In Orot Israel College’s Department of Informal and Communal Education, the curriculum takes the students beyond the classroom and out to the real world. First-year students whose concentration is youth advancement recently visited four different programs for at-risk youth: a “therapeutic” coffee shop and three youth advancement units. The tours were designed to enable the students to gain a better understanding and appreciation for Israel’s various youth advancement frameworks.
Located in Be’er Sheva, the Kapit Coffee Shop is run by the ELEM (Youth in Distress in Israel) organization and serves as a voluntary social and recreation center for teenagers. The staff is comprised of professionals and volunteers who deliver workshops and other activities and are available to speak to the kids “on their own terms.”
Set up by the Education Ministry, the youth advancement units are geared for at-risk teens who were unable to adjust or to find a place within the formal educational frameworks. These units allow the youth to complete their education through assorted educational social activities as well as employment training and counseling. Many Orot students work at these youth advancement units as part of their practical fieldwork.
As noted above, the first-year students visited three such units. At the Ramle unit – which caters to Jews, Christians, and Arabs - assimilation and its prevention are primary concerns. The students observed how the staff tries to respect the different populations while keeping them apart.
In Ashdod, the unit offers a wide range of individualized programming for teenagers from the city’s various population sectors – including native Israelis, new immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia, and charedim. Orot students were introduced to the local youth employment initiative, which trains the kids and helps them develop important business skills.
Finally, in Beitar, the students learned how the unit’s programs and activities are tailored to meet the charedi community’s specific concerns and values. However, at the same time, the staff works hard to avoid stigmatizing the charedi at-risk youth.
The first-year Orot Israel College students enjoyed the four trips and agreed that they were very valuable.
“In general, the tours were outstanding, Baruch Hashem,” one student enthused. “We learned a lot, and we met amazing people.”
A second student concurred. “I was glad that we went to different units, in order to see the programs operating in real time, and not just in a theoretical manner in a classroom setting. The units are diverse and show us the unique features that each unit develops for itself, according to its own particular needs.”
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