Most of the Ethiopian community is living below the poverty line as defined by the Israeli government. People are not starving, although Ethiopian children often come to school without having eaten breakfast and in schools where there is a lunch program, children are very happy to eat whatever simple lunch they are given. A member of the older generation who grew to adulthood in Ethiopia is often judged by his peers not by how hard he works or his ambitions, but by whether he pays proper attention to his social obligations. Thus cultural factors also affect the priority that is given to such things as the children's education, which the older people tend to leave to the government. Even if they wanted to intervene in the education of their children, their limited ability to speak Hebrew or even read or write in their own language hinders them.
Most families live in distressed neighborhoods in concentrated Ethiopian pockets.
This situation resulted from special government programs to get people out of the caravan sites. These programs specified that they must buy apartments in the center of the country but only gave them enough financial assistance to buy in the least desirable neighborhoods. The most worrisome aspect of this situation is that we hear more and more reports of children who are out on the street, in malls, and near cheap gambling establishments until late at night. They may ditch school to hang out, or just go after school. Children in some neighborhoods are starting to steal.