The infant and toddler years are the most formative of childhood. Delayed development, unmet needs, or suppressed growth can negatively affect a child’s abilities for years to come. WIZO believes in giving each child the very best start in life and does so for every one of the 15,000 children per year in its 182 Day Care Centers across the country.
Without WIZO
The price of daycare is often too high to make it worth a mother returning to work. This is especially true for children from low socio-economic backgrounds where a mother will choose to save the money and keep the child at home. As a result, the child may not get the educational and social stimulation he/she needs for his/her age and the mother will not re-enter the workforce, losing her salary and lowering her future earning potential.
With WIZO
WIZO offers full day care so that parents can go to work knowing their children are in the best hands possible. The Day Care Centers are priced so that mothers can go to work and provide vital financial support for their families. Children of all backgrounds spend their days in a warm loving environment with all they need to thrive and grow. The children gain developmental skills, get warm, nutritious meals, excellent education, play time and any therapies they may be needed.
Why Do We Need You?
WIZO seeks to maintain its high standard of care and professionalism in its current Day Care Centers and to continue to invest in its children, the future of Israel, by opening additional centers around the country.
“Thanks to WIZO, I can go to work feeling calm and secure, knowing that my son is in a great framework that gives him all he needs.”
WIZO nurtures, encourages and teaches children through Day Care Centers, Special Centers for children at risk, Emergency Frameworks and After School Therapeutic Centers. WIZO has become Israel’s leading organization for early childhood care and education with a special emphasis on children at risk.
WIZO’s main goals for CHILDREN are:
- To provide the best age-appropriate education while taking into consideration the unique variables of each child’s surroundings, as well as providing innovative programs for children at risk.
- To give young families the tools to improve their quality of life, strengthen their parenting abilities, ensure family welfare and give them tools for personal growth.
- To strengthen Israeli society by enabling more young parents to enter the workforce, especially women, and to create a leading, affordable and universal education system that ensures that each child will have equal opportunities.
To achieve these goals WIZO operates…
Day Care Centers: WIZO’s 182 Day Care Centers countrywide offer much more than childcare to over 15,000 babies and toddlers every year. Read More
Day Care for Children at Risk: WIZO operates “multipurpose” Day Care Centers that cater to children from families under the care of the welfare authorities, and offers full-day programs from 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Read More
WIZO USA is responsible for providing the operating funds for 12 Day Care Centers throughout Israel. Our job is to ensure that all Israeli children who need it, can receive care at a WIZO Day Care Center through our SPONSOR-A-CHILD PROGRAM (click here to learn more).
WIZO Florida sponsors the following DAY CARE CENTERS (DCC):
THE FALIC FAMILY DCC
Ma’ale Adumim, Jerusalem
Dozens of children currently benefit from the renewed emphasis on their education and well-being in these state-of-the-art facilities, located just 4 miles from Jerusalem. Language enrichment programs are initiated to cultivate and enrich language use by the children. The area is populated by families with both parents typically working for the Police, the IDF or the Israeli Prison Services outside the city.
THE MERCEDES AND MENAHEM IVCHER DCC
Mashtela, Tel Aviv
This Center serves mostly working mothers with infants and young children (6 mos. to 4 yrs.) from different socioeconomic sectors. The Day Care Center focuses on modern educational tools that encourage curiosity and new experiences, giving the children opportunities for self-expression in a supportive atmosphere. It provides meals and warm loving care throughout the day for the children.
PILAVIN GATES DCC
Rishon LeZion
Located in Israel’s fourth largest city, the Pilavin Gates Day Care Center serves the residents of a low-income area with a high rate of unemployment, also home to a significant immigrant population from the former Soviet Union.
VICTORINE CAMHI DCC
Giv’at Ze’ev, Jerusalem
Located in the center of Giv’at Ze’ev, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, five kilometres northwest of Jerusalem, this Day Care Center has been operating since 1984. The families of the 82 children attending this center are low to middle class, the majority of whom are blue-collar workers.
WIZO Beit Tzipora Educational Centers (Founded by Marion & Eliez’lb Wiesel, operated and supervised by WIZO): In the mid-1990s, soon after thousands of Ethiopian Jews were rescued from violence and persecution in Africa, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity created two Educational Centers for Study and Enrichment in Ashkelon and Kiryat Malachi. Read More
WIZO Emergency Frameworks and Foster Homes: For children at high risk who have been exposed to neglect and abuse, WIZO provides both short and long-term protection and care in homes with parents dedicated to raising them. The children are given security, counselling and support through rehabilitation programs that address physical and emotional trauma.
Other Activities in the Community: WIZO holds strong ties with many municipalities and communities and operates various “tailor-made” projects for a specific need.
Day Care Centers
Emergency Frameworks & Foster Homes for children at risk
Multipurpose Day Care Centers (or DCC’s)
After School Treatment and Learning Centers
Babies & Toddlers in Day Care Centers
Some of the PROGRAMS we offer are:
In order to assist parents to best care for their children, WIZO runs a free advisory call center for parents who need help or counselling on parenting difficulties. The only one of its kind in Israel, the call center is staffed by professionals who volunteer their time.
Established in 1989, its mission is to promote the social, emotional and cognitive abilities of children up to the age of six. The Center invests many resources in developing and promoting educational and intervention programs for infants, children and their families. On the premises, there is also a “multipurpose” day center as well as a resource center for families and professionals.
This project aims to identify and treat children with health, developmental and environmental difficulties, as well as children and their families who are in a state of distress and anxiety due to the security situation and to provide parents with advice, training and empowerment.
This program successfully integrates children with special needs into WIZO’s Day Care Centers, providing them with individual support from assistant caregivers and therapists. Following the success of this program, WIZO, in conjunction with ALUT – the society for children with autism in Israel, integrated “Alutaf” – classes for infants with autism at some of WIZO’s Day Care Centers.
All WIZO USA Day Care Centers offer the Parent and Child Literacy Program, a literacy program that provides specially selected Jewish heritage books over the year. Classroom teachers conduct lessons in class that can be continued at home. These books might be the only ones available at the children’s homes.