Program areas at JDC
Social Mobility: Improving the ability of children from the Arab sector and in the social and geographic peripheries to achieve higher socioeconomic status than that of their parents; increasing access to health, wellbeing, and skill-development opportunities at all stages of life from birth to early employment - in the home, at school, in higher education and the job market, and in the community. As the growing young population in Israel will be the driver of the country's economy in a few decades, this challenge aims to close gaps in 5 main areas of life and improve the ability of today's young people to have a stronger future no matter where they are born or their parents' socioeconomic status. This effort includes (cont. on sched. O) increasing opportunities and access to quality services from birth through the young adult years, and improving family and community support. The Families First initiative aims to help poor families break out of poverty. Families First social workers and family mentors "teach families to fish" by helping them build and carry out a personalized plan for improving their situation and creating real, lasting change in their lives. In 2022 the program provided this intensive guidance to almost 3,100 poverty-stricken families in 116 cities and towns across Israel from all sectors of the population. An additional 14,000 adults participated in workshops and counseling sessions at local empowerment centers to gain skills in managing home finances, preparing for employment, and accessing government assistance. In the formal educational system, The STEM for All program aims to increase the STEM skills and creative-thinking processes of elementary school students in Israel's periphery as a means of enhancing their future job prospects and career mobility. In 2022, some 5,000 children in 50 schools in 8 low-income communities in Israel participated in the STEM for All program, where science, technology, engineering, and mathematics activities are integrated into their school curriculum. The program has trained 10 STEM trainers, veteran science teachers, who worked closely with teachers to design engaging STEM lessons that incorporated the initiative's innovative approach and with principals to cultivate a school environment that promotes STEM skills. After "aging out" of education and child welfare services at 18 years, vulnerable young adults are typically left to their own devices. Without proper support as they transition to adulthood. These young people are at high risk of being trapped in the cycle of poverty and welfare dependence. The Horizons postsecondary education program launched in 2022, in 23 localities in the north and south of Israel to ease access to higher education or post-high school vocational education for vulnerable young adults (often first generation) and provide them with pre-admissions preparation, mentoring during studies and guidance in entering the workforce as they near graduation. In its first year, the program trained a network of professionals in the two regions and established connections with 11 colleges in the north and south regions to increase the services and support available to vulnerable students. In 2022, it enabled 338 participants (aged 18-25) with comprehensive assistance to overcome their challenges and access postsecondary education.To help young adults and families facing crushing debts, the Debt Rehabilitation program (launched towards the end of 2021 during the pandemic) began providing legal/financial consultation, workshops and interest free loans to debtors, as well as training for over 600 legal aid, judges, social workers and financial counselors. Over 1,000 young adults struggling with debt received legal guidance, 1,500 debtors received financial guidance, 180 debtors received grants or loans to help renegotiate or repay their debts, and 2,500 Bedouin or other Arabs received preventative debt guidance. The program's multi-dimensional approach to debt rehabilitation, taking into account the debtor's social welfare, financial and legal needs is succeeding in reducing the debt load of participants 15% of Arab families in the program resolved their debts and 70% entered a process of debt reduction, and the debt burden of young adult participants was reduced overall by 34%.
Workforce integration and productivity: the goal of JDC -TEVET, a program within Joint Israel, is to ensure that Israel's employment rate recovers following COVID-19 epidemic, achieves a healthy level, and remains stable. This is achieved in part by advancing job integration of populations with typically weak labor market participation, improving wages of low-income workers through skills training and career advancement, and shrinking the productivity gap between Israel and other OECD countries.In 2022, JDC-Tevet established a new five-year partnership (2022-2026) with the Government of Israel to help Israel's vulnerable citizens rise out of poverty by improving their employment. (cont. on sched. O) Throughout the year, JDC-Tevet helped over 17,400 participants improve their lives through employment and career advancement pilots. JDC- TEVET ran 29 pilot employment services in various stages of development and handover to our government partners, including 5 designed to improve the quality of employment for Arab Israelis. Tevet also pioneered better employment through data and technology, building databases and web platforms, online courses, remote work pilots, and more. The Avodata website, which was launched with the government of Israel at the tail end of 2021, and which gives the Israeli public real access to job market data, reached over 433,000 site visits from over 310,000 unique users in 2022, reaching more than quadruple the number of users and visits compared to 2021. In 2022, JDC-Tevet also developed Skill.IL, an innovative online platform that matches Israelis to vocational training opportunities using state of the art technologies, which features online tools for determining a career path, and direct links to vocational training and college courses and degrees. Additionally, BOOST, the living-stipend fund that JDC-Tevet developed in 2021, was utilized during 2022, allowing approximately 500 low-income jobseekers affected by the COVID crisis to afford to enter professional training.
Optimal Aging for 100 Year of Life: JDC Eshel, a program within Joint Israel, is tasked with formulating a comprehensive response to the complex challenges facing Israeli society as its population ages, further overwhelming the social welfare and healthcare systems. JDC Eshel's goal is to maximize a person's independence and autonomy during the aging process and delaying dependence on others and on public services with respect to health, social and economic risk, while reducing gaps with weak populations. The impact will maximize the benefit to the individual and society. (cont. on sched. O)To delay dependency and functional decline Eshel has introduced Large Scale Interventions across the aging continuum, for example: 1. Retirement Preparedness: Considered one of the most traumatic life stages, post-retirement is often the first stage of functional decline, as individuals lose the social network, income, and routine that come with employment. Through a variety of workshops, JDC Eshel's Retirement Guidance Centers offer older adults the skills and direction to navigate this new stage in life for years of meaning and fulfillment post-retirement. To date there are 16 Guidance Centers in municipalities across Israel with a total of 20,000 unduplicated clients served in 2022; 2. Loneliness has been defined as a serious pandemic with significant detrimental effect on the functional and cognitive health of older adults. Through the Supportive and Inclusive Communities programs, JDC Eshel offers thousands of older, vulnerable Israelis a basket of services that helps individuals to age in place in familiar neighborhood surroundings, organizes volunteers to offer support networks, and organizes activities to encourage continued engagement in the public sphere. Together, Supportive and Inclusive Communities extend to over 330 Israeli municipalities and support 70,000 older adults; 3. Palliative Care and end-of-life processes was an area that never developed in Israel. JDC-Eshel's National Palliative Care program is integrating the palliative care approach into Israel's medical system by training healthcare professionals about palliative care and end-of-life processes, promoting their adoption in healthcare institutions, and raising public awareness about issues like advanced medical directives. The goal is to provide compassionate care to Israelis living with a range of serious and terminal illnesses, alleviating their physical and emotional suffering throughout the process, and create system-wide change. In 2022 has led to a significant shift in the healthcare system, 70,000 signed advanced medical directives, and more healthcare professionals being prepared to discuss and provide end-of-life care.
Independent living for people with disabilities - closing the gap in opportunities for full participation in society and independent living between people with and without disabilities in Israel.Teach First Israel - launched in 2010, in partnership with JDC- Israel, the Ministry of Education, Ha-Kol Hinuch Movement and Naomi Foundation with the mission to see that all Israeli children have the opportunity to pursue a future in any field they desire, regardless of the background from which they come. This is done by developing educational programs for children in the social and geographic periphery of Israel, through the professional training program for teachers based on the international "Teach for All" Model. Public System Efficiency and Effectiveness - maximizing the ability of public systems in Israel to provide social services to the residents of the State of Israel in an efficient and effective manner. Together with our partners in government, local and regional authorities, in the social and business sector, we work to identify system challenges and to drive change processes to improve them.Research - Myers JDC Brookdale - Israel's leading center for applied social research.