PACT in Netanya
Detroit, Netanya and JDC: Working Together to Strengthen the Local
Ethiopian-Israeli Community
In September 2001, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit entered
into a new partnership relationship with JDC and the city of Netanya
in an effort to improve the educational opportunities of the local Ethiopian-Israeli
community.
Parents and Children Together (PACT) is a comprehensive, strategic,
city-wide intervention program in Netanya that seeks to provide comprehensive
educational projects and services for Ethiopian-Israeli pre-schoolers
by focusing not only on the child, but also on the family, the community
and the local professionals who shape these early years. In addition
to working closely with the local municipality and other non-profit organizations,
the Ethiopian-Israeli community in Netanya plays a central role in planning
and implementing the innovative, community-based approach, which PACT
embodies. PACT seeks to reach each and every one of the over 1,100 Ethiopian-Israeli
children (birth to six) in the city and provides them with the necessary
literacy skills, support, and enrichment experiences to prepare them
to enter first grade on an equal level with their veteran Israeli peers.
Beyond a simple funding relationship, PACT and the other programs will
directly involve professional and lay members of the Detroit community
in an ongoing and intensive manner through professional exchanges, mission
visits, and committee involvement with lay and professional leaders in
Netanya.
PACT Programs
Included among the programs initiated and sponsored by the PACT partnership
in Netanya are:
- Placement in pre-school frameworks for each and every Ethiopian-Israeli
child
- Direct home-intervention assistance for the most distressed families
- Promoting better nutrition, health care, and parenting skills
- Professional training for early childhood educators from the community
- A wide-range of cultural and social enrichment activities for the
child and family including music classes, science stations, summer
day camps, field trips, holiday celebrations, and scholarships for
extra-curricular programs.
Some of the PACT programs include:
- Literacy Enrichment in Classrooms
- PACT provides for literacy specialists to work in small groups and
on an individual basis in local kindergarten classrooms to help Ethiopian-Israeli
students to develop the emergent literacy skills necessary for entering
first grade. Creative activities focus on the developmental aspects
of written and oral communication.
- Adult Literacy Programs
- As part of the community programs that PACT supports, Ethiopian parents
will participate in creative Hebrew classes that emphasize basic conversational,
reading and writing skills, learning about Israeli society and cultural
norms and raising awareness about what their children are learning
in their preschool and kindergarten frameworks.
- New Kat-Gan Pre-School Framework
- PACT is opening new “Mini-Kindergartens” for 1 ½ to 3 year olds who
were not previously participating in any other day setting. The 5-day-a-week
program provides an enriching and stimulating educational environment
for the children, while at the same time, enabling their mothers to
participate in other PACT programs like Hebrew literacy, parenting
groups and more.
- Ethiopian Educational Liaisons
- PACT is enabling for Ethiopian-Educational liaisons to work in the
local kindergarten classrooms. The liaisons serve as the contact person
and cultural bridge between the Ethiopian parents and the Kindergarten
teachers. The liaisons also expose and educate the teachers and students
about Ethiopian culture and monitor that the needs of each Ethiopian
child are being met appropriately. PACT also provides the liaisons
with regular, ongoing professional training to enhance their skills
and develop the appropriate methods to carry out their complex, but
essential role.
- Community Enrichment Centers
- PACT provides an accessible, neighborhood-based afternoon activity
center that provides educational, cultural, and social enrichment for
Ethiopian-Israeli children and their parents. Ethiopian-Israeli instructors
and counselors organize regularly scheduled structured, creative, interactive
programs and recreational activities including arts and crafts, music
and movement, games, and theater.
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