At the recommendation of its Israeli advisory board, the Amuta, the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation has approved close to $2 million in direct grants to benefit the citizens of Israel.
The adult Ethiopian immigrant population, the gay and lesbian community and Israeli Arab citizens are among this year’s areas of focus. Grants also will go toward promoting Jewish pluralism and community building in the Upper Galil.
“The San Francisco federation uses the Amuta as its eyes and ears, identifying those special areas that need funding,” said Amuta member Yossi Tamir, who directs a social service program for children and families in Jerusalem. He said providing funding for specific sectors is essential in order to tighten the gap between the “haves and have-nots” in Israeli society.
“Even though the government of Israel is now investing much more in social services than it did years ago, they do not allocate with flexibility,” he said. “We need to do more targeting in order to have an impact.”
The Amuta recommended seven programs for adult Ethiopians, primarily centering on improving vocational and teaching skills. Among these programs, which were awarded a total of $165,750, a training program to integrate Ethiopian-born teachers into the Israeli school system was given $20,000 and an incubator program to help integrate Ethiopian Israelis into the workforce received $25,000; both are administered through the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Tamir explained that the need to focus on Ethiopian adults is essential because two-thirds of those ages 45 and above are unemployed.
Although the government of Israel has contributed funds to integrate the 80,000 Ethiopian immigrants over the past 15 years, Tamir said officials primarily focused on children, while “parents, adults were neglected.” And in order to improve the lives of the children, “they need their parents” to be stable.
“We’ve been doing a cluster of projects to enhance their lives,” said Tamir. “As a result there are Ethiopian teachers integrated into the schools now.”
The next area of focus is Israel’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The Amuta awarded a $10,000 grant to the Agudah, Israel’s nationwide LGBT association. Tamir said that he expects the development of the JCF’s new gay and lesbian division this year will help procure more substantial grants for the LGBT community of Israel in the future.
This year the Amuta brought Israeli Arab issues to the forefront with the development of 14 projects for Arab citizens totaling $468,020. Unlike the Ethiopian grants, these focus primarily on Arab children and their educational development.
There are also several projects aimed at Arab women as well as projects to promote Jewish and Arab coexistence.
In the area of Jewish pluralism, 11 programs received $318,900 from the JCF. They include $43,900 for a program that builds Jewish identity and Jewish holiday programming into the Israel Association of Community Centers and $35,000 for leadership training for high school-age youth in Jewish pluralism and social responsibility.
Meanwhile, $223,000 in grants was awarded to nine Upper Galil projects. These include $17,000 for a project providing outreach to Russian immigrants through the Upper Galil Rape Crisis Center, $30,000 for a Kiryat Shmona training program for youth to aid other youths at risk and $12,500 for performing arts training for children and adults.
A complete listing of the JCF’s 2001-2002 grants can be found on the federation’s Web site, www.sfjcf.org
As a whole the Amuta this year recommended several grants aimed at empowering women living in all sectors of the Israeli population.
Alice Shalvi, an Amuta member and leading Israeli feminist scholar, said she was particularly pleased with a $15,000 pluralism grant to the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, which will help women in the area of Jewish law. Shalvi chairs the executive committee of the institute, which is affiliated with the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary.
She explained that women feel “a lot of disgust with the Orthodox establishment,” because it oftentimes puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to rabbinical court decisions, especially in the arena of marriage and divorce.
“This year we’re funding many projects where women are initiators and really impacting Israeli society in a powerful way. I’m very satisfied,” she said.