Middle and High School Age

The training programs often include basic schooling to compensate for the meager education of most of the immigrants. Through these programs, JDC-Israel is not only helping individual Ethiopians integrate into the Israeli workplace and ensure themselves dignified and gainful employment, but is assisting in the broader effort to integrate the Ethiopian community into Israeli society.

Centers for Adolescent Youth at Risk (Meitar)  employs young outreach workers to engage Ethiopian-Israeli youth at risk (ages 9-12) who are unable to find their place at school and display negative or delinquent behavior. This pilot program seeks to reach Ethiopian Israeli children "at their level" and get them involved in various enrichment and extra-curricular activities that build self-confidence and strengthen their connection to their home and parents. Meitar youth centers annually provide services to 150 alienated youth at high risk .

Dropout Intervention for Ethiopian-Israeli Junior High Students (Maleh)  is a school-based dropout-intervention program for Ethiopian-Israeli junior high students. It seeks to fully reintegrate dropouts and youth at high risk of dropping out into the normative classroom setting. Maleh creates a flexible and responsive environment with capable professional staff that is equipped to meet the varying needs of all types of students. In each school that Maleh operates, it develops individualized reintegration plans for Ethiopian-Israeli students most in need and trains a cadre of teachers and staff who are specially educated to work with student drop-outs. The program is unique in that it creates an intensive temporary framework that diminishes as the student reintegrates into the normative learning track. Maleh works towards generating systemic and communal support and commitment to reducing the number of youth who drop out of the school system.

Science Enhancement Program (Towards Excellence)  strengthens groups of junior high students of Ethiopian origin who excel in science. JDC and the Association for Excellence in Education joined forces to offer an enhancement program to guide Ethiopian-Israeli students towards scientific subjects. It establishes two support networks for them through studies in school and afternoon frameworks and by working with the parents and the students' teachers.

Vocational Training for Ethiopian-Israeli Students (First Chance for Industry)  JDC regards vocational training and job placement for Ethiopian immigrants as a matter of highest priority. These immigrants face overwhelming challenges: most arrive from agricultural villages, few have marketable skills, and a high percentage is illiterate even in their native Amharic. They require specially designed programs that are sensitive to their needs. Therefore, vocational programs for Ethiopian-Israelis include preparatory and pre-technology workshops, as well as courses to expose the immigrants to basic technology and to the discipline of regular employment. In addition, vocational training courses are specially designed for Ethiopian-Israelis in trades for which there are openings in the local market, as well as on-the-job training and enrichment courses.