Triguboff Institute supports getting Bedouin kids off the street and into a greenhouse
Fifty formerly at-risk, school dropout youth from the Orchard Project vocational training course celebrated their graduation at Segev Shalom.
Shalom Norman, CEO at the Triguboff Institute, accepts a token of appreciation from Kineret Bar Gil, the director of the Segev Shalom Community Center. Next to him is Gadi Alfassi, director of the Neot Hovav Council, a partner in the project.
Gadi Alfassi, the director of the Neot Hovav Regional Council, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the directors of the Segev Shalom Regional Council all came to cheer them on.
During the community center based, six month course, the youth worked at Neot Hovav orchards and hothouses established as part of the project, and in setting up and maintaining community gardens throughout the town, while completing their high school studies and attend vocational training classes. The driving idea is to keep the youth off the streets, and restore balance to their lives.
Segev Shalom’s population is 10,000, 61% of which are under the age of 18.
The town belongs to the second-lowest socio-economic cluster of towns in Israel. The new course serves as an economic anchor to the troubled community.
The scholarship program covers a certificate earning course in gardening and entrepreneurship as well as provides gainful employment and business experience. Courses in core curriculum subjects such as mathematics, Hebrew and Arabic, (Libah) are designed to help the youth earn a respectable living doing skilled work in the future. In the opening cohort, 50 youngsters participated and were given jobs and earned salaries.
The Orchard Project is a joint initiative of the Naot Hovav Industrial Eco-Park and Segev Shalom Community Center, supported by the Harry Oscar Triguboff Institute.
