Success Stories

JobKatif has been by the side of the families from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron since the week after the Disengagement. For the past six years, we have been working hard to help them get back to economic self-sufficiency.

Here are some of JobKatif’s successes, as of July 2011.

• Placed more than 2,200 individuals in new jobs
• Sent 460 people to vocational retraining courses
• Launched 263 new businesses throughout Israel

Here are some samples of what our ‘clients’ have said about us:

“Dear JobKatif,

We, the F. family, thank you for your help and for giving us a business grant. We thank Mr. Avery Harris (business counselor) and Mr. David Banjo (Director of Israel Operations), for the help, support and willingness to help. Despite the hardships we’ve had all the way, we really sense that your support was truly heartfelt. The grant gave us a breath of fresh air to keep going further. Again, thank you. Please continue your work to help others from Gush Katif!”

*****

“To David Banjo, Director of Israel Operations of JobKatif,

My name is A.T. and I used to live in Nisannit in Gush Katif. I’d like to thank you for the counseling and help that I got from JobKatif. The case managers  Sigal Harazi and Tzuri Genish are professionals who are dedicated to their jobs, and took care of me and my family in order to move on in life. After the Disengagement from Gush Katif, my family had many problems and hardships. The reality is that I’m a single mother and so your help really came at the right time. Thank you so much.

– With admiration, A.T. (Ashkelon)”

Many of the people who lived in Gush Katif were entrepreneurs with a love for the land of Israel and a fire for life. When they first arrived in the region, the area was filled with sand, hardly the topography for agriculture. However, they combined their love of the land with creativity and created innovative and alternative farming methods. The Gush Katif (“Harvest Bloc”) region actually made up 15% of all agriculture in Israel with many imports abroad.

Since many of the people were farmers whose livelihood was directly connected to the ground on which they worked, the Disengagement left them not only without homes, but without jobs as well.

They had to look for new types of work. A major problem was that much of the population only had training doing agriculture. Moreover, they were relocated to places without public transportation making it impossible for them to find steady jobs.

JobKatif was specifically created to resolve the employment needs for the people of Gush Katif.

Our life coaches– themselves former residents from Gush Katif– understand the population of post-Disengagement job seekers. These professionals stay updated on the financial and emotional state of each family, and guide them on practical options.

Click on the link below for a short video about JobKatif’s successes:

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