Leo Baeck

Leo Baeck




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Ben Yehuda and Sprinzak Children-at-Risk Centers

AtRiskYouth03Haifa’s Kiryat Sprinzak and Hadar neighborhoods, adjacent to the Leo Baeck campus, are plagued by chronic unemployment and threatened by crime, drugs and poverty.  They are also home to Haifa’s largest concentration of new immigrants, the majority from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union, who live alongside low-income Arab and Jewish families. Nearly 40% of the neighborhoods’ residents are consistently unemployed, living on government benefits. More than 50% of those who are employed earn minimum wage or less, too often limited to menial jobs due to their poor Hebrew language skills.

ChildrenAtRiskCentersThe children in these families desperately need educational support, social/emotional intervention and positive role models. Leo Baeck first responded to this need in 1990 by establishing its first center for children-at-risk.  Children whose parents are unable to provide a warm and nurturing home environment due to unemployment, drug abuse, domestic violence, lack of stable family life and acute economic hardships are recommended to the Centers by the Department of Welfare. Today there are two care centers that provide a “home away from home” for 45 children (30 Arab and 15 Jewish) between 1:00 and 6:30 pm five days a week.

Each center is staffed by social workers, counselors, a loving house mother/cook, local and foreign volunteers including Leo Baeck high school students, soldiers, volunteers from local businesses, and university students from Haifa University and the Technion. Enrichment and recreational activities are designed to stimulate development, build self-esteem, motivate and raise awareness that education is the key to their success. Our staff social workers are trained to identify a wide range of learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and to provide special support and counseling to parents as well.

Upon arrival at a Center after school each day, the children receive a hot lunch followed by homework support before engaging in the Center’s activities. At the end of the day the children are fed a light dinner.  In July the Centers offer day camps from 8:00 – 1:30 pm. Many summer camp activities take place at Leo Baeck’s Main Campus.

When the children complete elementary school and are no longer eligible for Ben Yehuda and Sprinzak Children-At-Risk Center programming, we encourage them to become involved in youth activities at either the Ruth Center or the Clore Center.

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We deeply appreciate the contributions of our donors from throughout the world. Thank you for supporting Leo Baeck's programming and progressive philosophy!

Recent News & Events

Planting “Trees” to Fulfill the Dream of Israel’s Founders

By Rabbi Ofek Meir from reformjudaism.org Tu BiShvat is known as the Jewish Arbor Day, and as such, it’s the time each year when Israeli schoolchildren plant trees. Perhaps it’s no coincidence, then, that it was a teacher, Ze'ev Yavetz, who instituted the custom of planting trees on Tu BiShvat... … [Read More...]

The Leo Baeck Education Center in solidarity with Pittsburgh

Here, in The Leo Baeck Education Center, we continue our firm stance against anti-Antisemitism and racism in all its forms, as we stand in solidarity with our people and with all those who oppose hate and violence. … [Read More...]

Blog Categories

  • Afterschool Centers for Children-at-Risk
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Contact Us

Leo Baeck Education Center
90 Derech Tsarfat
P.O.B. 6283, Haifa 3106201
Tel: +972 (0) 4 8300 571
Email: DIA@leobaeck.org.il

Friends of Leo Baeck

Leo Baeck Education Center Foundation
5603 South Braeswood
Houston, Texas 77096
U.S.A.

Friends of Leo Baeck Haifa
c/o Israel Desk, Alliance for Progressive Judaism, The  Montagu Centre                     21 Maple Street
London W1T 4BE
United Kingdom

Leo Baeck Zentrum Haifa – Deutsche Abteilung
c/o Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft
Friedrichstr. 206
10969 Berlin
Germany

Freundeskreis des Leo Baeck Zentrums Haifa in der Schweiz
Switzerland

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