One of the key elements in moving youngsters from trauma to recovery is their reintegration into the formal and informal education systems. A New Tomorrow is a comprehensive program to empower Northern communities by fortifying children and youth by means of informal educational intervention, utilizing students in northern Israel’s colleges to implement part of the program. The program will assist participants in their quest to return to normality, while overcoming tensions and fears and building their personal potential.

A New Tomorrow focuses on reinforcing recently questioned values and counteracting problematic extremist ideas that have surfaced. It bridges educational gaps that will widen when children try to return to a normal school situation while dealing with personal trauma, and provides educational and cultural enrichment as a means of dealing with this trauma.

The Need

In addition to the physical and financial damage suffered, communities in the north are coming apart at the seams as people in this tense reality are trying to rebuild their lives. As in many situations, the children are the first to suffer – they have undergone severe trauma during the war and their parents, the people on whom they need to lean, are fighting for survival. They are less able to fulfill children’s essential needs.

• The need for scholastic enrichment: Northern Israel’s children have begun to show signs of discontent and questioning. They have begun to voice anti-state feelings, question the obligation to serve the country and entrenched in "the country owes me" outlook. They have become less tolerant of others.
• The need for values enrichment: When northern Israel’s students return to school, they will still be recovering from the trauma of war. For many students, adjusting to the rigors of school, let alone passing their requirements, will be difficult. We anticipate that without supplemental assistance, they will fall behind their peers from other regions in Israel.
• The need for cultural enrichment:: Enrichment programs will have multiple functions – they will provide participants with fun activities that somewhat compensate for their feeling of a lost summer, they will motivate and cultivate participants’ self-esteem and confidence and they will keep participants occupied in a safe, structured environment that will provide parents with additional free hours in which they can begin to rebuild their lives.

The primary target population is children and youth ages 6-18 from confrontation line communities with emphasis on: children and teens at risk, including immigrant children and children from families of low socioeconomic levels. The list of targeted communities and the priority order for implementation was decided upon in collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Education.

Click here for a complete list of communities including number of students and order of priority for implementation.

Photo Credit: Naftali Hilger

Previous

Next