{"id":18560,"date":"2016-05-06T00:29:01","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T07:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=18560"},"modified":"2016-05-05T14:54:10","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T21:54:10","slug":"helping-those-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/05\/06\/helping-those-at-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping those at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shai Lazer, chief executive officer of Youth Futures, an organization that aids Israel\u2019s at-risk youth. (photo from Shai Lazer)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Shai Lazer, chief executive officer of Youth Futures \u2013 a program supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver\u2019s annual campaign, among others \u2013 visited Vancouver.<\/p>\n

A leader in the Israeli youth-outreach movement, Lazer describes himself modestly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am 36 years old, married with three kids, living in Modiin,\u201d he told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cMy hobbies are reading, traveling around the country and sports. My military service was very meaningful, as was studying in university at the Mandel Institute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lazer\u2019s modesty is deceiving, as he presides over a national organization with outposts in 36 Israeli communities.<\/p>\n

Youth Futures endeavors to help vulnerable children, their families and their communities cope with the painful and\/or challenging aspects of their daily lives. Started in 2006, Youth Futures works with all demographics of Israeli society, including every manner of Jew, Arab, Bedouin and Druze. Working with more than 12,000 people throughout Israel, Youth Futures designates around 300 professional \u201cmentors\u201d to facilitate the majority of the organization\u2019s outreach. Ultimately, Youth Futures\u2019 mission is \u201cto give every at-risk child in Israel\u2019s geographic and social peripheries the confidence, opportunities and skills to realize their inherent potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo
Shai Lazer, right, with Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver chief executive officer Ezra Shanken. (photo from JFGV)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But, as Lazer explained, the organization is continually expanding. On his mid-March visit to Vancouver, he spoke with his Canadian counterparts about the direction in which Youth Futures and similar organizations are heading.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was received incredibly well,\u201d said Lazer. \u201cI felt there was a real and honest dialogue about what\u2019s currently happening in the field, future endeavors, and meaningful conversation in private and in groups. All in all, the main feeling was that of partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lazer is no stranger to partnerships. Under his direction, Youth Futures\u2019 Kiryat Shmona branch currently benefits from Vancouver (22%), the Jewish Agency (35%), the Ministry of Education (38%) and the local municipality (5%) in partnerships and investment. The organization has grown dramatically since Lazer became director of the program in 2008, and even more since he became CEO. One of his achievements has been securing more government financial backing.<\/p>\n

Lazer became a part of Youth Futures when he was in university.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program was just started while I was in the second year of my studies in Mandel Institute,\u201d he said. \u201cI was approached to join the staff. I remember thinking that it was an interesting educational concept, and was drawn to the newness \u2013 the opportunity to create something new and redefining our approach to helping at-risk children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youth Futures uniquely uses the model of having a mentor reach out to the youth and families in their national outposts. Lazer believes that the idea of the mentor is the key to the success of the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI define a professional mentor by their ability to learn,\u201d he said. \u201cTo be able to stop, have some personal reflection and increase their learning curve \u2013 that and passion. Youth Futures chooses this model because it\u2019s the only thing that works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youth Futures has the statistics to show its effectiveness. For example, 78% of the youth showed increased self-confidence and ability to cope and 74% showed improved social skills; its alumni have a negligible school drop-out rate and 84% of them have shown the higher motivation required to qualify for more elite army units or to perform civil service. Lazer maintains that such positive numbers are directly because of Youth Futures\u2019 role in these children\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s because someone believed in them,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen someone believes in you, your confidence grows and you want to become part of the community. It gives you a sense of responsibility over the world you live in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lazer is adamant that his organization\u2019s model could be used in other countries to help at-risk children and the families and societies that surround them. And Youth Futures is actively looking to expand into North America.<\/p>\n

Building on his organization\u2019s momentum, and the foundation of 10 years of solid community outreach, Lazer believes the next decade for Youth Futures will be busy and successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen years from now, Youth Futures is still here, constantly expanding to more communities and to new populations \u2013 early childhood and high school,\u201d he predicted. \u201cWe\u2019re currently in the midst of planning the celebrations of 10 years of Youth Futures and launching the next decade. We\u2019re working on a \u2018journey book,\u2019 which will include interviews and showcase all different localities, a film, a big national event to celebrate with our participants and their families, a professional seminar, a reception to be held at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in November, and many more. We\u2019re also launching two new initiatives, expanding into intervention with early childhood parents, as well as starting an organization to help our alumni. It\u2019s an exciting time and we\u2019re looking forward to many new things coming our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan Dick<\/em><\/strong> is a freelance writer living in Toronto. His writing has appeared in the <\/em>Canadian Jewish News, and various other publications in Canada and the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shai Lazer, chief executive officer of Youth Futures, an organization that aids Israel\u2019s at-risk youth. (photo from Shai Lazer) Earlier this year, Shai Lazer, chief executive officer of Youth Futures \u2013 a program supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver\u2019s annual campaign, among others \u2013 visited Vancouver. A leader in the Israeli youth-outreach movement, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4329],"tags":[5759,4330,5757,5758,1959,5756],"class_list":["post-18560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","tag-at-risk-youth","tag-israel","tag-lazer","tag-mentorship","tag-tikkun-olam","tag-youth-futures"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}