Yeladenu
(Our Children) Initiative
Rebuilding Northern Israel Through Strengthening Children’s Resilience
A Strategic Four-Year Initiative (2025-2028)
leading Collective Impact
Rebuilding Northern Israel Through Strengthening Children’s Resilience
A Strategic Four-Year Initiative (2025-2028)
Background
Since October 2023, Sheatufim’s “Yeladenu” initiative has strengthened resilience of children affected by conflict and displacement in Israel. Building on the emergency responses in the south, it now expands to northern communities facing trauma, social disruption, and economic challenges from ongoing hostilities. Recognizing children’s resilience as key to recovery and future stability, Yeladenu uses a systemic, multi-year approach combining immediate support with national level processes and infrastructure building. Through broad partnerships across government, local authorities, nonprofits, academia, and business, the initiative ensures coordinated, impactful action.
Developing a national resilience index
We have formed a partnership with JDC and ICAR to jointly spearhead a national collective process to develop a national resilience index – convening representatives from the Ministries of Education and Health, Welfare, Security etc.; academia, research and civil society strategic organizations to examine existing approaches to measuring children’s resilience, identify gaps, and consider potential frameworks for a shared assessment methodology.
Multi-stakeholder professional forums
Sheatufim has extensive experience in bringing relevant stakeholders together for collaborative discussions that lead to consensus and action. We will convene structured discussions focusing on specific aspects of children’s resilience, to facilitate the exchange of professional expertise that exists among Israeli professionals, where representatives from all sectors can jointly identify needs and develop concrete programs and coordinated initiatives. These forums will transform diverse perspectives into aligned strategies and practical solutions.
Encouraging Technological innovation
The trauma and resilience challenges facing Israel in the coming years are enormous and require the integration of technological innovation. We are promoting collaborations for the development and implementation of technological solutions to address these challenges. For example, we are working with Sheba Medical Center’s Innovation Center to adapt an AI-based application for youth mental health intake, to address the shortage of mental health professionals.
The three core programs here are those we currently lead and develop, based on field experience and diverse collaboration. As needs evolve, we will identify new challenges and tailor responses to provide comprehensive support, creating a dynamic ecosystem helping children heal, thrive, and contribute to renewal.
Community Parenting Centers – support and guidance to parents
Parents are the most important factor in building and enhancing their children’s resilience. When equipped with proper skills and support, their ability to buffer children from stress and trauma increases significantly. The parenting centers are designed to address the critical need to strengthen parents’ resilience, so they can provide stable and beneficial support for their children during the rehabilitation period and return to routine.
Program Highlights
The parenting centers will provide professional, accessible, and ongoing support for parents of children from infancy to age 18 in northern communities. The centers will serve as a community hub offering parents tools to cope with the impact of trauma and crisis on children and families, strengthen the family unit, and improve the parent-child relationship.
Planning and Implementation
In the first phase, three regional parenting centers will be established – in the Eastern Galilee, the Western Galilee, and the Druze sector. The centers will include spaces suitable for individual and group activities. Activities will take place both at the centers and throughout the local communities. The Ministry of Education will contribute 5 million NIS for the establishment of physical infrastructure.
School Tranquility Spaces – Helping children in their readjustment process
Returning home after prolonged evacuation poses significant emotional challenges for children. School-based Tranquility Spaces offer a crucial solution by creating “stability islands” within familiar educational settings. The pleasant and peaceful environment, alongside the group and individual activities, encourages the children to process their difficult experiences in a safe and supportive environment and receive tools for coping with stress and anxiety.
Program Highlights
Establishment of educational-therapeutic spaces in 40 elementary and secondary schools in the north, as part of a joint initiative with the Ministry of Education. The tranquility spaces will provide tailored responses to a variety of students’ emotional and social needs, creating a therapeutic, supportive, and accessible environment.
The Tranquility Space will serve several purposes:
- Group therapeutic response: A place for group therapy sessions that incorporate work on relationship-building and resilience.
- Resilience enhancement space: A platform for providing emotional support and promoting students’ mental well-being.
- Personal “time-out” space: An area for breathing, emotional release, and refocusing for students in distress.gap
Project Scope
As part of a joint initiative with the Ministry of Education’s Northern District, tranquility spaces will be established in 40 elementary schools in local authorities in the Northern District in 2025.
In 2026, tranquility spaces will be established in secondary schools, in special education institutions, and in the Druze sector.
Community “Shachar Centers” in Kiryat Shmona – local support for children
Over the past year and a half, children and youth from Kiryat Shmona have experienced significant trauma and upheaval due to the war and prolonged evacuation from their homes, forcing them to cope with disconnection from friends and community, educational gaps, difficulty readjusting to daily routines, and concerns about the future.
The Kiryat Shmona municipality identified the need to establish accessible and available spaces that would offer educational, social, and emotional activities focused on enhancing the personal and communal resilience of children and youth. he request by the Municipality of Kiryat Shmona to establish such centers was also influenced by the success of the Shahar Center we established in Tiberias for children and youth evacuated, primarily from Kiryat Shmona, where we conducted various resilience strengthening activities.
Objectives of the Centers:
- Provide a safe and protected environment for children and youth activities in various
neighborhoods of the city - Make resilience-building activities and emotional support more accessible
- Strengthen the sense of belonging and social connections among neighborhood children
- Support the reintegration into daily life in the city
- Offer emotional support in times of distress and anxiety
Program Highlights
The centers will provide immediate, accessible, and close-to-home support for children and youth returning home after an extended evacuation period. The establishment of the centers will be carried out by adapting and converting existing infrastructure, primarily in areas that are distant from the city’s current resilience and community centers. This will be done in collaboration with the Kiryat Shmona Municipality, the Ministry of Education, the Community Centers Company, and professional organizations specializing in resilience. The centers will offer group activities focused on resilience-building, as well as individual emotional therapy. There will also be a possibility of expanding the services to include supportive educational activities, such as academic gap-bridging support, workshops, and life skills training.
