FIDEL – Association for Education and Social Integration of Ethiopian Jews in Israel

Background
The Ethiopian Jews came to Israel in two large waves of immigration: Operation Moses in 1984 and Operation Solomon in 1991. Today, of the 110,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel, of whom 34,600 were born in Israel, 60% under the age of 18. Once in Israel, this population suffered culture shock whose tremors are felt to this day. Established in 1996 by Ethiopian immigrants and veteran Israelis, the Fidel Association for Education and Social Integration of the Ethiopian Jews, works to bridge the educational, economic and social gaps that prevent full, positive integration of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel.
Fidel’s programming operates to improve the academic performance of Ethiopian children, to empower the Ethiopian community, to insure the continuation of Ethiopian culture, to train new leadership from within the community, and to prevent the alienation of Ethiopian youth from the educational system.

Organizational Mission
Fidel has set as its goal the full integration of the Ethiopian community into mainstream Israeli society, by bridging the educational, social, and economic gaps that serve as obstacles in achieving that end.

Fidel's Projects and Achievements

1. Social-Educational Mediators (Megashrim): The support, representation and mediation provided by these professionals has strengthened the ability of Ethiopian Israeli families to more cogently and forcefully present their needs to the educational system and has concomitantly sensitized the educational system to the needs of this immigrant group while providing impetus for positive change within the educational system. SEMs impact directly on the community, decreasing implicit and explicit drop-out rates and increasing parent participation in their children's education process. To date, Fidel has trained 139 SEMs, and imbedding them within schools has changed the way the Israeli school system relates to Ethiopian immigrant students and their families.

2. Parents Groups: With an eye to full integration, these provide parents with skills and tools necessary for assuming a positive role in their children's' education. This year, we operated 61 groups, with over 700 parents. In addition, in response to a need expressed by participants, an advanced course on community leadership and responsibility was formed.

3. The Yonah Bugalah Community School, Kiryat Moshe: The ongoing coalition formed by the residents of the neighborhood, the Moriah Fund and Fidel has enabled first through third graders to attend their own neighborhood school. In a clear affirmation of that success, the school year began with 101 students, in 2 first grade, 2 second grade classes and 1 third grade classes

4. The Netanya Initiative-Educational Network Model: Building on the successful partnership developed in Kiryat Moshe, the Moriah Fund, Fidel and CEI-PEA of New York developed a program for elementary schools with high percentages of Ethiopian students. Currently, 10% of the student body of the Netanya school system comes from the Ethiopian community, so 4 four schools in Netanya were targeted for intervention. The professionals working in these schools have experienced difficulty in helping immigrant students overcome the academic and cultural obstacles to success.

5. The Crisis Intervention Center for Ethiopian Youth at Risk, Tel Aviv Central Bus Terminal: This Center initiates, develops, and maintains contact with young Ethiopians who have become alienated from normative settings, such as work, school, family and the IDF. Its staff encourages and assists their clients to return to their previous frameworks, or, alternatively, helps to find other more suitable settings where these young people can succeed and thrive.

6. Youth Centers: The goal of the Youth Centers is to identify Ethiopian youth in their home communities who are in need of enrichment, counseling and support in order to prevent them from dropping out of normative settings and reaching the streets, where they are exposed to the violence, crime and substance abuse.