Since 1997 the Sauwa Center has served as a childhood development and therapeutic center for at-risk Arab families of low socio-economic status. One of Leo Baeck’s satellite community centers, the Sauwa Center is the only non-profit center in Haifa that provides a variety of free or low-cost therapeutic and educational services to Arab families at-risk.
The Sauwa Center is strategically located in the heart of the Hadar and adjacent to the densely-Arab-populated Wadi Nisnas neighborhood so that the Arab community has immediate and convenient access to our services. The Center is open six days a week and is staffed by a team of nine remarkable individuals, including a Center Manager (a social worker by profession), a psychologist, a social worker, two kindergarten teachers, two enrichment club instructors, a secretary and a housekeeper. The center also has three university student interns who are completing degrees in social work, occupational therapy and psychology.
Approximately 350 Arab children-at-risk from birth to age seven and 150 parents participate in Sauwa Center programs on a weekly basis. All of the Center’s services and programs are offered in Arabic. Four categories of services are provided:
Individualized Therapy
Following referral to the Center by Social Services, the Sauwa Center’s multidisciplinary team creates intervention and treatment programs that meet individual and family needs. This may include counseling sessions with a psychologist or social worker and/or occupational therapy. We are planning to add a speech therapist to our staff in 2015.
Children’s Enrichment Programming
Our children’s programming includes:
- Sensory & Motor Developmental Classes with a physical education teacher in a specially equipped room at the center
- A Sunday Enrichment Club that provides children with enrichment, recreational activities, and a hot lunch on Sundays (a regular workday in Israel, but a day when Arab schools are closed)
- First Grade Preparation Classes that boost participants’ self-confidence, motivation and learning skills
- An animal therapy club where children learn about animals and also expand their ability to show empathy and care
- A dance and music club to further develop motor and cognitive skills, and
- Summer programs which are offered throughout the months of July and August
Every year, many Sauwa Center children participate in Leo Baeck’s Arab-Jewish Summer Camp as well.
Parenting Programs
Family and Parenting Programs at the Center include:
- Parent-child enrichment groups
- A Therapeutic Fathering Course
- A Parenting Group for Mothers
- Postpartum Counseling
- Healthy Cooking Workshops
- A new “Mother to Mother” support and mentorship group for young Arab mothers at-risk, in collaboration with the Oranim Academic College of Education
- Field trips to community activities for parents and children.
Community Shared-Existence Activities
The Sauwa Center also collaborates in a wide range of Leo Baeck family-oriented shared-existence programs, including:
- “Holiday-of-Holidays” multi-religious events in December
- “Sukkat-Shalom” events during the High Holidays and Sukkot
- The bi-lingual “Cultural Rainbow” program for kindergarteners