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The Social Development Committee of Haifa

Goals



• To improve the socio-economic position of Arabs in Haifa through community empowerment, activism and advocacy.
  
• To strengthen democracy in Israel by giving the Arab minority the capacity-building skills they need to increase their political and civil conciousness.
  
• To build co-existence between Arab and Jewish communities in Haifa.
  
• To encourage volunteerism and social activism within the Arab community.
  
• To provide the Arab community of Haifa with educational and welfare services that are not provided by the public sector.
  
• To promote the preservation of Arab heritage, culture and property.
  
• To strengthen the organization, improving work environment and improving financial reporting.
  

Main Activities



• Strengthening Community Participation: a 3-year capacity-building and organizational development project;
  
• Community Advocacy Project: an advocacy and lobbying initiative addressing critical issues exposed in our 2004 socio-economic survey of the Haifa Arab community;
  
• Community Action Against Home Demolition: legal campaign against proposed road expansion and building demolitions in Wadi Nisnas;
  
• Youth Leadership Dialogue for Peace: Arab and Jewish youth leaders working together for coexistence, later serving as counselors for summer camp;
  
• Mixed Arab-Jewish Summer Camp: an integrated summer camp with Leo Baeck;
  
• Preparation for First Grade: a teacher-training program that addresses the unique needs of Arab children in mixed cities in weekly meetings with children and parents;
  
• Protection and Detection of Abused Children: a teacher-training program and school curriculum against violence implemented in several Haifa Arab schools;
  
• Home Repair: assistance to Arab families living in uninhabitable public housing to make essential repairs;
  
• Warm Hearts: direct relief for community’s most impoverished members;
  
• Joint art initiative with Jewish and Arab Israeli, Palestinian, German, and French participants;
  
• Lobbying & Media: media campaign to educate and inform the public of critical issues, aided by lobbying and public participation for the Arab community.
  

Publications



• 1984-2004 Gaining Momentum - Celebrating 20 years of Activism (SDC 20 Year Report)
  
• Know Your Rights Handbook
  
• From the History of the Armed Palestinian Struggle - Strike and Revolution, 1936-39
  
• Discussion of Palestinian Poetry
  
• Guide to Vocational Education
  
• The Civil Rights of Working Youth
  
• We Want Our Rights Now
  
• The Significance and Role of Parents' Committees
  
• The Home
  
• Guide to Haifa 2002
  
• Arabs in Haifa 2001 - Reality and Needs
  
• Haifa, History and Memory
  
• Haifa Arab Streets
  
• The Socio-Economic Position of the Haifa Arab Community: Field Study