Elem Association

Elem Association (Hebrew: עלם – עמותה לנוער במצבי סיכון) is an Israeli nonprofit organization founded in 1983 to help at-risk and distressed youth in Israel escape their circumstances and find their place in society as contributing adults and citizens. It is described as the leading organization in Israel for the identification, accompaniment, and treatment of at-risk youth and young adults. The organization operates nationwide through dozens of programs, hundreds of employees, and over a thousand volunteers, working in the life spaces of teenagers—in the community, on the street, and in the digital realm—to create trust-based relationships that provide support, stability, and an opportunity for change. Elem meets approximately 15,000 youth and young adults each year through 53 different projects across 35 local authorities in Israel. Its activities are carried out in partnership with government ministries, primarily the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security, local authorities, and philanthropic foundations, as a central part of the national response to at-risk youth and young adults in Israel. The youth it encounters face a wide range of distress, from depression and anxiety, through violence on the street, at home, or online, sexual harm, dropping out of educational frameworks, eating disorders, self-harm, drug and alcohol addiction, to severe disconnection such as involvement in prostitution and homelessness. Elem's vision is to be the leading body in Israel for assisting and accompanying at-risk youth and young adults, meeting them in all life spaces and helping them cope with a wide range of distress. Its values include presence and connection—meeting youth on the street, online, in schools, in leisure spaces, and in emergencies, day and night—with human connection at the forefront; respect and belief in strengths—seeing every youth as a person with abilities, strengths, desires, and potential for growth; belonging and community—creating safe and accepting spaces where youth can experience belonging, meaning, and value; and social responsibility and changing reality—working to promote policy, raise social issues on the public agenda, develop innovative responses, and influence education, welfare, health, and community systems. As of 2026, the chairman of the association is Shai Piron, and the CEO is Tali Erez. From 1996 to 2024, Nava Barak-Zinger served as president of Elem. The organization has received the Knesset Chairman's Award for Quality of Life for 2002–2003, was recognized as an effective nonprofit by Midot, and has received consultative status from the United Nations.

Elem Association was founded in 1983 by a group of volunteer professionals and public figures from Israel and the United States, including Anne Bialkin, Judge Saviona Rotlevy, Dr. Yosepha Steiner, and Professor Yochanan Wozner. Its goal was to assist at-risk and distressed youth in Israel to escape their circumstances and find their place in society as contributing adults and citizens. Since then, the association has developed into a broad national organization specializing in identifying the distress characteristic of the life realities of youth in Israel. Elem specializes in developing and operating relevant, innovative responses to cope with youth distress, while addressing the unique needs of diverse population groups. Elem operates nationwide in 42 localities and is the largest organization in the country providing responses to a wide range of distress among youth—from coping with normative personal crises during adolescence; through dropping out of educational frameworks, absorption difficulties, social difficulties, family problems, identity and belonging issues, exposure and addiction to drugs and alcohol, wandering, violence, sexual exploitation and delinquency, prostitution, and homelessness. In Israel, hundreds of thousands of youth aged 12–18 live. Social-volunteer organizations cooperate with the establishment to provide social, personal, and community services in the country. This is particularly prominent in the treatment of at-risk youth. Elem serves as an address for informal intervention for at-risk youth, helping pave the way for their reintegration into the community. The association employs about 280 professionals, alongside about 1,800 adult and youth volunteers. Elem operates programs to identify distressed youth and treat youth. Elem employees and volunteers go out into the field and meet youth in places where they tend to spend time: in the morning at schools, in the afternoon in the community, in night activities on the streets, on the internet, and in entertainment venues during vacations. One of the projects operated by the association is "Street Address" (כתובת רחוב)—a nationwide mobile unit system established in 1996 following a need that arose in the streets of Tel Aviv where youth wandered, most of whom were involved in crime, drugs, and alcohol. The night mobile units serve as a mobile counseling and support center for at-risk youth. The organization's employees and volunteers operate the units in 20 cities across the country. In the first part of the evening, street work is carried out in a fixed area where regular youth arrive, and in the second part of the evening, "outreach" work is carried out throughout the city to provide immediate response to acute risk situations. The goal of the "Street Address" project is to create meaningful contact with youth and make relevant services and treatment factors accessible, with the aim of returning them to a normative life path. In addition, the association operates youth centers, programs for youth and young adults on the prostitution continuum (the L.B. spaces and the Housing First program), the "GALGAL" shelter for homeless young women aged 18–26, therapeutic groups for juvenile offenders who have committed sexual offenses in cooperation with the Juvenile Probation Service, and operates the "Bayit Amiti" program for girls and young women up to age 26 who have been victims of sexual violence, in cooperation with the Herzliya Municipality. The association was awarded the Knesset Chairman's Award for Quality of Life for 2002–2003. Elem won the title of Effective Nonprofit by the Midot organization and received consultative status from the United Nations. As of 2026, the chairman of the association is Shai Piron, and the CEO is Tali Erez. From 1996 to 2024, Nava Barak-Zinger served as president of Elem. Volunteering is a central pillar of Elem's work. The programs at Elem are built on the volunteer concept, which sees volunteers as the creative, operating, and motivating force of every project. This means that without volunteers, the project would cease to exist. Therefore, the association operates volunteer coordinators in the field, who undergo training, guidance, and professional accompaniment in all matters related to the establishment and operation of the volunteer system. The role of the volunteer coordinators is to recruit volunteers, define their roles, train, guide, accompany, and raise the community's social responsibility and awareness of the problems of at-risk youth. There are several volunteer frameworks: youth volunteering—volunteering that offers boys and girls a meaningful and important role experience for society and themselves, allowing them to discover initiative and responsibility while providing space for trial and error; and adult volunteering—this group takes a major part in all Elem projects, from direct volunteering with youth consumers of the service to volunteering at headquarters.

• 2026

  Shai Piron serves as chairman and Tali Erez as CEO.

• 2002

  Elem awarded the Knesset Chairman's Award for Quality of Life.

• 1996

  "Street Address" (כתובת רחוב) project established as a nationwide mobile unit system for at-risk youth.

• 1996

  Nava Barak-Zinger served as president of Elem.

• 1983

  Elem Association founded by a group of volunteer professionals and public figures from Israel and the United States.

Israel's leading nonprofit organization for the identification, accompaniment, and treatment of at-risk youth and young adults, operating nationwide in partnership with government ministries, local authorities, and philanthropic foundations.

1. 1Home - Elemelem.org.il
2. 2אודות - Elemelem.org.il
3. 3Elem Association - Wikidatawikidata.org
4. 4עלם – עמותה לנוער במצבי סיכון - Wikipediahe.wikipedia.org