[1][non-primary source needed] Through over 40 different program initiatives, The Jaffa Institute provides service and relief to over 8,000 citizens annually.

The residents of these areas come from diverse religious, ethnic and national backgrounds and include foreign workers, asylum seekers from Africa, and new immigrants from Ethiopia, Eastern Europe and East Asia, in addition to Israeli Jews and Arab citizens of Israel.

50% of the Jaffa Institute's target population currently lives at or below the poverty line and 30% of them regularly receive local welfare services.

As a PhD student at Brandeis University in Boston, David Portowicz decided to focus his social work thesis on poverty in Jaffa.

Today it provides services to over 4,000 individuals, encompassing both at-risk children and their families.