Our Projects in Haifa
Our Project in Haifa: Shiluvim
Haifa's 5500 Ethiopian Israelis face serious challenges. Almost 45 percent of the adults are illiterate in both Amharic and Hebrew, and 70 percent of families live below the poverty line. Nearly 50 percent of the population is under age 18, and Ethiopian Israeli students do less well in school than their veteran Israeli counterparts.
The six-year Shiluvim project in Haifa is the first of its kind in Israel. The goal of Shiluvim is the empowerment of the Ethiopian Israeli community and its full integration into all aspects of Haifa society. Shiluvim is a partnership between Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Ethiopian Israeli community in Haifa, Haifa Municipality, and a variety of other entities in Israel. CJP has committed to raising $4.5 million dollars for the six-year project.
Shiluvim is a community empowerment, grass-roots model:
In each of the three regions of Haifa where many Ethiopian Israelis reside, there is a regional committee and focus area committees in education, employment, and family and community empowerment, healthcare. More than fifty Ethiopian volunteer activists serve on these committees, together with the Shiluvim professionals and Haifa Municipality professionals. These committees assess the needs of the community, plan the programs, make budget decisions, and assess the programs.
Twenty Ethiopian Israeli professionals work in the key Shiluvim positions, including Mulu Brahan, Shiluvim Director, the Shiluvim moked (center) managers; educational/youth coordinators, school mediators, employment coordinators, and health mediators.
In each of the three regions of Haifa where many Ethiopians live – East Haifa, West Haifa, and Kiryat Chaim/Kiryat Shmuel – Shiluvim operates a moked, a center. Community members come to the moked with requests for assistance in areas such as education and employment, and various types of meetings and workshops take place in the moked.
Most of the Shiluvim programs take place in the larger community – in day care centers; preschools and kindergartens; elementary, middle, and high schools; community centers; health clinics; and homes.
