Mifalot: Ensured Future

This program teaches employability and life-skills to at-risk youth from peripheral communities - both Jewish and Arab.

"Ensured Future," which began in 2012, uses soccer as a tool to develop the employment and social capabilities of at-risk youth. Our participants come from broken homes, deal with an array of emotional issues, and sometimes live in residential boarding schools, since they are unable to be cared for at home (these homes are known as “pnimiyot” in Hebrew). This project provides a safe and empowering place for these troubled youth to learn employability skills such as responsibility, team-work, and communication, and get them to believe in themselves and their own abilities. After completion of the program’s educational training (including seminars, day tours, and outdoor workshops), the youth earn a certificate certified by the state allowing them to work as guides, coaches, and counselors – a huge accomplishment and confidence booster for them. We currently have 940 youth in the North, Center, and South of Israel taking part in this program, including several “Ensured Future” projects for Bedouins in the South of Israel. Half of the beneficiaries are Jewish and the other half are Arab Israelis of all sectors.

Our original partner for the program was the Foundation for Children and Youth At-risk, but once it was recognized as an important and leading educational model, other partners joined in, including the Negev Development Authority and ORT Israel Schools, Israel’s largest educational network of schools and colleges.