March: A Month in Review

Education

In March, our Practical Refugee Education Program (PREP) reached 166 asylum seekers, each who received personalized higher education assistance from case workers in all aspects of accessing higher education. Thanks to our dedicated team of volunteers, ARDC was able to help 57 clients to enroll in online university programs, write applications for the next academic year in Israeli universities, and advocate on their behalf in accessing education.

In our tutoring program 45 students in higher education were matched with volunteer tutors on subjects such as statistics, computer science, English composition and more.

In addition, we are in our second month of the ARDC GED program part 2, helping 15 asylum seekers complete high school education which will allow them to later move on to university.

We also held two successful agriculture vocational workshops which drew students coming from as far as Holot. The workshops also drew in Israelis and internationals creating an environment of shared learning and community.

CLA (Community Leadership & Advocacy)

This March ARDC has expanded its advocacy efforts to specifically target Israeli audiences. We believe youth shape the future of our society; they are the change-makers. Over the past month, we were honored to meet a group of 16 high school girls who take part in a youth leadership program. We had an interactive workshop in Levinsky Park and took a tour of Neve Shannan, walking them through the history of asylum seekers in Israel.

Additionally, we met a group of young people from the Shalom Hartman Institute for a presentation on asylum seekers and a walking tour of Neve Shannan. The tour was organized jointly by one of our higher education students and his tutor, a student at the Shalom Hartman Institute. The tour was filled with lively debate and discussion.

We are very excited about our special community leadership program focusing on women in leadership this year! This group of Sudanese asylum seeker women has met once a week throughout March to discuss different kinds of leadership styles and female leadership in the community, in addition to mapping communities needs.

CORE (Community Outreach and Rights Empowerment)

This month, the community outreach team traveled to Ashdod to meet with a group of Sudanese asylum seekers at the local Fur Center. The purpose of the event was to reduce the information gap in areas outside of Tel Aviv. Information was provided on higher education opportunities in Israel, the RSD process, family reunification, and general legal rights in Israel. Thirteen community members attended the event and were given the opportunity to freely ask questions, which ranged in topic from medical needs to visa and status concerns. The community outreach team made plans to lead a similar

information session in Ashkelon next month.