Integration of Immigrants

Rescuing Those in Harm's Way

Today, UJA-Federation's programs are helping Ethiopian Jews become vital participants in Israeli life.

Read about several Birth to Bagrut participants who visited the United States in November 2010.

The head of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee speaks about Birth to Bagrut.

Since 1917, through our network of agencies, UJA-Federation has helped more than 3 million Jews escape religious persecution, economic hardship, or political oppression to build new lives in New York and, since 1948, in Israel as well.

Today, we continue to support programs that empower new immigrants and advance their integration into American and Israeli society. And whenever the need arises, our network agencies are there — helping Jewish people around the world reach safety, and overcome barriers to live full and productive lives.

The Challenge of Integrating New Arrivals

  • Within the past two decades, Israel has absorbed more than 1.5 million immigrants, constituting 20 percent of its population — mostly from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia.
  • 16 percent of the 100,000 Kavkazi Jews who have come to Israel from the Caucasus Mountains are unemployed, twice as many as native-born Israelis.
  • More than 50 percent of the 115,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel live below the poverty line.
  • 300,000 Jews have immigrated to New York from the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s.

UJA-Federation’s Response

UJA-Federation provides essential support to beneficiary agencies and grantees that help immigrants achieve full inclusion in society.

Last year, our collective impact helped provide:

  • Skills training for 9,000 high school graduates from the former Soviet Union (FSU) to better prepare them for their families joining them in Israel.
  • Preventive health care and medical treatment for 4,000 underserved Israeli women, including many from immigrant communities.
  • English-language classes every year for 3,000 local adults and teens from the FSU who have moved to New York.
  • Comprehensive educational assistance for 2,495 Ethiopian children in Rehovot who participated in the Birth to Bagrut program last year.
  • $1.1 million in interest-free loans to help immigrants from the FSU expand or start businesses in New York
  • Academic programs for 700 Kavkazi teens to help the next generation succeed in Israel.

Learn more about our network’s integration programs for immigrants or find help.

Your gift does so much for so many.