Israel Elwyn

Israel Elwyn's stated vision is a society in which people with disabilities are citizens with equal rights and can determine their own futures and ways of life.[4] Its mission is to develop and provide supports, accessibility measures, and tools for people with disabilities while pursuing service excellence and a just society.[4]

The organization's guiding values include equality, belief in people's abilities, accessibility, self-advocacy, communication, professionalism, openness, and organizational learning.[4] Its programs are intended to enable people with disabilities to take responsibility for their lives, influence their environment, and fulfill their needs, while promoting their inclusion in public and professional life.[5]

Israel Elwyn was established in 1984 as Jerusalem Elwyn, on the initiative of the Jerusalem Municipality and the Government of Israel, as an Israeli offshoot of the American nonprofit Elwyn, Inc. Its first programs included an Occupational Training Center and an Adult Day Center.[1]

In 1987, the organization opened Israel's first supported-employment program for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.[1] The following year, management of Jerusalem Supported Living Services—historically known as "the Swedish Village"—was transferred from the government to Israel Elwyn.[1] In 1989, it opened the first supported-employment program for people referred by the National Insurance Institute's Rehabilitation Department.[1]

The mid-to-late 1990s brought significant expansion. A transitional program for special-education high-school students aged eighteen and older was created in 1996 to prepare participants for employment.[1] In 1997, the organization established a Direct Mail Social Enterprise and opened its Haifa and Northern Israel branch.[1] Its first food-service job-training course, called "Mirkam," opened in 1998, the same year the organization adopted the name Israel Elwyn, became an independent entity, and ended its managerial ties with Elwyn, Inc.[1] Israel Elwyn joined Inclusion International in 1999.[1]

In 2010, the organization opened an accessible women's health clinic in its Jerusalem Supported Living Program, equipped with a height-adjustable examination table and an ultrasound machine. Completion of Willner Gardens that year made its main Jerusalem campus fully accessible.[1] In 2013, nine service recipients with intellectual and developmental disabilities completed the organization's first Jerusalem leadership-training course, developed with Beit Issie Shapiro to support self-advocacy groups.[1] The following year, more than 100 self-advocates, facilitators, and professionals attended its second annual self-advocacy conference.[1]

Israel Elwyn operates programs across the life span, including early intervention, youth and young-adult services, employment preparation, adult day programs, supported living, and accessibility initiatives.[6] Its programs operate with support and collaboration from Israel's Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, and municipalities nationwide.[3]

Early Intervention

Early-intervention centers serve children aged six months to three years who have developmental delays or autism.[7] Children receive occupational, speech, and physical therapy alongside preschool activities, with the goal of providing tools that promote independence and community involvement.[7]

Youth and Transition Programs

Transitional programs prepare youth and young adults for employment and adult life.[6] The "For a Change" pilot program, conducted with government, municipal, and civil-society partners, ran for four years and promoted volunteering by teenagers with disabilities in a range of organizations. After developing practical knowledge and tools for inclusion, the program was described as becoming part of daily life throughout Israel.[8]

Israel Elwyn also operates the "Integration in Uniform" program for young people with disabilities who received exemptions from military service, enabling them to volunteer in meaningful service roles.[9] Some participants subsequently enlist in the Israel Defense Forces as regular soldiers. The program was selected for operation by the IDF and Israel's Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs.[9]

Employment Training and Job Placement

Israel Elwyn's employment services include training courses, a pre-employment workshop operated on behalf of the National Insurance Institute, the "On the Road to Employment" support program for people living at home and their families, direct job placement, and social enterprises.[10] Its social enterprises include postal distribution, computerized document scanning, a laundromat, and a culinary training kitchen.[10]

Published employment figures vary by source and reporting period. A Ynet report stated that more than 1,200 workers with disabilities were employed in the open labor market with Israel Elwyn's support and that the organization accompanied 2,853 businesses employing people with disabilities.[11] A separate organizational page listed 1,500 supported workers in competitive employment across more than 2,800 workplaces.[12]

In a 2021 Jerusalem Post commentary, then-CEO David Marcu wrote that Israel Elwyn worked with employers during the COVID-19 period to retain essential workers, retrain people who had been furloughed or laid off, and place workers in roles including preschool aides, office workers, assistant chefs, kitchen workers, and merchandise arrangers.[13]

Supported Living

Israel Elwyn's Supported Living Services, founded in 1991, provide community-based living arrangements for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities in apartments in Jerusalem and Herzliya.[14] Apartments house two to six residents and are supported by direct-care professionals, coordinators, and social workers. Residents may work, attend employment training or adult day programs, participate in recreational activities, and use community resources, with individualized assistance intended to promote independent living and community inclusion.[14]

Legal Accessibility

In 2018, Israel Elwyn won a Ministry of Justice contract to make legal services more accessible to children and adults with disabilities by training legal-system personnel.[1] Its Accessible Legal Services pilot, developed with the Ministry of Justice and JDC Israel Unlimited, received an international Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies award in 2021 and a Zero Project Award in 2022.[1]

Adult Day and Retiree Programs

Adult day centers and dedicated retiree programs for older adults with disabilities complete the organization's lifecycle approach to services.[3]

Israel Elwyn promotes the public visibility and participation of people with disabilities through arts, media, self-advocacy, and civic campaigns. Its Community Living Services Theater Group includes actors with intellectual and physical disabilities who gain experience in dancing and acting with professional stage artists.[2] The organization has also announced public performances by artists with disabilities at Tel Aviv Savidor Station.[2]

In 2023, Israel Elwyn founded the Shavim band, comprising six singers on the autism spectrum between the ages of 17 and 25.[15] The band was established to give young people with disabilities a platform, support their participation in the community and music industry, and inspire other young people to pursue their ambitions. It has performed around Israel and at the President's Residence.[15]

The #Love_Kav campaign, conducted around the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3, 2024, promoted more accessible public transportation through ten practical tips for interactions involving people with disabilities on buses, trains, and at stations.[16] Members of Israel Elwyn's Spokesperson Group and other ambassadors distributed information at transport stops in Jerusalem, Ashkelon, Herzliya, and Haifa. The Spokesperson Group consists of people with different disabilities trained in media and communications and was founded with support from the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, Florida.[16]

Self-advocacy is a formal organizational priority. Israel Elwyn's self-advocacy program received Zero Project recognition in 2023, while a 2024 award recognized implementation of an evidence-based early-intervention model at its Early Intervention Centers.[1] Earlier Zero Project recognition included an entrepreneurial prize for the "For a Change" volunteer program in 2019 and an award for the "Creating a Future" transitional program in 2020.[1]

The outbreak of war following the October 7 attack immediately disrupted Israel Elwyn's early-intervention centers. The organization reported that the centers initially descended into chaos but organized a coordinated response within approximately two weeks.[7] Measures included remote services, occupational-therapy guidance for parents providing treatment at home, volunteer recruitment, shelter preparation, emergency drills, activities for children in shelters, relocation of centers without adequate protection, and evacuation of facilities near conflict zones.[7]

Residents of Israel Elwyn's Jerusalem housing network created 160 ceramic everlasting flowers and placed them on the graves of 160 fallen IDF soldiers at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl.[15] The Shavim band also recorded a song in memory of Noya Dan and Ruth Peretz, two young women with disabilities who were murdered on October 7.[15]

David B. Marcu joined Israel Elwyn in 1984 and served as its CEO beginning in 1993, later taking the title of Senior CEO and a more strategic role.[17] Israel Elwyn's milestones page records that Margalit Piller was appointed CEO in 2022 when Marcu became Senior CEO.[1] Marcu received the 2021 Sylvan Adams Nefesh B'Nefesh Bonei Zion Prize in the Community and Non-Profit category; the prize announcement credited his advocacy and leadership with advancing disability services and identifying services for immigrants with disabilities.[17]

Israel Elwyn's Israeli partners include the Ministries of Welfare and Social Affairs, Education, and Justice; the National Insurance Institute; the Authority for National Service; municipalities and regional councils; the Shalem Fund; JDC Israel; and professional and disability organizations.[18] Its international partnerships include the Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies, Inclusion International, AAIDD, IASSIDD, JARC Florida, Zero Project, and JEVS Human Services.[18]

Funding for individual initiatives has also come from philanthropic partners. The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation funded a professional culinary-training course, while the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County supported the Spokesperson Group.[5][16]

The Jerusalem Statistical Yearbook classifies "Kefar Salma - Elwyn Jerusalem (The Swedish Village)" as statistical area 1116 within the Ein Kerem–Kiryat Hadassah sub-quarter of Jerusalem. The area covered 534 dunams in the yearbook's 2020 table.[19] Israel Elwyn assumed management of the Supported Living campus from the government in 1988, an early expansion of the organization's responsibility for community-living services.[1]