Kivunim: New Directions for Special Needs Youth in Israel

Kivunim: New Directions for Special Needs Youth in Israel’s mission is to prepare young adults with disabilities for the challenges of independent living and integration with the community. Kivunim envisions a world in which people with disabilities are recognized as active, independent, and contributing members of society. Israel in 2020 is open more than ever to the integration of people with disabilities. However, many young adults with disabilities finish high school and find themselves lacking the basic knowledge, tools and experiences essential for independent living due to over-protectiveness of family and community during their childhood. Founded in 2003, Kivunim’s programs aim to reduce these gaps, allowing them to gain the lacking tools and experiences in a safe and supportive environment, while living away from home, thus starting the separation from their families and building their own independence. Our programs emphasize strengths and abilities, build self-confidence, increase independence and self-management skills and encourage social inclusion, thus steering them towards meaningful and productive lives and render them active agents rather than passive recipients of state services. Kivunim’s Wings and Carmel Programs support young adults (18-30 yrs.) with physical disabilities, sensory disabilities (vision/hearing impairments), chronic illness and associated disorders, brain injuries and high functioning young adults with autism. These are two-year transitional programs that bridge between the parents' home and independent living. The programs provide a framework for the participants to gain experiences including group living and life-skills such as managing their everyday lives, their health, financials, leisure time and social involvement, etc. Participants also join Israel’s National Service and/or receive vocational training. The Wing and Carmel programs currently include 90 participants who arrive from all over Israel and from all sectors of society, to train in apartments located in the Western Galilee (Nahariya and Haifa). The training apartments are purposely and strategically scattered in the community (and not centralized in one building like in other organizations) to provide further everyday integration experiences as community services, neighbors interactions, public transportation, etc. While the Wings and Carmel programs are our main programs, we operate additional programs to cover a wider age range, such as an enrichment program for deaf/hearing impaired middle-school youth, and a Supportive Housing program to support people with disabilities who are already living independently in the community and need some minimal counseling and assistance. Overall Kivunim serves about 200 people with disabilities a year.