Goal 1: No Poverty

END POVERTY IN ALL ITS FORMS EVERYWHERE

Research

Ramifications of Labeling Children as “At-Risk”

Based on in-depth interviews with Israeli adults who were labeled “at risk” in their childhood and removed from their home by a court order due to their families’ extreme poverty, Prof. Avihu Shoshana and Dr.  Alin Frantsman-Spector of the Faculty of Education work to highlight the experiences of graduates commonly overlooked by clinical and educational experts, as well as policymakers.

Economic Efficiency Exacerbates Inequality

Delivered at the ‘Intellectual History of Global Inequality Conference’ at the Aarhus University of Denmark, Dr. Eli Kook of the Faculty of Humanities presented his published work on how the dominant concept of economic efficiency used for Cost-Benefit Analysis not only marginalizes distributive concerns, but actively exacerbates the problem of global inequality.

Public Engagement

Overdraft and Delinquency Fees

Among the accomplishments of the Legal Clinics for Social Change is a recent report by the Israel Ministry of Finance that adopts the position of the clinic on interest charged on overdue debt, suggesting change in terms for delinquency fees. The legal clinics will continue to advocate for an erasure of all delinquency fees for people living in poverty.

Financial Education Access

The CalCaluta project is the brainchild of Aviad Shushan and Ye’ela Shulman, participants in Haifa Innovation Labs’ (HIL) social innovation acceleration program. HIL runs Innovation and Entrepreneurship programming with a focus on Social Innovation and Impact Entrepreneurship. Through an 8-part series accessible to youth-at-risk and young adults with special needs, CalCaluta equips populations experiencing social exclusion with financial education.

Learning and Students

Among the courses within the University’s sustainability and environmental cluster is the MA course on Food Security, Poverty and Sustainability offered by the Interdisciplinary Center for Study of Poverty and Social Exclusion. Taught by center director, Dr. Asaf Levanon, together with a variety of researchers and activists, the interdisciplinary course is available to graduate students in Public Health, Sociology, Social Work, and Political Science.

Higher Education & Low-income Single Motherhood

Rika Or Lev of the Department of Education Leadership and Policy’s MA thesis on Double Marginality: Low Socioeconomic Single Motherhood in Higher Education examines the motives, challenges, struggles, insights and strengths of single-parent students in Israeli universities and colleges.

Financial Education Scholarship

For the last two years the Dean of Students Community Engagement Unit collaborated with Bank Mizrahi Tfachot to establish a scholarship program that trains students to teach financial education classes in local public schools.

Operations

Reducing Inequalities: Social Mobility Flagship Program

According to the 2022 Times of Higher Education Impact Rankings that evaluates 1,400+ universities from 100+ countries, the UofH ranks in the top 100 worldwide for Reducing Inequalities.  Representative of the efforts is the Social Mobility Flagship Program that offers comprehensive support services and advocacy for socio-economically disadvantaged students.