In July 2005 the Israeli government implemented MEHALEV - a Welfare-to-Work Plan based on the American Wisconsin Project model with the express goal of reducing government expenditure on welfare. For the first time since the development of the social welfare system in the 1970's, the right to income assurance has come under attack. This step has made what is universally acknowledged as a fundamental human right – the right to live in dignity - conditional for thousands of poor people in Israel. Furthermore, MEHALEV as is being implemented raises concern for participants and welfare recipients around the country specifically as it affects their right to employment.

The  Welfare to Work Program has drafted thousands of people who receive government assistance, including Arab citizens, ultra orthodox, new immigrants and veteran Israelis deemed of working capacity in Jerusalem, Ashkelon, Hadera and Nazareth. Participation is compulsory and a condition of continued receipt of income assurance benefits until the individual is placed in a job or otherwise removed from the welfare rolls. 

Coinciding with the implementation of MEHALEV we initiated the Yad Al Ha Lev Community Action, in coalition with the non profit organization Commitment to Peace and Social Justice. The purpose of Yad Al Ha Lev is multi-fold: To guarantee the social and economic rights of program participants; to ensure that the voice of the community is heard and to organize and mobilize people affected by welfare policies to take an active role in the evaluation of MEHALEV, and in the design and future implementation of policies that impact on their social and economic wellbeing.

Since the inception of MEHALEV we have been involved in monitoring its implementation, disseminating information and knowledge to participants about rights and entitlements in the context of the program, and providing individual advocacy and legal advocacy services on an ongoing basis to people in the program.  We have played a leading role in the community highlighting problematic issues in MEHALEV, which infringed upon or negated the social and economic rights of people in the program, which reinforced our initial concerns about the lack of job training that would enable people to receive employment with reasonable wages and worker's benefits – abuse of the compulsory voluntary work requirement,  lack of child care

Aside from our disagreement with the existing policy we are using this as an opportunity to ensure that the community voice is heard around welfare policies, employment and the issue of the working poor.  Therefore, we have emphasized the organization of MEHALEV participants to work together to guarantee their social and economic rights.