Page 51 - Companies Report 2018 public

The National Project for the Ethiopian Community in Israel (ENP)
Founded in 2004

ENP's mission is to ensure the full and successful integration of Ethiopian Jews into Israeli society in
a partnership between the Government of Israel and Diaspora Jewry, with the full and active
involvement of the Ethiopian-Israeli community itself. It carries this out by addressing the most
pressing social and educational needs of Ethiopian-Israeli youth aged 13-18, their parents and the
leaders that can impact their lives. Due to ENP’s success and at the request of the Government of
Israel, ENP has expanded its program from 19 cities with 3,413 students to 28 cities with 5,015
students and now includes 20% non-Ethiopian-Israeli students in the program. Through its work,
ENP is transforming the lives of its participants and ensuring that the Ethiopian-Israeli community
has a brighter future.

ENP’s impact is unmatched: ENP's SPACE (School Performance and Community Empowerment)
program has provided assistance to between 12 to 25% (in different years) of 12th-grade Ethiopian-
Israeli students and has played a key role in improving matriculation scores. In fact, for ENP
participants the matriculation rate has now surpassed the national Jewish matriculation average,
with a rate of 82% compared to 71%. ENP participant performance has also demonstrated a
substantial comparative advantage over Ethiopian-Israeli students of similar demographics in
schools who did not participate in the program .

Further, a recent evaluation on the socio-emotional support component of ENP SPACE found that
ENP’s holistic methodology is an important component that has been assimilated in the schools
and is an integral part of the practices to promote Ethiopian-Israeli students. The students who
participated in the study also noted that the socio-emotional component contributed greatly to their
personal empowerment, conceptualizing their future and increasing their motivation.

Target Population
The Ethiopian-Israeli population, currently standing at 148,700, has great potential to be fully
integrated into Israeli society, but faces tremendous challenges. Their economic and social
deprivation, combined with a crisis of cultural transition, has a hugely negative impact on every
aspect of their lives -- especially of their children, 32% of whom live below the poverty line. In a
thorough mapping, ENP has identified close to 9,000 7 through 12 graders who are in dire need
th
th
of ENP programs.

ENP: A Unique Partnership
A unique partnership between the Jewish Federations of North America, the Government of Israel,
representatives of Ethiopian Jewish community organizations, The Jewish Agency, the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Israel (JDC-Israel) and Keren Hayesod-UIA, ENP unites
those dedicated to advancing the Ethiopian-Israeli community, adopting the following strategies:
• Empowerment: A grassroots effort on a national scale, ENP involves the Ethiopian-Israeli
community at every stage of the creation, implementation and evaluation of ENP's
programs.
• A holistic approach: ENP programs take a “bigger picture" of the cultural, social and
emotional challenges faced by Ethiopian-Israeli teenagers that hinder their academic
success.

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