by the 1994 Rwandan genocide. A special project of the American Joint Distribution Committee that was officially inaugurated last month, the village provides housing, meals, education and mentorship for these orphans, many of whom as recently as a year ago lacked any semblance of a stable support system.

Our friend the counselor was not the only one having difficulty grappling with the legacy of genocide. An uncomfortable attempt at normality has settled on the villages and farms of the rolling green hills that extend for miles around the youth village and across Rwanda. The African nation now exists as a shining example of progress and modernity, packed with the sounds of its people conducting business as usual -- farmers whacking machetes into the fire-red earth, laughing kids chasing each other on the way to their local wells, the honks of speeding minibuses and motorcycle taxis filling the air.

How far has Rwanda come? A bulwark of its region, the country has emerged from an incredibly complex and unique post-genocidal reconciliation effort and is developing at breakneck speed around one national identity. Still, in some ways it appears as if Rwanda has continued its ancient agricultural routine uninterrupted for centuries. A stroll to a local market on a dusty dirt road reveals the smiling faces of villagers toiling on their patches of land, always stopping their work to say maramutse, "good morning." Yet this same dirt path is now lined with modern utility poles and cell phone towers, connecting the landlocked country to the rest of the world.

The youth village exists as a small but powerful response to an epidemic continuing to cripple Rwanda's social systems: 1.2 million orphans living on the streets -- in child-headed homes or in under-funded orphanages -- with nowhere to go. The genocide -- lasting only 100 days -- killed 800,000 people, displaced even more and ravished the countryside. An unfathomable number of orphaned children were robbed of their families, of their homes and of their communities. But even worse, they no longer had hope for a viable future.

At Agahozo Shalom, though, the dream is that one day the village's graduates will return to their communities across Rwanda and show their friends and neighbors what they, too, might eventually achieve. Whether they become doctors, businessmen, ministers in the Rwandan government or farmers, all of them will shine as beacons of hope for the scores of others like them. The village, too, can serve as a model to be replicated throughout Rwanda and around the world.

But even this safe space is strewn with fleeting -- yet penetrating -- evidence of tragedy and devastation. In the village dining hall, a common area where all meals and group meetings take place, a large purple banner hangs in memory of the genocide and the family members lost. Or, more unexpectedly, a quick, innocent turn of a staff member's head reveals -- ever so briefly -- a 10-inch-long scar from the swipe of a machete. The abruptness of such reminders is often shocking, poignantly preventing anyone from forgetting that the genocide took place unbelievably recently.

Meanwhile, more formal hints of the extermination pervade the country's picturesque landscape. White crosses draped in purple sashes stick out in ubiquitous local memorials. Nearly every village seems to have a monument to the tragedy, an indication of the universal impact the genocide had across Rwanda.

As outsiders, and especially as short-term visitors, it is particularly difficult to understand how one could ever move on in any way from what happened. And yet, on a hilltop overlooking a gorgeous lake in the southeast of the country, orphans trudge up to their morning classes, play soccer after school and struggle with algebra homework. They repeat this routine every day with the hope of someday living a fully normal life in a completely normal country. Life goes on because it has to.

What was most encouraging was the speed by which the youth have formed very close relationships. In a country and a community where family units have become disjointed -- distant cousins replacing brothers and sisters, friends or neighbors taking the place of parents -- new "families" at Agahozo Shalom have thrived as examples of adaptation. We visited a "family" that consisted of 16 girls and a "mother" figure. This group of people -- strangers before meeting in December -- has truly become a viable family. We saw them hug each other like they had grown up as sisters, laugh like they had known each other for years. For orphans who likely lacked a routine and stability in the past, this village finally gave them the sense of home and security they needed to thrive.

Agahozo Shalom helps these children to learn to deal with the legacy of genocide, their emotions and the feelings and loss with which their country continuously struggles. Listening to the orphans' rap songs describing the importance of family, or looking at beautiful murals of homes and family that no longer exist, we saw how the village provides an outlet for their pain and suffering that they might not have been able to receive elsewhere. As a result, they are able to move on, at least to some extent.

Still, these kids are haunted by their past nearly every day. A memorial ceremony a few months ago aroused intense emotions in many of the students, with some experiencing terrible flashbacks to the moments they and their families were hunted 15 years ago. "I am longing to meet you, my lovely parents," reads their school anthem. "I am missing my lovely parents."

But the orphans, too, are pushing forward. They have no other choice. Their typical Rwandan pragmatism and hope comes through at the close of that same school song: "Not all people are bad. Now I have got other parents, who welcomed me. ... Please let's join hands together to thank them for the wonderful love they show us."

30% of haredi teens - 'hidden dropouts'

From The Jerusalem Post
July 9, 2009
By Matthew Wagner

Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

More than 30 percent of junior high and high school-aged haredi youths are "hidden dropouts" who are technically registered in an educational framework but are dysfunctional students, according to a Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) - ASHALIM estimate released this week.

"Rabbis and leaders in the haredi community who realize they have serious problem are beginning to open up to outside intervention," said Dr. Rami Sulimani, Director General of ASHALIM-JDC.

"A growing number of haredi teenagers are simply not functioning in educational frameworks and they are making up an increasingly growing fringe group within haredi society."

Sulimani said that few if any of these dropouts make their way into non-haredi education frameworks.

According to a study by Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute a total of 17% of elementary school-aged children are hidden dropouts and 30% of junior high and high school students are.

ASHALIM-JDC estimates the level in haredi schools is even higher.

Sulimani admitted that part of the explanation for the higher rates of hidden dropouts among haredim is the willingness of haredi educational institutions to accommodate dysfunctional students.

Nevertheless, he said that the main problem in haredi schools was the total lack of professional psychological counseling available to teachers and students.

According to data provided by the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Education Ministry, there are presently 225,000 haredi children aged 5 to 17 in the nation's schools, 21% of the total. Assuming that between 17% and 30% of these children are hidden dropouts the total number is at least 38,000.

According to a study conducted in 2008 by Eliyahu Hurvitz and David Brodet under the aegis of the "Israel 2028 Project", haredi children are expected to make up a third of all Jewish children in the nation's elementary and high schools and a quarter of the total for both Jewish and non-Jewish students.

This projection is based on the assumption that each haredi woman will have on average six children, 25% lower than the present average.

Dr. Uzi Rebhun, a demographer at Hebrew University who recently wrote a position paper for the Metzilah Center on the possible ramifications of the rapid growth of the haredi and Arab populations for the modern Jewish state, said that there were signs of a fall in haredi fertility.

"In cities such as Beitar Ilit and Modi'in Ilit we have noted a fall in fertilization rates," said Rebhun. "Nevertheless, the main source of Jewish population growth will continue to be from the haredi sector."

Rebhun and Gilad Malach pointed out in the their study that even students who succeed in the haredi school system are unprepared to entire the labor market, are discouraged from doing mandatory army service and are not educated to respect Zionist ideals.

If a large percentage of haredi students are also dysfunctional this complicates the problem of integrating this rapidly growing population into mainstream Israeli society.

Although the ASHALIM-JDC program is being launched in cooperation with the government, significant funding was provided by the New York Jewish Federation.

Methods that will be used to treat dysfunctional students here were borrowed in part from experience gained working with the haredi community in Brooklyn New York, said Sulimani.

"We will be sharing knowledge with US organizations such as the Federation Employment Guidance Services (FEGS) and the Education Alliance," said Sulimani.

Haredi youths exposed to post-modernist trends that encourage personal expression and a rejection of religious hierarchy and authority are finding it more difficult to cope with the stringent limits and rules of the haredi society, said Sulimani.

This tension leads to emotional difficulties that are often exacerbated by haredi parents' reluctance to enter into open dialogue with their children, added Sulimani.

"Parents remain oblivious to their child's needs and continue to apply the same traditional, restrictive norms to their children's behavior without recognizing the child's rights."

The NIS 5m. program will train a total of 240 educators, 120 school advisors and 120 principals in the haredi school system.

"These educators will be proactive in recognizing signs of distress among students whose emotional needs are not being fulfilled at home."

Sulimani said that the goal to encourage a dialogue between children and parents would ultimately lead the parents to ease up on the demands they make of their children.

"We want to start putting the child and his needs at the center of care and attention."

Sulimani said that the most common problem he faces with haredi youths, especially teens, is their total lack of recreational time.

"There is a constant demand on them to learn Torah and there are not other options. So they end up looking for other activities that are not condoned by their parents."

Sulimani admitted that the approach that he intends to implement has never been tested before. However, he said that he was certain that as soon as modern educational psychology theories would be applied to the haredi community there would be an improvement in dropout rates.

Education Initiative is Leveling the Playing Field for Disadvantaged Children in Israel

Naomi was just two years old when her family emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel, eventually settling in Bat Yam, a coastal town close to Tel Aviv. In many ways she and her family have faced experiences common among Ethiopian-Israeli immigrants: the family is economically disadvantaged, Naomi’s parents struggle with speaking Hebrew, and she had a hard time relating to other kids.

When Naomi first joined JDC’s Weitzman-Albert Education Initiative, she was afraid to speak and spent much of her time alone. Emotional problems hampered her studies; she would define every animal, no matter what color or kind, as a rabbit.

The Initiative, pioneered by JDC together with Jane and Stuart Weitzman and Ruth Albert, provides a highly enriched and supportive school environment to help at-risk children overcome their disadvantage, including socioeconomic, language, and other barriers to success. The Initiative is currently being piloted among 175 first through third grade students at Bat Yam’s Harel School.

As a result of small class sizes; a variety of academic, social, cultural, and developmental enrichment activities such as science instruction, music, and tennis lessons; and the availability of therapies to meet specific needs, today children like Naomi are thriving.

Thanks to an extended school day of 2.5 hours of extracurricular instruction and activities five days a week, these children—many of whom live with single parents who are not home to receive or feed them after school, or are immigrants whose parents do not have the Hebrew skills to help them with their school work—benefit from a nurturing environment that encourages their growth and development. They also get extra literacy support, such as vocabulary building, and individual attention from additional teaching staff that work with small groups of students, often through drama and theater.

In Naomi’s case, the Initiative’s speech therapist helped her increase her vocabulary and learn how to better express herself. But it was only when Naomi began to participate in the Initiative’s Tennis Excellence Program—spearheaded by the manager at the Bat Yam Tennis Center—that she really began to progress developmentally.

Since beginning the tennis program in early 2008, Naomi’s confidence has skyrocketed. Her peers refer to her as “one of the fastest runners ever.” This support and encouragement, combined with being one of 10 students selected to participate in the Tennis Excellence Program twice a week, gave Naomi the acknowledgment she needed to feel comfortable expressing herself for the first time in her young life. Naomi even started speaking about her passion for tennis with her classmates and parents using the vocabulary she learned in her speech therapy sessions.

Through the dedicated resources and efforts of JDC’s Weitzman-Albert Education Initiative, achievements that once seemed unattainable for Naomi have become a reality. She has learned to identify most animals by their names and express her thoughts in class; she smiles constantly.

Thrilled with her daughter’s progress, Naomi’s mom said, “I am willing to do anything in order to ensure Naomi’s success!” So is the Education Initiative, which received a boost of encouragement when the Harel School was recently awarded a Ministry of Education Prize for Educational Excellence.