Educational Surfing Center Empowering youth at risk through new skills

The Municipality operates the Lighthouse Program in partnership with HaGal Sheli on a small scale due to space limitations. In 2018, there were 5 groups with 75 participants from a range of educational institutions.

A full-scale educational surfing center would enable the Municipality to:

– Meet city-wide demand for HaGal Sheli programs.

– Offer the full suite of HaGal Sheli programs throughout the year.

– Offer both formal educational programs in the morning and informal educational programs in the afternoon to reach up to 100 teenagers each day.

– Create a safe space for youth-at-risk which is fun and attractive to them.

– Consolidate HaGal Sheli’s program and storage spaces and improve proximity to the beach and participant safety.

– Improve accessibility to surfing for all residents through Digi-Tel partnership.

HaGal Sheli (My Wave) is a non-profit organization that uses surfing as an educational tool and provides at-risk youth with the chance to ‘ride the wave’ and succeed. By facing the unique forces of the sea and overcoming the challenge of surfing, the participants are instilled with the self-confidence and sense of achievement necessary to propel them through equivalent life challenges. HaGal Sheli operates various programs for teenagers between the ages of 13-18 from across Israeli society: Jews, Muslims, and Christians; secular and non-secular; immigrants; boys and girls.