Announcing: The UPA Gaza Camp Community Center in Jordan

UPA is excited to announce the launch of Building Community, our Winter 2022 fundraising campaign to establish a Community Center in the Gaza refugee camp in Jordan.

Join Us in Building Community Where Every Refugee Matters

When UPA expanded its programs eight years ago to include Palestinians in Jordan, it was clear that our efforts should focus on the most vulnerable refugee populations. Ever since that time, paving the way to a healthier and more dignified life for Palestinians in Gaza and Hittin refugee camps has been our guiding star.

Through UPA’s efforts to improve daily life and offer educational opportunities to these two Palestinian refugee communities in Jordan, it soon became apparent that an established local presence in the camps would be pivotal in building responsive and sustainable community-based programs.

To this end, UPA is pleased to announce that we recently purchased a modest building in Gaza refugee camp and, with your help, our new Community Center will be operational before the end of the year.

Why Gaza Camp?

Also known as Jerash Camp, Gaza Camp is the poorest of the ten Palestinian refugee camps established in Jordan: over 52% of residents have an income below Jordan’s national poverty line of 814 Jordanian Dinars ($1,150) per year and 88% are without health insurance entirely.

Establishing a local presence in Gaza Camp will allow UPA to scale up the implementation of much needed interventions in the areas of health, education, and economic development and all the while provide one of the most neglected utilities: community-centered public space.

Inspired by the tenacity of the residents themselves, our plan is to completely renovate the building this year and commence programs as the UPA Gaza Camp Community Center.

The Center will open its doors with initial activities in small business development; educational enrichment for children in grades 2-9; and healthcare, nutrition, and social activities for the elderly.

Over the next four years, we expect to touch the lives of over 3,500 residents and their families!

Planned around local needs and with local leadership, programming will be designed to build community from within.

Invitation to Build Community: A New Day

On January 4, 2022, a signing ceremony took place in Jordan to kick off this initiative. In partnership with the Japanese Embassy in Jordan, we have already begun renovation! However, we need your help with such items as desks for learning; tables to host workshops on business development; and equipment to deliver healthcare to the elderly.

Throughout the month of February 2022 and beyond, UPA will invite you to join, hand in hand, in building a center in the heart of a community that was displaced 54 years ago from their homes in the Gaza Strip and yet rises up every morning to a new day.