Raising Israel's Next Generation
Our main goals:
To provide the highest quality early childhood education, as well as create innovative programs for children at risk.
To give young families the tools to improve their quality of life, strengthen parenting abilities, and ensure the family's wellbeing.
To strengthen Israeli society by enabling parents to achieve financial stability, particularly mothers, through an affordable and universal education system.
To empower and develop early childhood professionals at WIZOs' day care centers and early childhood programs.
To reach these goals, WIZO operates the following:
Day Care Centers
Our 167 day care centers countrywide offer much more than childcare to over 12,000 babies and toddlers ages 0-3. Each preschool center is run by professional staff that provides emotional and developmental support to each child. WIZO creates a warm and secure environment in which the children thrive. Ten of our day care centers operate in public institutions such as hospitals and universities so as to enable professional working mothers to build careers.
Parental Support
WIZO is not only an industry leader in caring for young children, it is also an organization with a wealth of expertise and knowledge for parents of babies and toddlers. We share that expertise via our free parent hotline, a website with videos, articles and blogs, as well as through in-person and virtual workshops for parents that take place throughout the year and cover a variety of topics. When parents are supported, children thrive.
Virtual Pedagogical Center
WIZO’s Online Resource for Early Childhood Educators: a platform for all things early childhood education. With curated content, interactive workshops, and a rich resource library, it is intended to support WIZO’s educators and caregivers every step of the way. It’s an online community with personalized support, professional development, and endless inspiration.
Parents Helpline
In order to assist parents to best care for their children, WIZO runs a free advisory call center for parents who need help with immediate issues or counselling on long term parenting difficulties. The only one of its kind in Israel, the center is staffed by nearly 70 licensed professionals who volunteer their time. The Parents Line has an accompanying website (www.kavhorim.org) that is regularly updated with trainings, studies and reflections, reading material and videos.
Comprehensive Day Care Centers
A handful of our day care centers offer extended care in what's called a multipurpose or comprehensive framework. Intended to support at-risk children, single mothers and other families who are struggling financially or emotionally, these longer-hours centers offer care from 7 am until 7 pm and include three hot meals and additional support for the child, siblings and entire family.
Sifriyat Pijama (PJ Library)
PJ Library (in Hebrew “Sifriyat Pijama”) is one of WIZO's flagship early childhood educational programs, encouraging toddlers and their families to discover the joy of reading. In partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, PJ Library benefits over 5,000 families every year. Each month, every child receives a carefully selected book to take home. In class, the book is read accompanied by special activities, puppet theater, songs, and games. WIZO distributes some 50,000 books each year, or over 300,000 books since the inception of the program.
Beit Pa'amonim
This emergency foster care home for newborn babies serves as a temporary home for abandoned babies who will later be adopted. The babies usually arrive straight from the hospital, born to mothers who are suffering from drug addictions or mental illness, are underage and were victims of rape, illegal immigrants or other severe situations. The location of the center, the identity of the infants and other details are kept strictly confidential for the safety and dignity of the mothers and babies.
