The city of Jaffa has a large population of struggling families. These families are unable to provide their daughters with proper support, and at times we also come across physical and verbal abuse.
The Jaffa Daled/Gimel area has a significant lack in proper educational and social institutions to help the needs of the local population which results in many girls being out on the streets for most of the day. This type of reality leads to contact and friendships with negative sources.
At Ayelet Hashachar we know we can help these girls and we believe it can be done without removing the girls to a foster home. In the year 2000 we established “The Ayelet Hashachar Safe House” in Jaffa Daled to provide these girls with a local place to receive educational, social, and emotional support after school. The staff develops a personal relationship with each girl and works directly with the school, family and any other institutions relevant to the case.
Population:
Currently we have about fifty girls between the ages of 12 and 19 and each girl fits the following criteria:
· A family in need of emotional, financial and daily support.
· Involvement with negative, criminal individuals and other social issues.
· Communication challenges.
· School dropout or on the verge of being dropped out of school.
Objectives:
· Keeping the girls safe and away from the streets to preven troubling behavior, drugs, prostitution or worse.
· Creating a positive environment where the girls form relationships with caring, supportive individuals that guide them to a better life.
· The girls find empathy and emotional support that helps them work through their issues.
· Tutoring and enrichment that allows for better time management after school.
· Giving the girls educational tools to use in the work market.
Currently:
“The Ayelet Hashachar Safe House” is currently active three times a week in the afternoon and evening hours. The house provides various courses and activities for the girls to engage and participate. These activities help build the girls’ self-esteem and image and birthdays and holiday parties are also celebrated.
The house provides the girls a warm and safe place to start a better present and dream of a better future. They learn to trust another adult and know that someone truly cares about their wellbeing. The fact of the matter is that for these girls this is the only clean, safe home they know. Ayelet Hashachar provides the only positive interaction in the Jaffa Daled/Gimel area.
Prospective needs:
· The current building is in need of renovation due to ten years of use. While renovating we would like to add a kitchen. The kitchen will allow us to provide the girls with a daily dinner.
· We would like to hire a full time social worker and three more women to address all the needs mentioned previously.
· We would like to develop more courses to give the girls professional skills from the cosmetics field, which seems to interest, and keep them engaged and coming.
· Creating a sister branch in the Jaffa Gimel area will allow us to help more girls and expand our activity.
The cost of this project is tremendous and the upkeep is costly. Staff, activities, courses, enrichment and building charges are of staggering amounts. Due to lack of funding we are struggling to maintain this project available. Currently the yearly budget is 450,000 NIS and we have a pledge for 50% of the amount.
We would like to ask for your support to be able to keep this important project in place to benefit the local girls in Jaffa Daled/Gimel.
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