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At-Risk Young Women in Israel Build Skills to Lead a More Fulfilling Life
Amita, 21, was removed from her family home by court order at the age of 12, when it became clear that her father had been abusing her. She was placed in the care of a residential school until age 18. Exempt from military service because of her difficult personal background, she volunteered to carry out national service. However, once her service came to an end, Amita had nowhere to go and no means by which to support herself financially.
Amita’s at-risk childhood and the length of time she had spent in an institutional environment meant that she was ill-equipped to progress independently into young adulthood, despite having completed the necessary formal education. Having spent formative years in a residential school, she needed to learn how to overcome the social barriers attached to the culture of dependency prevalent in such institutions. Before the Employment Initiative — a joint project of JDC and the Government of Israel Amita and other young adults like her had literally nobody — family or government agency — to help them make this transition. Young adults are one of groups being targeted by the Employment Initiative, which seeks to break the cycle of poverty that exists for nearly 750,000 "chronically unemployed" individuals in Israeli society by helping to address the cultural, social and other barriers that they face to employment. Through the Initiative, custom-tailored programs are providing five target populations shown to have the greatest need for supported assistance in entering the workforce — immigrants, people with disabilities, Haredim, Arab-Israelis, and young adults — with both the soft and hard skills required to help them find and keep decent jobs. Amita was identified for participation in the Employment Initiative’s Gesher (Bridge to Life) program, which is providing her with the necessary guidance, support and resources to find employment and establish herself as an independent adult. For example, program staff suggested that Amita take a careers test to determine her natural aptitudes and talents. Now staff are helping Amita to find work, and she has received funding to complete an accounting course. "I would never have known from where to begin," admits Amita. "Now I am getting the resources to become better than the environment in which I grew up." Amita is also being provided with accommodation in an apartment in Hadera, which she shares with other girls on the program. More than just a roof over her head, the program is providing Amita a stable home environment and a support network of peers who are facing similar challenges. Without the program’s assistance, Amita would have had little hope of developing the soft skills — work ethic, ability to communicate effectively, team work, meeting employer expectations, diligence, and ability to learn, among other — which are key to entering the workforce today. She would also have found it very difficult to cope independently with life in an unstructured environment, having spent so many of her formative years in institutional care. Gesher was able to address Amita’s needs by reaching out to frameworks for youth-at-risk such as residential schools to identify those who need this crucial assistance. It was also able to meet Amita’s needs by providing her with a new home environment in which to facilitate her development of tools needed for self-sufficiency. Furthermore, through addressing her long-term needs, the program is providing her with direction for a gainful career path. Amita is one of an estimated 100,000 young adults aged 18-34 in Israel without a family support network. The Gesher program will be reaching at least 80 young adults by the end of 2006. "My friends and I want to tell others like us that there is hope for something more than what we have known as children," says the courageous young woman. The program’s long-term goal is to formally integrate its services into Israel’s welfare system, ensuring that in the future others like Amita will have appropriate support in the transition from a childhood without family to independent adulthood. April 2006 |
