Among the special programs of Mifalot are:
The Game of Life
For special needs populations
Children, youth and adults suffering from mental and physical disabilities, communication impairments, autism, and behavioral disorders from all sectors, take part in this unique program. Its goals are to strengthen life skills development, provide sport and healthy lifestyle training, teach coping mechanisms for one’s social stigma, and create a positive self-image. The project is one academic year long and models social integration and life skills training in a way that carries over from the field and group discussions into everyday life. Today, over 2,500 individuals with special needs participate in our programs in over 150 projects all over Israel. Mifalot works in cooperation with our national partners: the Israeli National Insurance Institute, The Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Social Affairs, and our local partners: disability institutions across Israel, such as the Levtzaler Residence in Herzliyya, Kfar Tikva in Tivon, and AKIM Israel.
Know Your Neighbor
Shared living
This program brings together boys and girls from diverse backgrounds -- Jewish, Muslim and Christian, Arab, Bedouin, Druze, immigrant, and refugee – to play together on mixed teams, create friendships, learn peace values, overcome stereotypes, and become “change agents” in their local communities. Mifalot works with academic experts to evaluate the social impact of this project and the results are extremely encouraging. Based on pre-, mid- , and post- evaluations, almost all the children who participate demonstrate an almost complete abandonment of negative attitudes towards the other side. Especially during tense times, this program is a shining light of hope for the ability of children to see past skin color and religion to find what unites us.
Civil Service Programs
Social inclusion
The civil service program is a Mifalot initiative created in 2009 and designed for full-time, young-adult volunteers who are not recruited for service in the IDF, including Arab Israelis, ultra-Orthodox, and Jewish young-adults at risk. The volunteers, both male and female, receive extensive training and serve for hundreds of hours each in their home communities. Particularly for our Arab Israeli participants, the program helps them enjoy greater social equality and more basic rights, including financial benefits in the short term and helping to eradicate discrimination in the longer term. At the grass roots level (local government and civil society) there is a growing movement to support civil service for Arabs that would empower local leadership, serve the local community, and attain equal rights.
Ensured Future
Employability skills for youth at risk
This program, which began in 2012, uses football 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 over 700 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. 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.
Beyond the Net
Female empowerment
A female empowerment program designed to bring more females into Mifalot’s activities by offering a sport that is more attractive to girls than football: catchball, a sport based on volleyball. It promotes values of cooperation, healthy lifestyle, leadership, and self-esteem. Participation in the program gives young girls higher self-confidence, an enriching social experience, and in many cases, a road to future employment as sports counselors. Mifalot works with Jewish girls in local schools and residential boarding homes, Bedouin girls in the Negev, and Arab Israeli girls looking to change cultural stigmas surrounding females and sports.
