The Needs of Youth in Nazareth Executive Summary and Recommendations

The project to identify the needs of youth in Nazareth was the fruit of an initiative of the heads of the Nazareth Municipality, who sought to improve services for youth in the city. The JDC-Brookdale Institute responded to a request from the Nazareth Municipality to help compile data on youth that could be used in planning municipal services for them. The project included various research activities, including (a) a survey of 729 students in grades six through eleven; (b) a survey of 98 youth who had dropped out of the formal education system; and (c) mapping of the city’s 76 informal education and recreation services, through interviews with all of the directors of those services. The project was conducted jointly by staff from the Nazareth Municipality and the JDC-Brookdale Institute.

Beyond contributing to our knowledge about the needs of youth in general, it is significant that this study was conducted in the large Arab city of Nazareth, given the pressing need to identify needs and plan services for them. While statistical data indicate significant gaps between the situation of Arab and Jewish youth in key areas, the level of services and resources provided to Arab youth remains relatively low, and is inadequate. In addition, professionals are concerned that the confusion and dilemmas arising from rapid changes in Arab society in Israel also lead to social problems and risk behaviors. This project was meant to help establish a base of information and knowledge about Arab youth and the services they need.

The project is based on the principles of comprehensive planning, which recognizes that youth have needs in many areas. Therefore, data were collected on the main aspects of life for youth in Nazareth, with the aim of examining their needs from their perspective. The main subjects examined from the youths’ perspective were socio-demographic characteristics; school; organized and non-organized recreational activities; work; social life, including marginal and violent behavior; values; the youths’ relationship with their parents and other adults; and the youths’ attitude toward their neighborhood, toward Nazareth, and toward its services.

In designing the study, special emphasis was placed on informal education and recreation. In Israel, it is recognized that informal education services play an important role in the system of services for youth. However, the study revealed significant gaps between the youth’s needs in this area and the solutions currently available to them. Similarly, since dropping out puts youth at severe risk, special attention was paid to their needs through a survey conducted among those who had dropped out of the education system and remained disattached from any normative framework.

A discussion of the findings by a joint research team of the Nazareth Municipality and the JDC-Brookdale Institute has led to the formulation of many conclusions about the direction of development of services for youth in the city. Following discussion of the findings and review of the interim reports that have been disseminated, action has been taken by municipal and other staff. The conclusions of this discussion has and is continuing to serve as the basis of a comprehensive planning process for all local services, which will help them better serve the city’s youth. Examples of the steps already taken following these conclusions are the development of informal education services, and the formulation of a municipal system-wide strategy to address violence in the schools.

The findings of this study are meaningful to national policy development in Israel, as well, as this is one of the few studies to offer a comprehensive picture of the needs of an entire youth population. For example, the findings on dropouts have been used extensively in a special report commissioned by the Knesset regarding school dropouts and school disengagement (Cohen-Navot et al., 2001), as well as in the work of a special Knesset Committee established to develop recommendations on how to more effectively address the problem of school attrition.