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Ashdod

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The city of Ashdod was established in Southern Israel in 1956, and today is Israel's fifth largest town and home to Israel's largest port and a booming industrial center. The original residents were new immigrants from North Africa, and the city grew by 150% during the 1990s with the immigration from the Former Soviet Union. Though Ashdod has grown drastically in the past twenty years, some of the city's key neighborhoods have remained in poverty.   
 
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Ashdod Citizen Rights Center
The Citizens Rights Center in Ashdod opened in 1998. The Center is located in a disadvantaged neighborhood populated by a mix of native Israelis, ultra-orthodox, and immigrants from Ethiopia and the Former Soviet Union. Clients come to the Center the from all parts of the city, including from the surrounding towns of Yavne, Bnei Ayish, Rehovot, and Gadera.

The Center, directed by Yona Deetman-Pearlson since 2005, assistants in an average of over 250 client visits each month. The Center cooperates with all local government agencies and there is no other organization in the area that offers free legal assistance, the ability to assist clients in Russian and Amharic (see graph), and community empowerment courses.

Recent Activities
 
In 2010 the Ashdod Center assisted 2,094 clients in solving poverty-related issues. The Center also implemented two groups of YEDID's employment readiness program, Let's Get to Work!, for a total of 40 participants. All of the participants were Ultra-Orthodox, and the course was designed to fit their special needs. Within a short time after completing the program, 80% of participants had found work in the fields of early childhood care, private tutoring, office management, sales, cleaning, and group facilitation or registered for additional courses in life-coaching, play therapy, or business entrepreneurialism. The Center has also implemented a course of Leadership Development Training for the Ethiopian Community.
 

2010