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.