Empowering All IsraelisJDC PROGRAM DASHBOARD

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Empowering All Israelis

Israelis on the margins seek the chance to participate fully in the nation they love. We make it possible, increasing opportunities and independence for the most vulnerable. By investing in the country’s most precious resource—its people—we help Israel strengthen her future as a nation. And we do this by developing fully scalable solutions to national challenges through world-class research and development, in-the-fi eld testing, and strategic partnerships with the Government of Israel.

NEARLY 1 in 5seniors live in poverty

15 PERCENT of Israelis who are eligible to

work are chronically unemployed

1 MILLION Israelis live with

at least one disability

THOUSANDS of Israelis with

disabilities are served

by 6 JDC Centers for

Independent Living

each year

CENTERS FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING

When Yafi t was seven years old, her parents began the diffi cult journey of making their way from their small Jewish village in northern Ethiopia to Israel.

For a month and a half, the young girl climbed over mountains and crept alongside rivers, sleeping during the day and walking at night to avoid bandits and suspicious authorities.

Yafi t is now the coordinator of JDC’s Career Advancement Program for Israel’s Southern region, a program coordinated by TEVET, JDC’s comprehensive employment initiative forged in partnership with the Israeli government.

But her road to success was not an easy one.

One night, Yafi t and her sister were told to gather their things and board trucks in the darkness. They drove across the silent night to an airfi eld where planes would take them to Israel and reunite them with their parents in Ashkelon.

Yafi t learned Hebrew, acclimated to her new homeland, and went on to receive a degree in education. After marrying, she moved to Ashdod with her husband and began working for the Ministry of Education, teaching Hebrew to new immigrants from Russia.

Her work caught the attention of JDC, who soon invited her to run workshops for the Eshet Chayil (Woman of Valor) program, which helps women from disadvantaged backgrounds fi nd their footing in the Israeli job market. She soon became its regional coordinator.

“A lot of my work is helping women fi nd their own strength,” Yafi t says. “There is a lot of creativity involved. I help these women fi nd solutions to perceived obstacles that prevent them from advancing.”

Yafi t works with women to assess their potential and determine future goals—whether in the form of increased responsibility at their current jobs or continued education like advanced training or academic degrees.

“My work is to help show them that by improving their careers, they are in fact strengthening their families and communities,” she said.

It’s a lesson Yafi t says she’s lucky to have learned herself.

“I myself am a mother of three, and I try to show these women—all of whom are very talented—that one passion need not come at the expense of the other,” she says. “You can integrate work and family.”

And as Yafi t and others like her so clearly demonstrate, you can indeed empower the vulnerable and make them a valued and valuable part of this start-up nation.

// CHALLENGE Israelis with disabilities struggle to live independently with dignity and to achieve pro-

fessional fulfi llment. Often, they feel marginalized by the public and underserved by communal institutions.

// INNOVATION JDC’s Centers for Independent Living are run by and for adults with disabilities, who

serve as staff members and volunteers. They off er services to people from all religions, backgrounds, and

with all types of disabilities—physical, mental, sensory, and cognitive.

JDC solutions are giving

76,000 children, youth, and young adults

a pathway to a brighter future

NEIGHBORHOOD TRANSFORMATION

// CHALLENGE Hundreds of thousands of poor Israeli children and youth—suff ering abuse, neglect, or

at risk of dropping out of school—live in disadvantaged neighborhoods with large gaps between needs and

available government services.

// INNOVATION JDC’s grassroots Better Together program creates collaborative task forces that bring

neighborhood residents, social service professionals and providers, and policy makers together to construct

services addressing local kids’ unmet needs.

50,000+ ELDERLY in 260+ communities live

with dignity and

independence at home

SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES

// CHALLENGE Israel’s population over the age of 65 is rising and a growing percentage lives in poverty

and isolation or suff ers abuse, yet current health and social services are inadequate to address these issues on

a national scale.

// INNOVATION Supportive Communities, a JDC-developed program now found in hundreds of locations

across Israel, provide the services and security the nation’s seniors need to continue living in their own homes:

Emergency call systems and physician in-home care

24/7 access to a “community parent” who visits and provides needed support, including home repairs

Social activities that combat isolation

FRONT LINESon the

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT

Through its TEVET partnership with the Government of Israel, JDC is helping to overcome social, cultural, and physical barriers that have contributed to high rates of unemployment and underemployment among Haredim (the ultra-Orthodox), Ethiopian Israelis, Israeli Arabs, and adults with disabilities. One-stop Job Centers facilitate skills training and job placement, mentoring programs promote career advancement, and newly developed tools will facilitate more inclusive hiring and employment practices.

GRASSROOTS INNOVATION TO NATIONAL IMPACT

Ethiopian-Israeli

Empowers

Working Women

Convene partners

Develop action + funding structure

Strengthen professionals + infrastructure

Monitor and evalutate results

Expand to new locations

Refi ne best practices

Assist government agencies to replicate nationally

Assure quality through oversight

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENTLAUNCH OF PILOT

SCALE UPNATIONWIDE ROLL-OUT

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GOVERNMENT + OTHER STAKEHOLDERS JDC PHILANTHROPIC SOURCESCONTRIBUTIONS:

JDC.org

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization. JDC works in more than 70 countries and in Israel to alleviate hunger and hardship, rescue Jews in danger, create lasting connections to Jewish life, and provide immediate relief and long-term development support for victims of natural and man-made disasters.

JDC is primarily funded through the Jewish Federations of North America. Key JDC funders also include: The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Charitable Foundation, World Jewish Relief (UK), UIA Federations Canada, and tens of thousands of individual donors.