16 Feb 2011
Seventy percent of participants in YEDID´s employment empowerment course find work during course of the project. The women report not only gaining employment but also a sense of purpose and self-confidence.
Kiryat Gat
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The city of Kiryat Gat was founded in the 1950s by eighteen families who immigrated to Israel from Morocco. Kiryat Gat grew from a small development town as waves of immigrants inhabited the city from North Africa, and more recently from the FSU. This city of 48,000 has one of Israel’s highest unemployment rates and average salaries are well below the national average.
The Kiryat Gat Citizen Rights Center
YEDID opened its Kiryat Gat Citizen Rights Center in 2003, and it quickly became a place of refuge and hope for the region’s most impoverished citizens. Since then, over 1,700 clients have been assisted each year through the Kiryat Gat Center and two satellite centers located in Nehora and Even Shmuel. Center Director Yahalom Ozeri and 35 volunteers aid vulnerable clients with a variety of concerns, including debt management, housing problems, social security and employment.
Recent Activities
In 2010, the Kiryat Gat Center, including the Satellite Centers of Nehora and Even Shmuel, assisted 2,149 low-income clients. The Center is also home to several community programs, including Accessible Communities (funded by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago), a unique program for special needs residents, both adults and youth that offers after-school programs for youth, a summer camp, and an information center for parents. The program also works to raise awareness of the needs of disabled community and has successfully opened an office in the Municipality to serve the special needs community.
The Center also hosts an active Communities Organizing for Change group, which has already succeeded in rehabilitating the local Hashlosha Park with funding from the municipality. The group has also secured funding for an environmental survey of the Lachish Stream, and will continue to promote environmental awareness in the area. In 2011 the Center has also hosted two groups of Let's Get to Work!, YEDID's employment readiness program for women (funded by the Rosenzweig Coopersmith Foundaiton).
The Kiryat Gat Center is generously supported by the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.