About Us
Established in 1982, by Dr. David Portowicz and Col. Ze'ev (Zonik) Shaham z"l, the Institute for the Advancement of Education in Jaffa (“the Jaffa Institute”) is a private nonprofit organization that assists severely disadvantaged children and their families living in impoverished neighborhoods in Israel, including in Greater Tel Aviv-Jaffa and Bet Shemesh.
Demonstrating our programs’ positive impact, the organization has a “Seal of Effectiveness” from Midot, a nonprofit monitoring association, and has twice received the Israeli Ministry of Education’s top prize for academic excellence.
Our Vision:
To create a community in which children are nourished, educated and supported so that they become strong contributors to Israeli society.
The Jaffa Institute works to provide program participants with the educational, nutritional, therapeutic, and social enrichment they need to escape the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
To address the needs of these individuals, the Jaffa Institute operates in some of the most poverty-stricken areas in Israel, where 50% of the population is impoverished, 30% regularly receive welfare services, and much of the population is unemployed. As a result of this socio economic distress, these areas are particularly vulnerable to crime, substance abuse, and nutritional insecurity. Consequently, many parents are unable to properly care for their children, which results in dire educational gaps, with numerous children in our service area dropping out of school before completing the 12th grade.
This past year through over 40 holistic programs:
We served over 3,000 children and teen with Education and Enrichment Programs
We served 2,863 people with emotional wellbeing programs
We served 6,383 families and children with Nutritional Security programs
We Served Approximately 60 unemployed women with our Economic Independence programs
