The Sky is the Limit
Rabbi Akiva 1
-
Jerusalem 9458201
Israel
- Youth and education
Our mission is to transform at-risk youth into socially involved citizens, by developing their sense of self-worth and insuring an ability and desire to account for their future and communities.
Goals
1. Transform at-risk youth into community leaders and role models by raising their social and political awareness.
2. Empower impoverished communities through youth projects that target unaddressed communal needs.
3. Open the window to higher Education by exposing youth participants to university students, encouraging them to continue academic pursuits after high school.
What We Do. Through learning programs and empowerment workshops, we rebuild confidence, educate regarding civic consciousness and responsibilities and encourage social activism. we give them the opportunity to be active social entrepreneurs within their environment. We encourage them to take responsibility for their personal future, transforming themselves into actively involved citizens.
Target Population. Our participants, 6th–9th graders, are youth at risk from low socio-economic areas in Israel. Our counselors are university students who develop a commitment to volunteerism and social betterment. The students serve as role models for our youth, encouraging them to pursue higher education after high school graduation.
Project Description
Stage 1: Youth empowerment. During the first months of the program, counselors meet with participants weekly and help them develop personal and social tools for success alongside the education process of how to become socially aware (consumption of news media, environmental awareness and experience of activism through volunteering).
Stage 2: Community Change and Entrepreneurial Projects. During the second stage, participants identify a need in their community, then devise and implement a plan to address this need. One group identified a community need for healthy youth recreation and initiated a youth movie theater in their local community center. Another group opened a student coffee shop in their school and donated all the incomes to the local soup kitchen.
Previous outcomes of the project: We have witnessed participants develop better relationships with the school system, stay off the streets, and continue to create projects that answer communal needs. We have seen participants serve as leaders among their peers, modeling and encouraging healthy educational and social behavior. Through a ripple effect, the project benefits hundreds, if not thousands, of people throughout its impacted communities.
We, as an organization, can contribute to the ALF Network, by bringing the underprivileged youth voice into the network. We work with a wide verity of the Israeli youth and exposed to different sides of the Israeli community. We can contribute our knowledge of social entrepreneurship and experience from the Jerusalem neighborhood we work in. We could contribute cooperation with other organization to create a better and deeper solution to the social problems of the Jerusalem and Israeli society.
I believe that in all sectors but mainly the social one (the third sector)- corporations are very important between similar organization and also between different organization. I also believe that the more we learn, the more we are exposed to new and different ideas, information and action- we become more aware and implement the new things we learn in our organizations and in our own life. This way we become more engaged and more active in creating a better society.
I believe that the ALF network is an amazing place to make all that happened! to generate the coop orations, to expose the members to different realms and subjects and to help us implement it in our organizations.
In a more personal note- I am missing an activist community that its members will support each other and enrich each other at the same time. I feel like the ALF network is this community.