Who are we?
The Northern Goals Association was founded in 2004 by the Rashi Foundation, one of Israel’s most influential philanthropies that is dedicated to reducing social gaps and promoting equal opportunities in education and social welfare in the geographic and social periphery.
For over 15 years, Northern Goals has been developing and providing services with the aim of creating a better future for people living in Israel’s northern periphery. We aspire to a reality in which every person living in the northern region of Israel has an equal opportunity to fulfill themselves.
Northern Goals specializes in five content areas:
- Early childhood
- Teenage girls and young women
- People with blindness or visual impairment
- Families living in poverty and exclusion
- Children and youth who have experienced sexual assault
In 2011, Migdal Or merged with Northern Goals and provides comprehensive services to people with blindness or visual impairment nationwide.
Northern Goals is active among a wide range of groups and sectors, across the entire northern region, reaching 100 different towns and villages. With a workforce of 750 working in a range of professional areas, we touch the lives of over 53,000 people every year.
What is the need?
The underprivileged status of the north of Israel is the result of many years of neglect. Northern Goals is determined to tackle this situation from its roots. This periphery region has unique challenges that require expert, professional and immediate attention. Our work targets two main groups that require intervention:
- Children and youth
- Families
What distinguishes Northern Goals?
We have a specific and specialist focus on Northern Israel. Our programs and services are adapted to 100 localities (out of 417 in the north) of different sizes and sectors.
Northern Goals has expertise in working with the Israeli-Arab sector, which comprises 54% of the region’s population and is made up of several distinct communities.
Thanks to our extensive organizational infrastructure, we are able to replicate and expand services quickly and efficiently. Today, we are proud to work with 53,000 service-recipients, which is constantly growing.
Northern Goals employs a cadre of well-recognized professionals with extensive knowledge and experience in their fields. They are our greatest asset!
What is our impact?
Many years of rigorous, targeted activity has resulted in significant impact within our target groups.
Steps – in the field of early childhood, there has been a substantial improvement among children with developmental difficulties who have been identified and received therapeutic intervention. The average number of developmental and emotional disorders per child has decreased by 31%, the number of children with severe developmental and emotional disorders decreased by 34%, and the number of children who do not need further developmental intervention rose nearly four-fold.
Horizon – our work with adolescent girls and young women is producing impressive results. Among 90% of the girls benefitting from our programs, there is a decrease in harmful behavior, among 80% there is an increase in self-confidence and sense of their own capability, and in social skills and involvement in the community, and among 65% we see improvement in their school achievements.
Family Forward – a program which benefits families in poverty and facing social exclusion – has succeeded in significantly improving employment status (79%), increase in number of families exercising their benefit rights (41%) and enhancing domestic financial management (34%).
Migdal Or – among people with blindness or visual impairment, 80% of our service-recipients report an improvement in their functioning, 73% are participating in a follow-on program, and 65% have been integrated into the workforce. There is also significant satisfaction with the Technology Support Helpline and with the Low Vision Clinic.
Kerem – the program for young victims of sexual assault, we find a significant improvement in the children’s functioning: for 72% in their behavior and disposition, for 71% in their self-perception, and for 68% in their ability to move forward.