Tamir

The Tamir Pre-military Preparatory (Mechina) Program is a non-profit organization established in 2003 in the development town of Katzrin in the Golan Heights to address the phenomenon of youth at-risk in Israel’s peripheries through development of an educational/social model which equips youth with tools, skills and motivation for personal transformation, preparation for military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and assuming a variety of leadership roles in the future. Tamir accepts high school graduates from all over Israel for a one year program prior to their military draft, many of whom have not adequately developed “foundational childhood skills like stress management, secure attachment, and self-regulation [that…] enable them to develop the requisite mindsets for long-term success: a growth mindset, self-efficacy, a sense of belonging…Once youth have these mindsets, they are able to develop resiliency, academic tenacity, and a sense of agency…With these social and emotional building blocks for support, adolescents develop self-direction, curiosity, and civic identity, [all] skills undergirding independence.” No applicant is turned down because of poor school grades, troubled backgrounds, or the family’s inability to pay tuition. Accordingly, many students come to Tamir with low expectations; of themselves, the program, their future compulsory military service, and mostly their chances to succeed and break out of the cycle of poverty and stagnation they see as the norm in their homes and communities.