Matzmichim was founded to create a nourishing and growing classroom environment. This can only be achieved if children feel that their wellbeing is ranked high in school’s priority. Matzmichim focuses on changing social aggressive behavior after identifying that as one of the most influential causes for disrupting children’s wellbeing. A recent study conducted among children ages 8-14, shows that one of four children suffer from shunning, half of the children in Israel are bullied on social media, and 70 % of children have been involved in school violence (physical, verbal, sexual, virtual). Furthermore, Talis Report 2018 shows a worrying comparison between Israel and the OECD countries.
Matzmichim operates across the country with general education students, special needs students and youth at risk. To date, Matzmichim has trained over 25,000 educators and worked with over 80,000 students, from 4th to 12th grade, with the purpose of building better school communities (watch an example of Matzmichim intervention).
Activate children and youth:
In an era where the social lives of teenagers are increasingly shifting to social media and are hidden from the adult world, we need to help the youth create change in their groups. Matzmichim’s unique intervention model is based on the perception that youth have great, and sometimes unrealized, potential to influence youth in their peer group. We believe that through proper support and training, children from the group can act as agents of change in the social arena.