Community Based Voluntary Year Network Program

A year of community service offers to high school graduates all over Israel, an opportunity to take a part of intensive meaningful volunteering, before joining the army. This year includes social work, studies and life in an independent group of young adults. We invite those young adults to integrate social work and group life in their adulthood years as well as now. In the year of 2015-2016, a community service year was established in Yokneam Elit, by Rikma. A group of adult mission- based groups, from all over Israel, joined together to form a new, unique platform for young adults to go on a community service year which incorporates meeting adult community, and life of social fulfillment. Every group includes 10-20 young adults who volunteer with hundreds of children and teenagers, both in formal and non-formal education systems, during the mornings and afternoons. The community service year; which operates today in Yokneam, is undertaking a phase of economic independence. We have to finance our social work for three years, until the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Defense will be fully involved in financing the activity. The cost of this year is 250,000 shekels (62,500$). It includes renting costs, living costs of the volunteers (food, cleaning gear and apartment maintenance), and costs of activities, guidance and teaching. Today, the involved partners are: the municipality of Yokneam, Yokneam community center, ministry of housing and construction, and the Shahaf Foundation. The purpose of this campaign is to raise 30,000 shekels for the next year of service