Projects

The Maimonides Fund and The Jerusalem Foundation have announced a new prize to honor a young civil society leader.

The “Jerusalem Young Leadership Prize”, a new annual prize, has raised much interest among the community and cultural organizations in Jerusalem due to the high sum that it promises, 100,000 dollars.

The prize is offered to young people (up to age 50) living in Jerusalem who are already active in non-profit organizations for the purpose of benefitting the local community. The grant will be given to the organization in which the winner is active, to be used to advance and develop the organization.

The candidates for the prize must work to promote Jerusalem’s residents, leading programs that are already being implemented. The prize will be given to an organization that works towards one of the following: advancing the city’s cultural heritage; empowering women in any of the city’s sectors; developing science study programs; encouraging the ultra-Orthodox sector to integrate into civil society; and developing English study programs.

Dozens of inquiries have already been received by The Jerusalem Foundation and the Maimonides Foundation, which are granting the prize.

President of The Jerusalem Foundation, Shai Doron said “The Jerusalem Young Leadership Prize will recognize the achievements of Jerusalem’s young leaders from the city’s diverse populations and will serve as an inspiration for leadership and excellence. The Jerusalem Foundation acts on many fronts to promote the city’s future leadership, and this prize is the jewel in the crown.”

SAHI-The Youth Hessed Patrol- has begun a program of a meaningful gap year for high school graduates. SAHI brings youth from Israel’s periphery together to be change makers in their communities. Now, after several years of work, and with the support and guidance of The Jerusalem Foundation these young people have the chance to take a gap year after high school devoted to giving back to their communities, and learning leadership and other life skills.

The participants in the program are agents of change, working in all the neighborhoods of Jerusalem to put on community and educational activities for all ages. These young people are full partners in every aspect of the program, they take much of the responsibilities of planning and organizing on themselves as they work with all the diverse populations of Jerusalem.

In a meeting with the mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, participants discussed their activities in the many special places across Jerusalem, as well as their welcome into neighborhoods all over the city.

President of The Jerusalem Foundation, Shai Doron: “We are very proud to support these young people, who have decided to delay their draft to the IDF one year in order to give back to the community and to live within the program and from it receive the tools to guide their way to leadership. This enterprise is a part of the vision of The Jerusalem Foundation and is building the future leadership of the city.”

Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion: “This gap year is a year in which they are both giving and receiving, it is the beginning of leadership, which we are not always privileged to receive, but if you believe in what you are doing, it will be your reward. Not everyone one is able to be a leader and to take charge of other people, but you will be able to be leaders. It will come with time, and it is very important to give that time to yourselves. I look forward to seeing this special and unique community. I wish you all much success”.

To ensure educational opportunities, professional development and economic advancement for the young generation, the Jerusalem Foundation focuses on language education: Hebrew and Arabic to foster understanding and respect, and English to open new opportunities and frontiers.

Although Hebrew and Arabic are both official languages, neither Jews nor Arabs in Jerusalem regularly speak the other’s language, which perpetuates misconceptions and intolerance. To strengthen the community and the social fabric of the city, the Jerusalem Foundation seeks to facilitate understanding between Jews and Arabs by teaching the ‘other’s’ language. The goal is to transform attitudes and behaviors, help Arab Israelis feel at home in Israel and facilitate dialogue between the two cultures and communities. Positive communication and mutual respect build communal strength and help shape the Jerusalem of the future in line with the Jerusalem Foundation’s vision for 2030.

Language as a Cultural Bridge is a 2-year Arabic instruction course for grades 5-6 to enable Jewish children to communicate in Arabic. The Jerusalem Foundation has operated the program in Jerusalem since 2005 in collaboration with the Abraham Fund Initiative, with 18 to 20 schools participating each year. The initiative breaks down barriers by teaching Arabic and Arab culture in Jewish schools and by placing Jewish school-children in regular contact with Arab teachers as role models. The program includes encounters between Jewish and Arab students and opportunities for Jewish and Arab students to practice Hebrew and Arabic together.

Hebrew and Arabic for children and adults: The Jerusalem Foundation also coordinates other programs to advance Hebrew and Arabic language skills for both children and adults.

Hebrew instruction in Arab schools: places native Hebrew speakers as teachers in Arab schools, with special Hebrew language rooms to enhance learning.
Talking Coexistence: Arabic language instruction for adults, operated by the Jerusalem Intercultural Center, has offered instruction at all levels for the past 15 years.
Women Speaking Hebrew: teaches Hebrew conversational skills to Arab women in an affordable and comfortable environment and has operated since 2013.

21^st Century Language Skills for Technology

This groundbreaking program in partnership with the Azrieli College of Engineering is geared to non-native Hebrew speakers from underprivileged neighborhoods. The program enhances their ability to begin and complete degrees in the technological professions (chemical engineering, software engineering, electrical engineering, etc.) and successfully integrate into the modern workforce in Jerusalem. The biggest gap for these students is usually language skills in both Hebrew and English, both essential for success during their studies and as members of a modern workforce. The program provides tuition scholarships for individual students from disadvantaged backgrounds and courses and mentoring to strengthen their Hebrew and English language skills, allowing them to make the most of their education. The program emphasizes written and spoken, academic and conversational Hebrew and English before and during the degree program and toward graduation with special workshops for applying for, interviewing and integrating into new employment.

This program is a model for other academic institutions to prepare non-native Hebrew speakers to integrate into the modern workforce in Jerusalem and in Israel, contributing to Israel’s startup economy and opening opportunities for economic advancement for themselves and their families.

Need: Music helps young people to develop their sense of self-worth; it is a universal language that builds bridges transcending cultural boundaries; its beauty can inspire people of all ages. However, many are unable to pursue their passion for music and develop their unique talents due to financial constraints. The Jerusalem Foundation provides opportunities for high quality music instruction to aspiring young musicians from some of Jerusalem’s most vulnerable populations.

Response:

The JAMD Conservatory is at part of a trio of institutions that form theJerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD). Together with theacademy and its high school, it offers a complete educational program allthe way through the graduate level. A leading establishment of its kind inIsrael, the conservatory provides professional training in music and danceof the highest standards for youths ages 1-19. In addition to a full range ofsolo instrumental and vocal instruction, it offers training in chamber music, orchestral playing, choral singing, as well as in composition,conducting and music theory.
The Ron Shulamith Music Conservatory was established in 1910, the first institution of its kind serving members of the Jewish community in the land of Israel and its Jerusalem branch opened in 1972, serving gifted children as well as children with special needs, including boys and girls from the secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox populations. The conservatory boasts a women’s string orchestra, 12 youth ensembles and five choirs, music teacher fellowships, graduate placement assistance, school programs and more.
The Hassadna Jerusalem Music Conservatory is a preeminent Israeli conservatory using music as a bridge between Jerusalem’s different communities, including at-risk youth, children of immigrant families and children with special needs. Hassadna provides high-quality musical training to children and youth ages 3 to 18 from all sectors of Jerusalem’s diverse population, regardless of religion, ethnicity, or socio-economic background, with five primary departments: Piano, String, Wind and Voice. Students receive one-on-one instruction and participate in orchestras and chamber music ensembles performing in regular concerts. The conservatory also offers special programs, supported by the Jerusalem Foundation, for three distinct population groups: at-risk youth, children of Ethiopian descent, and children with special needs.

To ensure a vibrant future for Jerusalem and all of its residents, the Jerusalem Foundation seeks to support young adults willing to complete their studies in the city, while encouraging them to stay on. By investing in the next generation, the foundation shapes Jerusalem’s leaders of tomorrow and safeguards the future of the city. The Jerusalem Scholarship Fund pools together most major funding sources for higher education in Jerusalem, with the advantage of streamlining the application process. The project requires students to volunteer their time and talents in return for scholarships, connecting them to the city and creating a future leadership looking to 2030 and beyond.

There is a wide range of scholarships – from those targeting students of advanced arts institutes, to those studying engineering and other technical degrees, to those studying in one of Jerusalem’s academic colleges and universities. The program alleviates the financial burden faced by students while strengthening their ties to the community through volunteering. Volunteering options include: presenting plays and workshops for people with special needs, facilitating enrichment activities such as creative writing workshops for children in public schools, tutoring children and brightening disadvantaged Arab and Jewish neighborhoods alike.

The Jerusalem Foundation has been offering higher education scholarships for the past decade. In 2017 we distributed the largest amount of community involvement scholarships in the country, with 18,900 students receiving support.

Impact: The scholarships strengthen the institutes of higher education, increasing the number of students who are able to study. They reinforce social and community organizations, which receive additional volunteers. They alleviate the financial burden faced by students while strengthening their ties to the community. This benefits the city as a whole, making it more vibrant and connected.

Partners: Jerusalem Municipality, Mifal HaPayis Lottery

The Jerusalem Foundation established Kayma, the George Pinto Jerusalem Leadership Fellows Program to promote young civil leadership with a long term commitment to the city, in line with its Future Leadership objective for 2030. Scholarships will be awarded to students in the final year of their PhD and will cover three years. The program provides a career “runway” for these young people to live, work, teach and conduct research in Jerusalem. In return, they are required to volunteer their time and talents and commit to remaining in the city for an additional three years, to carry out groundbreaking work in Jerusalem.

A steering committee composed of eminent community leaders will evaluate and award scholarships. The program is intended for those working towards a PhD focused on community service so to strengthen Jerusalem’s civil society. To increase the impact on the city, the fellows will become part of a network of young leaders meeting every month at the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research. These meetings will broaden their knowledge of the city and strengthen collaboration between the fellows, who will then be able to cooperate professionally, setting the highest standards for leadership in social activism and commitment to Jerusalem.

Impact: This program provides opportunities for future leaders to stay in Jerusalem and use their talents to develop excellence in the city, making it a modern and vibrant home for generations to come.

Partners: Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research

Need: The diverse communities of Jerusalem often exist side by side, but residents live parallel, nonintersecting lives, in separate schools, neighborhoods, buses, sports activities and communities. This lack of understanding of the ‘other’ is a missed opportunity to learn respect and to see what they have in common. Dialogue programs that bring people from different communities together do not affect a large segment of the population. This year the mistrust grew and some programs slowed down. At the same time, improving the quality of education is of vital importance to all educators, Jewish and Arab, and most educators agree on the importance on long term systemic change in promoting ongoing, positive and mutually enriching cross cultural encounters for the next generation.

Response: The Learning Together program improves educational programming in Jewish and Arab schools, and by bringing Jewish and Arab principals and educators together to do so, it advances understanding and partnership. The program is a joint project of the Jerusalem Foundation and the Municipality and takes place during regular school hours. It is based on a highly successful model developed in Northern Ireland, in which Catholic and Protestant educational staffs worked together to improve specific academic subjects in their respective schools, working together along the way. In light of the program’s success and expansion, the Jerusalem Foundation, together with the Jerusalem Education authority, seeks to continue to develop the program, which includes:

Training courses for principals and senior officers of the Jerusalem Education Authority – in-depth 4-hour workshops in east and west Jerusalem, study tours, dialogue and planning. Earlier cohorts of participating principals continue to meet and reflect together on the implementation of learning initiatives. These activities foster mutual understanding and build educational partnerships according to affinities and common needs and interests.

Training courses for school teachers to initiate in-depth dialogue and creative thinking about joint curricular initiatives – 8 4-hour workshops (co-facilitated dynamic encounters and lectures), an east Jerusalem study tour, and an overnight seminar. Earlier cohorts of teachers continue to meet and reflect together on the implementation of their learning initiatives thus far. Eight monthly meetings are planned each year. On-site planning and monitoring with program staff, teachers and principals take place monthly between the partner teachers.

Jerusalem Foundation Ambassadors program cultivates teachers who advance the program more actively in their schools and organize community events and special programs.

Student encounters– currently 40 schools are involved, with the aim to involve 150 schools over the next years. Topics include tennis, music, drama, shared learning of English, visits to Science Museum and Museum of Islam and other activities according to the partners’ interests.

An optional study tour to Northern Ireland in partnership with Queens’ University in Belfast.

Population Served: 100 Jewish and Arab schools, including principals, teachers and 3,000 students. The Municipality’s vision is to make this a regular part of the curriculum.

Partners: Jerusalem Education Authority; Ministry of Education, Center for Educational Technology

Need: The Jerusalem Foundation strengthens the community support systems of Jerusalem, with a focus on the social and communal needs of the city’s most vulnerable populations. The 11,000 Holocaust survivors living in Jerusalem represent one of the most vulnerable populations in the city, facing psychological, physical and financial challenges that require immediate and substantive solutions.

Response: The Café Europa network offers social and cultural opportunities for the city’s Holocaust survivors. Each neighborhood offers its own menu of services including:

A meeting place where survivors can enjoy a social and cultural experience.
A resource center where trained professionals assist survivors in accessing and maximizing the rights and services to which the elderly sector, and the survivor population in particular, are entitled.
Special activities for veterans, intergeneration activities, lectures, concerts, trips, Yom HaShoah memorials, etc.
A mobile service of home visits by a social worker, therapist, or trained multi-lingual volunteer for homebound survivors to enhance emotional, social, physical and cognitive well-being.

Population Served: Over 650 men and women participate in Café Europa activities each year in the program’s five branches dispersed among the city’s areas to enable easy accessibility. During Corona, the program identified new needs, and the project added additional volunteers and services.

The South branch serves the southern part of the city (Rehavia, Katamon, Baka, Gonenim) and includes French, English and Hebrew-speaking groups.
The North branch, also known as “Café Moscow,” caters mostly to Russian-immigrant populations (Pisgat Ze’ev and Neve Ya’akov).
The Western branch café services Beit Hakerem, Kiryat HaYovel and the surrounding areas.
The branches in the Geulah and Sanhedriya host separate groups for men and women in the Haredi survivor community.

Impact: “Café Europa is where I can socialize, hear a concert, or just read and relax, in the one place where I feel surrounded by those who truly understand me” (a participant).

Partners: Israeli Ministry for Welfare and Social Services; Jerusalem Municipality Elderly Welfare Department; local community centers; Misgav Lakashish, JDC.

Jerusalem is a complex city with unique struggles. Though it is home to an incredibly diverse population, many communities face steep challenges. Especially young people, with 55% of children in Jerusalem living below the poverty line, compared to the Israeli national average of 30%. Of the 341,718 children and youth up to the age of 18 who live in Jerusalem, 37,838 depend on welfare services and 20,023 are considered at risk. The Shanti House Association, already operating in Tel Aviv and the Northern Negev, discovered that many of the young people they support are from Jerusalem.

In an exciting new initiative, the Jerusalem Foundation plans to establish a Jerusalem Shanti House to serve as the first port of call for at-risk youth of any religion, gender or culture aged 14-21. Open 24/7, the Jerusalem Shanti House will provide a safe space to escape dangers such as physical violence, prostitution, and sexual abuse and steadily recover to regain a normal life. Those requiring long-term support will transition to one of the existing Shanti Houses to benefit from additional assistance in a sheltered environment. Preventive programs will help identify at-risk youth early and avoid them ending up on the street. The process is fast, as no official referral is required and there is no waiting time.

A suitable building was been identified in the Ein Karem neighborhood, where the city meets nature, and warm energy fosters a sense of new beginnings. Thanks to generous support from dear friends of the Jerusalem Foundation in Italy, the Jerusalem Foundation purchased the house and will begin extensive renovations in January 2021. To create a positive and supportive environment, the large property will feature a balcony, a family-style kitchen for children, as well as a large industrial kitchen, a spacious living room and TV area and separate girls’ and boys’ rooms.

Population Served: Open to all youth at-risk ages 14-21 in the Jerusalem area, the Shanti House will be a 24/7 resource for young people from any background, serving as short-term stepping stone towards regaining a normal life. The Tel Aviv and Negev Shanti Houses together already help 2,500 young people every year and the Jerusalem House will extend their reach, preventing more youth from falling between the cracks and giving them tools for a brighter future.

Impact: From its establishment to this day, Shanti House has helped more than 60,000 young people. The unique therapeutic model developed over the course of 36 years by Mariuma Ben Yosef, the founder of Shanti House, has won extensive recognition in Israel and around the world.

Jerusalem Foundation U.S. Launches $1-Million Innovation Fund to Promote Communal and Cultural Vitality After COVID-19

New York and Jerusalem – October 6, 2020 – The Jerusalem Foundation, Inc., announced today the creation of its new Community and Culture Innovation Fund, beginning with an initial $1 million donated by friends across the United States. The goal of this new fund is to ensure Jerusalem’s future vitality by encouraging institutions and organizations across the city to create innovative models for navigating these unprecedented times and flourishing after COVID–19. In so doing, the Foundation also affirms and extends its founding mandate to unify Jerusalemites across the breadth of the city’s social, cultural, religious, and economic landscapes.

The first call for proposals will open on November 8, 2020, with submissions due by December 6, 2020. Grant awards will be announced early in 2021 for initiatives to be implemented throughout the year.

Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, the Jerusalem Foundation has served Jerusalem’s most vulnerable populations, from young children with special needs to elderly people living in isolation. Raising more than $2 million from sources worldwide, including nearly $1.3 million from the United States, the Foundation has been able to support pressing social and humanitarian needs, ranging from food packages for the homebound to the provision of laptops for remote learning and counseling. Working in close collaboration with Jerusalem’s Mayor Moshe Lion, the Foundation’s recent efforts have so far touched the lives of more than 100,000 Jerusalemites.

Through both its new Innovation Fund and its earlier COVID-19 relief efforts, the Foundation has been able to catalyze matching support from municipal, philanthropic, and corporate sources, creating an immediate multiplier effect and demonstrating another model for the power of public-private partnerships on all fronts. Examples like these take on that much more meaning today, given the mounting demands on philanthropy worldwide during a time of crisis.

U.S. Chairman of the Board Alan Hassenfeld states, “At a time when philanthropy everywhere must focus on urgent needs close to home, it is truly gratifying to see how individuals and foundations across the U.S. have risen to the occasion to support Jerusalem by preserving and strengthening its social fabric and cultural vitality.”

“If initiatives like these succeed in Jerusalem, they can also serve as models throughout the country, and indeed the world, especially at a time when nourishing broad communal engagement is essential. New models must emerge to bolster the city’s social and cultural agendas and its economy – all with the goal of preserving Jerusalem’s unique character and uplifting the spirits of those most affected by the health crisis,” says James Snyder, Executive Chairman in the U.S.

“During these times, we are preserving our focus on supporting the city’s most vulnerable populations, while also ensuring the city’s social and cultural recovery in the face of the ongoing pandemic,” says Shai Doron, President of the Jerusalem Foundation in Jerusalem. “Doing so has always been central to the mission and mandate of the Foundation as a convening and coordinating partner for city-wide initiatives that foster communal strength and develop future leadership.”

About The Jerusalem Foundation

Founded by Mayor Teddy Kollek in 1966, the Jerusalem Foundation has worked on behalf of the city of Jerusalem and its people for more than 50 years to shape an open, vibrant, and resilient community that serves as a global destination for the arts, culture, science, technology, and industry and supports the daily needs and aspirations of its residents. Since its establishment, the Foundation has invested in more than 4,000 projects throughout the city, ranging from the physical, developing parks and cultural centers, neighborhood community and sports facilities, health centers and synagogues; to the programmatic, delivering education and literacy, cultural competency, and economic vitality; to the spiritual and artistic, restoring and preserving heritage sites, including the Jewish Quarter of the Old City and the Via Dolorosa, and supporting social and cultural programming. These initiatives serve the ongoing development of the historic city and enhance Jerusalem’s contribution today to the world as an exemplary cross-communal model for the arts, culture, and ideas.

Media Contacts
Resnicow and Associates

Juliet Sorce

jsorce@resnicow.com

212-671-5158

The Canada Community and Culture Fund

Responding to the Coronavirus Crisis and Building for the Future

The situation in Jerusalem and Israel is changing quickly and we are learning that the pandemic continues to hit Jerusalem in waves. Residents are slowly learning to live with Covid and find ways to adjust to uncertainty and a very changed world. Rapidly evolving restrictions and rates of infection have forced to be innovative and creative as we look towards a different future than we had expected. Jerusalem has one of the highest rates of infection amongst cities in Israel. One of the characteristics of the city, due to the city’s population, is a significantly higher percentage of families with children (and sometimes many children) with verified COVID19 infections.

Canadians have a long history of providing support to the vulnerable in Jerusalem and to arts organizations and institutions in the city. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Jerusalem Foundation of Canada has established the The Canada Community and Culture Fund. This new fund will support two critical areas for the wellbeing of Jerusalem: ongoing needs for vulnerable residents of Jerusalem of all ages and the recovery of the cultural sector which has been decimated by COVID. Working in close cooperation with Mayor Moshe Lion and his team, funds raised will maximize the efficient and effective delivery of essential goods and services to residents of the city.

In response to the current health, social and economic crisis, the Jerusalem Foundation continues to provide support and a safety-net to the most vulnerable residents from all population groups in the city. This support has included provision of food, respite, mental health support and outreach to those across this city who have required it. In addition, The Jerusalem Foundation has continued to support the cultural and creative life of Jerusalem during this crisis. The Canada Community and Culture Fund will build on this longstanding tradition and provide continued support to the people of Jerusalem through projects and initiatives which respond to the real needs on the ground. In recent months, through our emergency campaign, we were able to provide desperately needed support.

Examples of support of the vulnerable during COVID-19 to date include:

Provision of culturally adapted relief kits for children whose family members have been struck by COVID-19
Providing funding to Machshava Tova to purchase computers and laptops to low income families across the city, to enable long distance learning and connection to the community
Ongoing assistance to elderly citizens by establishing hotline phone support, purchasing tablets/computers for home use and food packages
Through Triple Impact, supporting visits for vulnerable at risk and socially isolated children from shelters, and child welfare agencies to cultural and educational sites in the city – helping to also support their economic recovery

Examples of support of new programs in the cultural sector in response to COVID- 19 to date include:

Creation of a new broadcast studio to enable live streaming and broadcast of dance, theatrical, musical and arts events at the Horseshoe Cultural Center
Installation of an outdoor sculpture exhibit during fall, 2020 at The Jerusalem Botanical Garden with works by leading contemporary artists on loan from private collectors all over Israel.
Provision of employment opportunities for artists at HaMiffal, who will participate in creating new art and at the same time participate in renovating this emerging arts centre in Jerusalem.

Through the Canada Community and Culture Fund, we will build upon our tradition of giving and continue to have a significant impact on the city of Jerusalem.

‘Oxygen for Culture’ is a new initiative with private individuals to invite singers and musicians to perform in private homes where there is an appropriate space such as a garden or balcony. The series of events allows for intimate performances by leading Israeli musicians and singers, and a simultaneous live-stream on Facebook.

The events provide exposure and income to artists who would usually be performing internationally, and provide a much-needed breath of cultural fresh air into a city that has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mekudeshet/FeelBeit, Jerusalem’s newest “culture without borders” performing arts project has developed a series of meetings and encounters conforming with current Corona guidelines, in order to preserve opportunities for social, cultural, and personal artistic engagement among Israeli and Arab artists and audiences, even during these constrained times.

Most events are planned for outdoors at FeelBeit’s new headquarters on the Sherover Promenade, offering space and opportunities for artists and performers, even with limited audiences. In FeelBeit’s own language: “Because we have a stage, and it hurts us to see it empty, because there are artists who need a stage but cannot find one, because this is a chance to give artists a way to make a few shekels in these insane times, because we do not feel like waiting endlessly for the day after…”

HaMiffal, the ‘factory’, is a unique cultural and arts center, a platform for creativity where Jerusalem’s young artists can experiment in a variety of ways. The whole space in itself is a massive work of art, open to Jerusalem’s residents and visitors who can also enjoy the café and co-working spaces. HaMiffal is an opportunity for local art academy graduates to stay in Jerusalem and contribute to its diverse and busy art scene.

HaMiffal proposes its own Jerusalem version of the American New Deal’s WPA, employing artists to participate in the current renovation of HaMiffal’s historic landmark property in west Jerusalem with large-scale public works commissioned to enhance the site. Participating artists will become part of the arts community creating this new communal art site, and they will earn stipends to help support themselves during the economic crisis. The project includes video documentation of the renovation and the addition of public art as an integral part of the project.

A Studio of Her Own is a platform for promoting religious women artists. Opened in 2009, the Studio provides a physical and mental space for creation, as well as programs tailored to meet the needs of participating artists. It also presents exhibitions of contemporary women’s art – with special support for religious women who are not always able to find a community for artistic expression.

The Studio, housed in painter Pinhas Litwinowsky’s former home and atelier, was recently renovated to include a gallery for exhibitions, a library and research center and a coffee shop. With more space available, a tailored residency program for women artists has been launched and the Studio now hosts a variety of cultural events featuring performing arts, film, literature poetry and music.

Due to the coronavirus crisis, they have opened up their gallery space to host women artists who cannot work at home or find a place for their creativity under the unique pressures of the pandemic. A Studio of Her Own has become a home for these women artists and provides support and encouragement during this difficult time. They have opened up this community to performance artists and musicians and expanded the world of art together. The women have found new collaborative partners and are creating special exhibitions of work that have grown out of this unique time and experience.

The ‘From Jaffa to Agripas’ Festival, which has become a tradition in Jerusalem, is presenting unique and innovative performances, characterized by an authentic connection created between the audience and the artists, between dance and food, inspired by the Machane Yehuda market and its proximity.

The festival is bringing the Mahane Yehuda market and contemporary dance together and will celebrate culture and food in a vibrant and authentic experience.

Some of the shows are open to the general public for free, and some for a fee, but all guests are required to pre-register due to the coronavirus restrictions.

Children and youth at risk and those with special needs who have been most deeply affected by this crisis, from group homes and women’s shelters, impoverished neighborhoods and some still in dangerous and unstable home situations have had to confront even more difficulties than usual. Due to the economic crisis, these children and youth will continue to face serious challenges and will not have the same opportunities to flourish as others. The Jerusalem Foundation wishes to provide these young people with the chance to breathe, grow, learn, develop and enjoy all that the city has to offer.

The city of Jerusalem contains a richness of cultural and educational institutions unparalleled in Israel and the rest of the world. Many of these institutions have been shut down during the crisis and are now trying to find their way back to a new “normal”.

Triple Impact brings together children and youth at risk from shelters and therapeutic agencies to visit cultural/communal sites otherwise not available to them at this time and using transportation services subsidized by the Municipality. This program can also help support Jerusalem institutions suffering from lack of tourism and from diminished local traffic. The program is ongoing and currently active at Ein Yael Living Museum and the Bloomfield Science Museum.

The Jerusalem Foundation is committed to leveraging the city’s diversity and unique history to shape its future as a modern, thriving metropolis and an inspiration around the world. We celebrate Jerusalem’s rich history and help create opportunities for residents of diverse backgrounds, particularly youth, to learn about the city’s significance through the ages.

Central to this endeavor is the Tower of David Museum, which contains archeological finds dating back over 2,800 years. Each year, the museum brings Jerusalem’s history to life for more than 300,000 people from Israel and abroad, offering innovative exhibits tracing history from ancient through modern times, and examining Jerusalem’s centrality to diverse peoples and religions.

In 2000, archeologists working on the Kishle structure – erected in 1834, and later used by the British to imprison members of the pre-state Jewish underground – stumbled upon layers of remains chronicling Jerusalem’s expansive history. This included evidence of Jewish life in the Crusader period; important finds from the Second Temple period; part of the First Temple-period city walls; and beneath the entire structure, a tunnel that served as a drainage duct for Herod’s Pool, and as an escape route for the priests and their families when the city was destroyed by the Romans.

In one of the most important initiatives in the field of archeological sites in Jerusalem to date, the Kishle will be transformed into a world-class visitor site, with a cutting-edge archeological center. Visitors will follow a linear route exploring the mysteries of the Kishle excavations and the remains of the palace, the walls, the tunnels and the people behind them. The complex will house an interactive 45-minute multimedia experience, alongside a new, two-story entrance and exhibition gallery building with two rooftop observation decks, as well as space for lectures and events.

Impact: The 450 sq. m. (4,850 sq. ft.) space unearthed will serve as an important archeological site for visitors from around the world, with the center split into two levels: a multimedia archeological center displaying archeological findings on one floor and a gallery on the upper level for changing exhibitions and other cultural activities. The renewed and expanded Kishle complex will attract hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world, and enable the Museum to significantly expand educational and cultural programs and reach out to larger and more varied audiences. This is a priority heritage project for the State of Israel and is a designated landmark tourist attraction.

Partners: The Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs, the National Heritage Site Fund of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Tourism and the Jerusalem Municipality

The Jerusalem Foundation focuses on developing leadership in the city through investing in the next generation. We safeguard the future by promoting young civil leadership with a long term commitment to Jerusalem and giving diverse communities access to opportunities.

In partnership with the Israel Scouts youth movement in Jerusalem and the Tene Yerushalmi organization, the Jerusalem Foundation is establishing a program for youth leaders in disadvantaged neighborhoods which will inspire future leadership in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Young Leadership Program will focus on exceptional youth movement graduates, facilitating their familiarization and deep connection with Jerusalem, its residents and needs, forming a cohesive community of future leaders in the city and developing and applying practical leadership skills in activating youth in their neighborhoods.

The leadership program will be conducted jointly by the Jerusalem Foundation and the management of the Israel Scouts in Jerusalem in disadvantaged peripheral communities across the city, with professional leadership guidance provided by Tene Yerushalmi. The Israel Scouts will employ a core of young adult staff members who have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills as Israel Scouts youth instructors or branch managers. The Scouts will be responsible for staff training and supervision and accompany participants in conducting activities for children and youth in peripheral neighborhoods and peak events in those communities.

With a view toward enabling participants to remain living, working and learning in Jerusalem and to realize their potential at this critical juncture in their early adult life, and in exchange for a long-term commitment to living and leading social and community activity in Jerusalem after the program’s conclusion, the program will provide rent, living stipends and higher education scholarships.

Becoming involved in their communities, these young leaders will develop a long term commitment to their neighborhoods and Jerusalem as a whole, while also breaking the cycle of poverty in their areas. The program will also act as a model for other youth movements, which they can operate in the future to nurture their own leadership talent and harness their leadership potential for the needs of the city.

Impact: The project’s impact goes beyond the empowerment of the next generation, encouraging all members of the community to build a new reality on the ground for the struggling neighborhoods.

Need: Jerusalem reflects the entire diversity of the Jewish People; it is both a launching pad for new dynamics and developments in the Jewish world and a laboratory for experimentation and innovation. What happens in Jerusalem affects Jews worldwide. We have witnessed an increasing tension between secular and ultra-Orthodox expressions of Judaism in the public sphere.

The Jerusalem Foundation seeks to shape a modern and vibrant city by creating opportunities for all Jerusalem residents, including opportunities for dialogue and shared living. In line with our vision for 2030, we support endeavors developing innovative, collaborative models of Jewish renewal and pluralism that will reinvigorate a sense of communal belonging among the city’s diverse population. Among those endeavors is the Jerusalem Secular Yeshiva, which transforms Jerusalem’s unique energy into a systemic set of ideas and activities that will impact Israel and the entire Jewish world.

Response: The Jerusalem Secular Yeshiva was established in 2011 with the aim of inspiring the city’s young people by offering them greater opportunities for multifaceted creative Jewish expression. The JSY curriculum involves texts, lectures, hevruta (paired) learning, tours, film, art and environmental projects. Core principles include: uncovering, investigating and examining the process of secularization – Jewish and general – as a subject and as a world view, via textual study from the Bible and modern Hebrew literature, and nurturing a deep connection to Jerusalem as the cultural and spiritual center of the Jewish people throughout the generations, through meetings with different personalities, organizations and communities in Jerusalem.

For some time, the Secular Yeshiva has operated on a temporary basis from a building in Ein Karem, which they shared together with the local community. The building is in need of renovation, to allow it to appropriately serve the needs of both the Secular Yeshiva and other community groups which use the shared space.

The Jerusalem Foundation seeks, in partnership with the Jerusalem Municipality, JSY and others, to establish in the building a multipurpose community center that will respond to the diverse needs of the creative community of Ein Karem and the institutions sharing the building. We believe that through creative and spiritual sharing, the community members, artists and educators will create a center where the spirit is greater than the sum of its parts, a center of Jewish culture and renewal that will manifest an innovative model of attractive activity, attractive to the lives of young people and community in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Foundation, in partnership with the Jerusalem Municipality, seeks to renovate the JSY building in order to transform it into a multipurpose, modular center that can be adapted to serve the wide variety of community needs in Ein Karem and manifest an attractive location for the community members, particularly young adults.

The Center will be housed in the building to be renovated and adapted by the Jerusalem Foundation in Ein Karem for this express purpose. The project partners – the local community center, the Community Minyan and the Jerusalem Secular Yeshiva – have reached agreement in principle regarding space allocation. The lower floor will be used by the Secular Yeshiva, the top floor alternately by the Ein Karem branch of the local Community Center and the Community Minyan (a weekends and holidays prayer group) and the courtyard will host shared activities. This allocation will form a new community model, responding to the diverse needs in a modular and sensitive manner.

In line with our vision for 2030, we support a number of projects which provide platforms for Jerusalem’s varied populations to find expression through creativity.

Established in 1973, the Jerusalem Conservatory Hassadna is a premier Israeli music academy, providing unique high-quality music education opportunities to some 650 children and youth ages 3 to 18, reflecting the diverse mosaic of Jerusalem’s population including secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews, Muslims and Christians, pupils with special needs, dozens of Ethiopian-Israelis and new immigrants from around the world, spanning the full range of socioeconomic backgrounds.

Hassadna strives to provide each pupil with musical instruction of the highest caliber while ensuring that every child longing to experience the gift of music can access this life-changing opportunity. Its pupils and graduates receive worldwide acclaim, winning coveted Israeli and international music competitions, launching international careers and continuing on to the most prestigious universities and academies.

Need & Response: Forty-six years since its establishment, the enormously successful Jerusalem Conservatory Hassadna operates out of inadequate, makeshift facilities within a building that serves in morning hours as an elementary school and where heavy and costly equipment has to be re-arranged each afternoon, preventing the conservatory from fulfilling its full potential.

A new, contemporary building is needed to ensure the conservatory maintains its superior-quality music instruction and continues to grow. This facility will serve its diverse population of pupils, families and faculty, fulfilling Hassadna’s potential as a central cultural and educational hub in the heart of Israel’s capital.

The new building will feature:

Practice and training studios enabling pupils to hone their skills with the support they require, play together, establish ensembles, maximize rehearsal time and focus on the task at hand
Music library and listening room with computer and work stations, a sheet music lending library, a recorded music listening library, supporting literature and expert librarian assistance
A pupil area with a comfortable lounge, a small eat-in kitchenette, computer stations, study corners, a furnished garden and an outdoor play area for children coming from school and returning home late
A family waiting area with sitting areas, Wi-Fi, a toddlers’ play area, games and audio-visual equipment, enabling parents and young siblings to utilize waiting time on a computer, reading or playing
Faculty lounge with a kitchenette, couches, work stations, lockers and computer stations for the use of Hassadna’s roughly 100 first-rate faculty devoted to musical education
Many more facilities, including acoustically isolated, well equipped classrooms, small learning spaces, storage for musical instruments of all types and sizes, a reception and security desk, a distinguished entrance foyer and snack bar
Management and administration offices with a reception and waiting area, spaces for meetings with pupils, parents, faculty and guest musicians, as well as instruments for pupils skill assessments

Location: The designated site is in close proximity to the conservatory’s current location in south-central Jerusalem’s German Colony, a busy, dynamic and easily accessible part of the city, contributing to the cultural life in Jerusalem.

Website: https://hassadnamusicconservatory.com/en/home/

With the easing of restrictions people gradually returned to the outdoors to observe and to breathe. For some, this was the first time such an intense yearning for the outdoors was felt. The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens and Outset Contemporary Art fund are bringing together a selection of outdoor sculptures from a wide range of museums and private collections. The focus of this first time collaboration will be to address the role of art and nature in regards to our physical and mental wellbeing.

The project will include 12-15 sculptural works by leading contemporary artists on loan from museums all over Israel. These works will be installed throughout the Botanical Gardens, in open as well as concealed spots, creating a cyclic route through which the visitors are invited to walk and discover the artworks through movement. The exhibition will be curated by Hadas Maor who is working closely with the botanical, scientific and educational departments of the gardens.

A detailed program of educational resources and activities for schools will also be developed. JBG currently works with over 250 schools and kindergartens, and this project will connect the important topics of nature, art and mental health for school children as well as families and older adults.

Taking in account the risk of a second wave of Corona, and also allowing for those still in isolation to experience the exhibition, we plan to create excellent virtual tours. This will allow for those outside of Israel to enjoy this rare collaboration of Israeli museums and thus enable an international reach of a universally relevant issue.

This innovative approach creating an opportunity for on site visits and online experience is an important example of adapting culture in the shadow of COVID. The Gardens also adheres to all Purple Badge guidelines and is finding a way to revive cultural engagement in the city under new conditions as well as pooling resources with other institutions across the country who cannot currently share their art and helping the public process their recent experiences and prepare for a new future living with COVID among us.

The Coronavirus lockdown has led to some creative partnerships and placemaking adaptions that will continue well after the threat of the virus recedes. Three key cultural institutions (the Interdisciplinary Center, Machol Shalem Dance Company and Between Heaven & Earth), have joined together to establish a new cultural center in the old Rav Hen cinema house. The core institutions will focus on placemaking, recognition and branding of the new complex and on the unique possibilities that exist there both for the individual organizations and in collaboration. This new home for the three cultural organizations will create a meeting point for dance, theater and interdisciplinary art in Jerusalem.

The Rav Chen partnership is a perfect example of pooling resources, sharing risk, reducing the number of overlapping festivals and creating one great event that can be in line with Purple Badge guidelines while bringing new audiences to different art experiences.

This is a perfect example of placemaking – turning an old, out of use, commercial cinema complex – into a vibrant cultural scene which is also located in a neighborhood on the seam line and adjacent to an industrial zone. The new partnership is planning events in the surrounding neighborhood, in outdoor locations such as: Oman Street (a street with car garages and appliance stores), a park between the Beit Safafa (Arab) neighborhood and the Katamonim (Jewish) neighborhood. Thanks to the traditional audiences of each of these partners, they will be able to bring new performances to different population groups in Jerusalem – appealing to each other’s traditional base and sharing those audiences, from Orthodox religious background, secular and east Jerusalem.

The series of events will take place starting in September and lasting until mid-October and will be combined also with part of the Israel Festival program.

The performing arts partnership has developed an innovative solution to the current restrictions limiting audiences, with the creation of a broadcast studio within Rav Chen’s new performance space with a fully professional team to record and broadcast cultural events that cannot be held in person. These programs will include dance, theater, visual arts, and much more, to be broadcast live so as to offer the highest level of audience experience online, together with audience response during broadcasts, creating a true interactive experience during these days of social distancing.

The Israel Festival will combine with the Jazz Festival in September and place an emphasis on Israeli/Jerusalem artists and performers utilizing unique outdoor venues such as the Botanical Gardens and the Israel Museum sculpture garden and sites within Jerusalem neighborhoods.

The 59^th annual Israel Festival was originally scheduled to take place from June 4-20^th and was postponed due to the Coronavirus. The Festival will now take place from September 3-12^th adapted to Purple Badge guidelines. During that same period, the Jerusalem Jazz Festival will take place from September 8-10th.

The Festival content has also been adapted to the new themes that are universal at this time – community, encounter, touch, empathy, emergency conditions, individualism and technology, ageism, democracy, acceptance of the other and more. The engagement of art with the public sphere now also takes on a new and important role within a community. Dealing with the themes above through art will give voice to our common anxiety and provide an avenue for expression and inspiration which is more important than ever.

The Israel Festival will change from large scale central venues for performance to placemaking and the dispersal of cultural events – they further seek to revive cultural engagement among local residents by direct engagement of artists with communities.

The Israel Festival has developed a new model that will enable the connection between artists and communities and public institutions throughout Jerusalem for a common examination of their daily routine. Artists will be invited to hold an artist’s residency of about 3-4 weeks within a community or public institution of their choice. They will create a dialogue with local community members and will learn about the different conflicts and needs that exist in the shared space. The discussion of routine and adaption will lead the encounters. At the end of the residency, the artists will perform an independent artistic performance/installation inspired by the sessions, either independently or together with the community. This has the potential to create a real opportunity to re-think routine and the manner in which community life is conducted.

We are also planning to have artistic photography and livestream broadcasts of the shows. The broadcast of the shows will be accompanied by enriching content packages such as documentary footage of the creative process, interviews with the creators, and a dialogue between viewers. There will also be a joint performance of the Israel Festival and the Jazz Festival, on the opening night of the Jazz Festival, under the artistic direction of Avishai Cohen and Tamir Muscat, under the theme of ‘Family’.

The Train Theater has created a traveling show the “Surprise Train” that will visit the neighborhoods and community centers of Jerusalem over the summer months. The performance is designed for outdoor spaces taking into account social distancing and Purple Badge guidelines. The visit to each neighborhood, for children and families, will include a performance, a creative inter-active workshop and characters in costume circulating at the public site throughout the event.

This traveling show will engage new audiences and provide a welcome respite from the last months of disconnection and isolation. It will allow Jerusalem families to enjoy the puppet theater and cultural activity after a very long absence and in a new and adapted model for performance. All audiences will wear face masks, temperatures will be taken before entering the outdoor site and social distancing will be maintained.

The “Surprise Train” will include a performance from the Train Theater’s existing repertoire but it will be performed 2x during the event in order to accommodate a full audience in 2 separate sittings – socially distanced outdoors. The creativity workshops will be set up with materials distributed widely in different stations throughout the space and will provide options for disinfectant and hand cleaning.

The Train Theater plans 10 such events in different Jerusalem neighborhoods as long as the weather permits.

The Khan Theater has developed a new initiative for special performances in outdoor locations – adapting their repertoire to a new model of interactive audience engagement and using placemaking to create social distancing options for theater performances. The first of these series of shows will take place in the Mishkenot Sha’ananim area, utilizing the plaza by the windmill and the Yemin Moshe neighborhood.

Responding to the fear and anxiety of typical Khan annual ticket holders, who are generally older people, the Khan developed an innovative strategy to help them feel safe coming out to enjoy culture. Open-air performances, which will be lighter in atmosphere and will appeal to a wide range of audiences can attract young and old alike and provide the option of adhering to social distancing. The crisis that has affected the theater could also be an opportunity – to challenge the Khan to perform in a festive and magical atmosphere in the open air, to make the theater more familiar to young people and new audiences who don’t frequent the theater, and to deepen the connection with the city of Jerusalem.

The play ‘Glory’ (Tehila), based on a well-known book by Shai Agnon and which has been running successfully for over six years in the Khan, will move through the streets and spaces in the Yemin Moshe neighborhood and the windmill complex, together with the audience. These performances will include a limited audience of about 40-50 people who will wear masks, maintain social distance and be tracked for follow up if necessary by purchasing tickets online and leaving relevant contact information.

This new venue has provided additional opportunities for a new model as the Khan is offering a combined ticket with wine tasting through the Windmill winery on site – creating an opportunity to pool resources and help an industry hard hit by lack of domestic and international tourists.

Further plays from the Khan repertoire will be adapted for outdoor spaces and made into special theater experiences. The plan is to hold such shows through 2020 as long as weather permits. Ministry of Health regulations are changing all the time and the number of people who may attend will be adapted to changing regulations.

One city, 882,700 residents. Jews, Muslims and Christians; secular and religious. A mosaic of languages, cultures, and belief systems. The complexity of Jerusalem presents a special challenge and the Jerusalem Foundation is ensuring that Jerusalem’s diverse residents can build a modern, open and vibrant city together. Key to this endeavor is creating shared public spaces that bring people together, enhance the quality of life for key populations, and strengthen the social fabric of the city. Building new community sports, fitness and swimming centers will fill a need for the social and communal needs of a key population – residents of east Jerusalem – in line with our vision for 2030.

Community centers and swimming centers are important hubs of social and community life. The value of community sports centers extends beyond sports and recreation, playing an important role in bringing communities together, social and cultural impact, reducing crime and antisocial behavior, increasing community capacity, developing leadership and encouraging civic participation.

For this reason, there are already at least fifteen swimming centers open to the public throughout Jerusalem and additional swimming and sports centers are being planned for communities across the city. However, all of the existing public swimming pools in Jerusalem are in Jewish neighborhoods; this makes them less easily accessible to most east Jerusalem residents. The Jerusalem Foundation views the establishment of such centers in east Jerusalem as a high priority in the coming years.

The Jerusalem Foundation intends to establish two community sports, fitness and swimming centers to serve east Jerusalem. The first will be in the northern east Jerusalem community of Beit Hanina, where the center is already in the planning stages, and the second we hope to build in the southern east Jerusalem community of Sur Baher.

Location: The designated site of east Jerusalem’s first-ever center of its kind is in Beit Hanina, a large neighborhood in northern east Jerusalem, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of Jerusalem’s city center, stretching over about 1,500 acres and home to over 35,000 Arab residents. Nearly 90% are Muslims, 10% are Christians and the community is young, with more than half of all residents below age 25 years. The Beit Hanina Community Center, established in 1985, provides social, educational, cultural, health and welfare programs to a combined population of 55,000 area residents who currently lack swimming and sports facilities. The community benefits from an impressive, strong and committed local leadership who are willing to take responsibility for the needs of civic society in their community.

Highly accessible and adjacent to the Jerusalem Light Railway, the ambitious, state-of-the-art, 3,600 sq. m. (38,750 sq. ft.) complex will, at the first stage, contain a fully equipped indoor community sports, fitness and swimming center. Among the facilities that are planned for a later stage, adjacent to the complex, are a sports hall, sports courts, an activity center for youth and the elderly, an office building with income-generating commercial space and plenty of parking spaces.

The complex was designed according to Israel’s latest green and sustainable construction standards as a modern building with references to local architectural motifs by the leading Israeli firm Galpaz Architecture & Engineering Ltd.

The second neighborhood, Sur Baher, is located in the southern part of Jerusalem and is at a low socio-economic level. Sur Baher has existing infrastructure, such as a community center and a number of schools, that can work together with the new sports center once it opens. We hope that, like Beit Hanina, this will be a perfect location for a second new sports center in east Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Foundation seeks to adapt and expand the Al Mada teacher training for STEM education to Jerusalem primary schools. The successful program was launched by the Israel Center for Excellence in Education (ICEE) to transform math and science teaching in 200 Israeli primary schools. In Jerusalem, the unprecedented inclusion of secular, religious, and ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools, as well as Arab schools in East Jerusalem, will close educational gaps, which prevent true shared living, and strengthen the fabric of society. Communal Strength is a key priority for the Jerusalem Foundation as part of its 2030 vision, with this program representing a life-changing opportunity for Jerusalem’s most disadvantaged children and their future.

Coordinated by the Jerusalem Foundation, the program includes innovative teacher training in math and science by ICEE expert educators and an easy-to-use curriculum, with teacher handbooks and student materials adapted for different cultures and languages, including Arabic. ICEE provides ongoing support to teachers and organizes city-wide competitions on scientific topics. This approach will ensure a long-term impact on education, making Jerusalem a city of educational excellence. Fifty primary schools in Jerusalem’s most disadvantaged communities will benefit in the first year of the program, with the goal of expanding in the following years.

Impact: Real change in the teaching and learning processes for math and science in grades 3 to 6. Teachers and students will acquire tools and experience that will benefit them in the long-term, translating into academic and future life achievements for students and improved teaching methods for teachers. This will benefit the city of Jerusalem as a whole, strengthening its social fabric and commitment to inclusivity.

Partners: Israel Centre for Excellence through Education, Jerusalem Education Authority, Ministry of Education

A flagship program of the Jerusalem Foundation, Project Springboard aims to break the cycle of future poverty in Jerusalem’s poorest neighborhoods. By taking a holistic approach to one neighborhood at a time, the Jerusalem Foundation ensures that the city’s most disadvantaged youth are provided with opportunities to fulfill their potential, thus instilling hope for the future and preventing poverty. At the same time, adults are provided with tools for effective home budget management. With strategic partnerships with local community councils, neighborhood schools and public and private organizations, Project Springboard strengthens the social fabric and community support systems of Jerusalem. Thus, building communal strength for a modern and vibrant city in 2030, in line with the Jerusalem Foundation’s vision for the next decade.

The Springboard program, which has been successfully running for 5 years in Kiryat Menachem and for 3 in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, is now being implemented in Gilo, where a high proportion of residents come from low socio-economic families. The combination of home budget management support for families to avoid poverty and improved education and enrichment activities for children, change the neighborhood’s atmosphere. In particular, Springboard identifies students with exceptional potential in music, sports and science and offers these children the programs necessary to fulfill their potential for outstanding achievement. Support is also offered to especially run down and struggling elementary schools to improve conditions and turn them into an attraction and a community anchor to the benefit of the entire neighborhood.

Impact: With its activities, the Springboard project revitalizes entire neighborhoods, one at the time. It is not only the residents of the neighborhood that benefit from it, but the city as a whole becoming increasingly more modern, inclusive and vibrant.

Partners: Jerusalem Education Authority, Ministry of Education, Local Community Councils

Jerusalem is home to 23,000 Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) seniors, nearly half of whom (10,000) are Holocaust survivors. In line with our vision for 2030, we are focusing on strengthening the community support systems to provide for the needs of Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox seniors, one of the city’s most vulnerable populations. We aim to ensure equality of opportunity for this population sector to grow old at home, in dignity and security, with sustained support for them and their caregivers.

The Jerusalem Foundation, together with the Misgav Lakashish organization, seek to establish the first elderly day center in Jerusalem that is specifically adapted to the needs of the Haredi population. The 2,000-square-metre facility will include a Social and Treatment Center for the Physically Frail (1,100 m²), as well as a separate Social and Treatment Center for the Mentally Frail (one center for men, one center for women, 940 m² in total area). Programs will meet the standards of the Israel Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services, which will support the ongoing operation, and scrupulous adherence to Haredi cultural norms such as gender separation (Separate services will be offered for women and men, and will take place on separate floors) and strictly kosher food. It will be located in the Romema neighborhood, a centrally-located Haredi neighborhood.

The Centers will operate from 8:00 – 15:00, and afterward the facility will host a range of social and educational services for more independent seniors. The morning day centers will include:

Medical Services and information for illness prevention and promotion of good health
Large Activity Halls (90 m²) hosting creative programming by and for the Haredi community as well as space for breakfast and lunch to be served
Treatment rooms (30 – 35 m²)for occupational and physical therapy
Activity rooms (20 – 30 m²) for arts and crafts and other activities
Computer room (20 m²)for computer based activities to improve cognitive processes (only in center for the physically frail)
Areas for rest and showering, as well as a hair salon and medical pedicurist.
Transportation to and from the Centers, and laundry services
Beit Midrash center for Jewish learning.

For independent seniors, the afternoon-evening activities will include:

Social club
Enrichment program – art, drawing, jewelry making, etc.
Support groups for Holocaust survivors, widows, caregiving spouses, etc.
Employment Center – onsite work opportunities (a call center), as well as retraining courses and job placement services
The Day Center “College” – a center for continuing education and study.

Population Served: Physically frail, mentally frail and independent Haredi seniors.

Partners: Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services, National Insurance Institute, Jerusalem Municipality, JDC-Israel, Foundation for Holocaust Survivors