First Ladies Visit JDC's Hafuch al Hafuch Youth Counseling Center in Israel

When Hillary Rodham Clinton asked Israel's First Lady, Nava Barak to show her a flagship Israeli program for helping troubled teens, Mrs. Barak brought her to a JDC-sponsored Hafuch al Hafuch Teen Center in Kfar Saba, part of a larger network of such facilities.

As JDC's Associate Executive Vice President Steve Schwager explained to Mrs. Clinton, Hafuch is another important facet of JDC's operations in support of Israel's most vulnerable populations. At the center, teens can find company, professional counseling, or just a quiet place to relax. Often, Israeli teens who suffer violence or other forms of abuse have nowhere to turn.

At Hafuch al Hafuch, a project of the Ashalim partnership among JDC, the Israeli government and UJA Fedration of New York, teenagers can enjoy a relaxed time in either a lounge or coffee-house setting. While there, they have the choice of sitting down with friends, or reading material on how to deal with stress, domestic abuse and an array of common teen problems or situations. Concerned with the small but disturbing occurence of violence against teens in Israel, Mrs. Barak has been a leading supporter of Hafuch and a number of other important social programs in Israel.

After touring the facility, Mrs. Clinton praised the program and addressed the audience on the importance of such programs and the universality of the social dilemmas faced by teens worldwide.