Over the span of the partnership, the Jewish Federation has invested more than $15 million from its Annual Campaign and restricted funds into the Netivot and Sdot Negev regions.
These grants are vetted and determined by a joint steering committee, composed of members from Greater Philadelphia, Netivot and Sdot Negev.
PARTNERSHIP2GETHER GRANTS FY22-FY24
As part of their responsibilities, committee members participate in a grants allocation process. The priorities of the current three-year cycle of Partnership2Gether (P2G) grants include:
- Programs promoting Jewish pluralism and global connections
- Education to enhance employability among at-risk populations
- Social entrepreneurship and leadership opportunities for youth and young adults
In FY22-FY24, the Jewish Federation allocated $1,080,000 to P2G. This amount included hosting numerous visitors and delegations in the P2G regions and local programming to connect Greater Philadelphia residents to the region.
The initiative helps 85 at-risk young women and girls per year, aged 17-25 who come from all over the country. The majority have experienced severe trauma due to violence and sexual assault and have oftentimes dropped out of the education system completely. Gumat Chen provides vocational and life skills training to prepare these women to enter the workforce, empowering them to take control over their own futures.
This Center promotes community growth, works to preserve traditions and strengthens the cultural identity of the Ethiopian community in Israel. By encouraging integration between communities, the Center helps to develop community resilience.
Every year, thousands of young men and women spend a year volunteering after graduating from high school in Israel. Less than 10% of these volunteers live on the socio-economic periphery (at-risk youth, new immigrants, young people from disadvantaged communities, etc). The Maase Center recruits young men and women from these backgrounds to participate in an empowering year of volunteering in the peripheral settlements, allowing them the opportunity to transform into leaders.
The Morasha program emphasizes social Jewish values in educational content, and connects these values with social activism. Morasha also offers professional training for teachers on how to approach Jewish texts. By validating the Masorti identity and giving legitimacy to a wide array of identities in the school community, Morasha allows students to feel a sense of belonging and pride in who they are.
The People to People (P2P) community relations budget funds office and administrative staff costs, including the P2P office manager and the P2P coordinator, in addition to covering the costs associated with hosting visitors and visiting groups.
This program provides a framework for youth volunteering, including an innovative mentoring model that combines educational, therapeutic and social elements. Sahi is intended to address the development and health of the youth in the Sdot Negev Council during a period of uncertainty and lack of routine that has created many social gaps and challenges.
The Holistic Therapeutic Treatment Center, in collaboration with the Resilience Center, supports and cares for children and families with the aim of assisting them in dealing with stress and crisis situations. By considering the needs of families and children at the regional level and working to build a network of community services, the Saligman Center hopes to strengthen the resilience of families in Israel.
The establishment of the Schwartz Reisman Center in Netivot for physics studies is a springboard for science education in the city of Netivot and in the entire Western Negev region. By creating a valuable scientific educational sequence from kindergarten age onward, it will increase the number of graduates who will turn to high-tech professions and engineering during college and while serving in the IDF.
Thou Shalt Connect is a platform for Jewish students in universities from the Sdot Negev region and the Greater Philadelphia region to come together (virtually, if not physically) for joint learning and joint action. This allows for students to build relationships, learn together and deepen the connections between their communities.
Today, about 8,000 young people (between the ages of 18-40) live in Netivot and there is not a single pub in the city. There is no space in the city that allows a sense of life, culture, art and creativity for young people to flourish. The goal of Tozeret Haaretz is to reverse the negative migration of young people out of Netivot and to encourage local young people to establish their lives in periphery cities rather than moving to central Israel.
Unistream offers education for entrepreneurship and innovation, enabling youth to realize their potential and achieve success. Unistream provides an opportunity for youth from the socioeconomic and geographic periphery to establish startups in the framework of a comprehensive educational process through which they acquire valuable 21st-century employability skills crucial for successful integration into the labor market.
Resilience Domes
The aim of the resilience project is to develop emotional and social resilience in young people while developing digital skills and skills of the 21st-century. Local middle school students build a geodesic dome and then create original interactive digital visual and sound programs that give the students an empowering experience.
Healthy Placemaking
Promoting a healthy lifestyle has become a primary focus of the region and led to the formation of a Health Roundtable, bringing together representatives from several municipal departments along with community volunteers. Activities range from integrating math and science classroom-based FitBit activities to sponsoring a half-marathon and a fun run, Ron’s Race, that draws hundreds of runners from across Israel.
Praxis
Praxis, an educational management organization, receives funding for the research, development and operations of these Innovative Regional Development projects.