About the project
Kiryat Menachem was the first neighborhood adopted in the Adopt-a-Neighborhood program. This community has a large immigrant population and a significant number of families who are on welfare rolls. The strategic goals in this community are to:
Create a protective and affordable framework for neighborhood children, while allowing an element of flexibility for parents and children.
Decrease at-risk behaviors of young children in the neighborhood and prevent them from deteriorating to drugs and crime.
Foster a feeling of belonging, commitment and responsibility to open green spaces for both children and their parents, close to their homes
Create a community council that works together with residents to identify problems and devise solutions to them.
Much has been accomplished in Kiryat Menachem in the last three years. Beit Histadrut, a community center in the area and a sports hall both underwent renovation for use by residents and children. More children are able to take part in Mercaz Rachel, a program that helps children between the ages of 3-13 with learning disabilities. A Time Bank was created to empower residents to help one another. Residents donate their services and secure their services from another such that a lawyer can donate 1 hour of his services in exchange for 1 hour services from a plumber. Residents enjoy a toy lending library called the Toybrary particularly useful for those who cannot afford to purchase new toys. Residents who participated in various programming have had such an empowering experience that they have run for community council elections. Single mothers who participated in a parenting workshop run by the community council were so impressed by it that they created more sessions for more residents. Residents were particularly concerned about traffic patterns on a main street that endangered residents and they banded together to have lights installed. Some additional accomplishments include:
10 adults participated in a course for entrepreneurship and community building.
15 adults participated in mediation courses to handle community-based disputes.
The sports center and sports field were renovated.
Residents benefitted from various community garden activities including planting, environmental preservation and garden performances and activities.
120 children participated in various therapeutic activities in Mercaz Rachel including physical, occupational and emotional therapy.
15 Ethiopian children received subsidies to attend summer camp and another 30 attended theater camp in cooperation with the Jerusalem Theater.
21 Ethiopian women participated in a course at David Yellin College to teach them to be counselors for other Ethiopian parents.
15 senior citizens participated in theatrical performances and activities with the Jerusalem Theater Group.
A local kindergarten was renovated and equipped with supplies and furniture.
2,000 members of the community, from youth aged 14 to seniors aged 87, in cooperation with the local Community Center, participated in a “Time Bank,” where residents donate their time to other members of the community.
35 families participated in a “Toybrary” where they spend valuable time in a comfortable and safe environment, enjoying joint parent-child play activities, arts and crafts or reading together.
Dozens of youth at risk benefited from a new coffee house that recently opened to empower them while helping them cope with their daily challenges.
3,000 residents benefited from various programming initiatives of the Adopt a Neighborhood program.
100 residents took part in joint activities over the holiday of Hanukah.
1,400 families benefited from the community center that was renovated to include a synagogue, learning center, youth club and sports facility for Ethiopians;
The sports hall was renovated.
30 children from the 7th grade participated in the Mentoring for Success program that paired them with university student “mentors” for enrichment programs.
51 Ethiopian children from kindergarten through first grade benefited from a special program that develops basic learning skills, number recognition, and fine and gross motor skill development.