Israel Non Profit News » leadership

Between Economy and Community: Reciprocal Relations

Pamela Deutsch — Sun, 23 May 2010 16:01:12 +0000

On May 25, 2010,Arous Elbahr, Supportive Community and the Yoseftal Institute are holding a conference focusing on reciprocal relations between businesses and the community.

These three organizations are working together for the sake of the encouraging business and community female leadership.

In the last two years, due to the global economic recession, many non-profit organizations have added profit making and business achievements to their agenda and have created collaborations with business organizations. Alongside those collaborations, we have also seen business organizations adding social, political and ecological issues to their agenda.

Together, businesses and non-profit organizations are opening “coffee shops” with the goal of coexistence and mutual learning which comes from an equal place. These “coffee shops” provide • income to families • allow business organizations to incorporate workers with disabilities • empower womens’ micro-businesses coming from different ethnicities and colors and creates cooperation which indicates a financial need and provides solutions to multicultural communities.

These instances demonstrate that economics motivates social change and connects between men and women coming from diverse background.

Speakers at the conference include:

Safa Younes, Founder and CEO of Arus al-Bahar

sviva_invitationProf. Benny Gidron, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Alisa Gutsman, Social investments Advisor

Panel participants include:

Esti Doron, National Supervisor of Community Work Service, Ministry of Social Affairs

Efrat Bekler-Kahana, CEO of Yoseftan Institute

Hagit Rubinstein, Manager of Micro-Businesses Area, Koret Foundation

Lena Gurary, Founder and CEO of Supportive Community

For more information regarding the conference contact:

office@svivatomehet.org.il

Green Course Returns Spring of Ein Zahav to Residents of Kiryat Shmona

Pamela Deutsch — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 04:41:46 +0000

The park surrounding the Ein Zahav spring is the only park and green area in the city. “When the spring had water, there was an abundance of vegetation and wildlife“, says Harel Weiss, Green Course chapter director in Tel Hai, “it was like being in the Banyas in the middle of the city…it is a very unique place.” But now, people no longer come to Park Zahav because as the spring has dried up, so has the surrounding area.

Three years ago, Green Course formed a coalition of advocates, residents, the local municipality, the ISPNI and others, determined to restore Ein Zahav to its former glory. Thanks to the leadership of Green Course and the hard work of all those involved, the Water Authority has agreed to stop pumping mineral water and to give Ein Zahav back to the residents of Kiryat Shmona.

Jewish Social Leadership Training in Jerusalem

Pamela Deutsch — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:36:00 +0000

From New York City to Jerusalem to Budapest, participants in the Jewish Social Leadership Training Program gathered in the office of Jerusalem’s Memizrach Shemesh January 4-10 in the first of a series of meetings designed to engage participants from vastly different Jewish communities in Jewish values and traditional texts as sources for solutions to contemporary social issues. Though the exchange has run for several years now, this is the first time it has included Jewish communities from three different countries.

The exchange, funded by Partnership 2000 and the UJA-Federation of New York, is a three-semester joint program through the Bronfman Center at New York University, Memizrach Shemesh-The Center for Jewish Leadership in Israel and Marom Budapest.

Using traditional texts as their basis, participants spent their first semester understanding what poverty is, how it is measured, and why it is important to break down related stereotypes. At the end of the semester each group is intended to spend time learning specifically about poverty at the partner city of the exchange.

When asked what the greatest social problem facing each country was, Israeli participants were united on one issue: the working poor. “People work a lot,” said Israeli participant Sara Levinger, “and they still don’t make enough money to survive.”

Through the course of the year, the groups will focus on issues related to education and leadership and rejoin in Budapest and New York to familiarize themselves with how these communities are individually affected by these issues.

For the full text written by Memizrach Shemesh volunteer Lauren Wilner, please see the article published on eJewish Philanthropy.