Israel
Welcome to your CLE - ISR connection
We create “living” bridges between Jews in Cleveland and Jews around the world. We are your passport to meeting new people and participating in meaningful projects that are changing lives overseas.
Let’s get started in Israel
Meet Etty
Bridge to the Future Participant
To spur growth, we invest in a neighborhood revitalization and community development program called Bridge to the Future (BTF). Through skill building and mentorship, we are helping the people in our sister city of Beit Shean turn a once depressed community into a vibrant tourist destination that celebrates its cultural diversity. Etty is one of the people making it happen as a Jewish Egyptian cook.
Faces and Stories from Beit Shean
Meet Idan
Havat HaShomer Commander
“A young person in trouble needs someone to believe in him, someone to love him, and make him feel like he belongs. With this, he can make great change,” Idan told us. She is one of the remarkable young women who runs the Israeli army prep base, Havat HaShomer, a program designed to help disadvantaged youth who are considered at-risk.
1,500+
men and women are identified annually by the IDF as “at-risk youth.”
90%
of Havat HaShomer recruits and 80% of Hagam recruits complete Federation-supported programs to promote success in civilian life.
5,500+
lives changed through intervention and training for at-risk men and women.
Meet Avi
PACT Participant
Avi is one of 4,000 Ethiopian-Israelis whose life is better because of our literacy program, Parents and Children Together (PACT), aimed at Ethiopian-Israeli children ages 6 months to 12 years. PACT closes the developmental and performance gap that separates the immigrant population from their peers.
48% 2%
Since its inception, PACT has reduced the Kindergarten repetition rate among Ethiopian-Israeli children from 48% to 2%.
Meet Reut
Youth Futures Mentor
Reut is one of the hundreds of children who benefit from Youth Futures, providing community-based mentoring for youth in Israel. Trained mentors work as trusted guides to help students improve school performance, strengthen social integration, and inspire engagement with the community. The Mentors also connect youth, families, and communities with the services and local resources to help them overcome barriers to success.
16
Each Youth Futures “Mentor” works with 16 at-risk children over the course of three years, teaching skills for academic improvement and social integration that last a lifetime.
12K
In one year alone, 400 staff members worked with 12,000 students and their families in 35 communities across Israel.
1,000+
There are 95 Youth Futures Mentors living in southern Israel where rocket fire terrorizes children; together, Mentors try to help 1,000+ Youth Futures children get through Israel’s crisis with as little emotional damage as possible.
Learn More
Meet Maya
ISHA Participant
The Israel Health Advancement for Women (ISHA) is a women’s health collaborative that provides pioneering solutions for marginalized and underserved women in Israel, from secular to religious to ultra-Orthodox to Arab. “We increase the number of women that go and have examinations, because early detection can save lives. Early detection can have a 90% recovery,” said Maya.
300,000+
women have benefited from the ISHA project in just 10 years.
