Education:

• Breaking the Borders (NIS 50,000) is a project bringing together educators from the neighbouring areas of Bat Yam and Jaffa. These educators have a unique role in humanising the “other” and preventing future violence. Sessions so far have taught violence and racism prevention to teachers, informal educators, senior officials (including the Tel Aviv district of the Ministry of Education and the Tel Aviv Municipality) and head-teachers.
• The Centre for Educational Technology’s Learning Together project (NIS 50,000) cultivates educational partnerships between Hebrew and Arabic-language schools. Working with the Ramle municipality, the project brought 4 pairs of schools in together to engage in joint learning. The project also provided extensive training to principals and teachers on the importance of a shared society, thereby potentially impacting thousands of young Israelis.
• System Ali Creative Workshops (NIS 62,000) binational, Jaffa-based hip-hop collective System Ali ran a series of rap and poetry workshops to Arab and Jewish high school students. The first five sessions were mono-national, and the rest brought the students together. This helped the pupils express themselves, confront their emotions, and articulate the change they wish to effect in their communities.

Professional:

• Bayit la-Ruah (The Association for Spiritual Care in Israel – NIS 36,000) developed a bilingual, intercultural course co-led by 2 facilitators (one Jewish, one Palestinian) for medical professionals in Israel’s North to help them deal with the suffering and loss that they are regularly exposed to in their jobs. The three-session course has been run for nursing homes, Internal Medicine departments, and hospices.
• Veteran Negev organisation Atid Bamidbar (NIS 50,000) provided training for Bedouin interested in working in tourism. Over the course of Spring 2022, the cohort organised a series of events for thousands of Jewish visitors, with one event reaching 5,000 participants.
• Ofek (NIS 70,000) is a new joint project of the Forum for Regional Thinking and the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute that trains experts who are Palestinian citizens of Israel to amplify their voices in media and academia.

Culture:

• Achoti (Sister) for Women in Israel (NIS 60,000) and Arous al-Bahar for Women in Jaffa teamed up and brought a cohort of Palestinian and Jewish women together to create a play about their experiences in the mixed city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. The show will be staged for a local audience.
• Givat Haviva (NIS 50,000) funded a new Joint Residential Programme for Jewish and Arab Graduates of Art Institutes. This provided the renovation of a space on its campus to offer 12 Jewish and Palestinian art school graduates 3-month residencies including accommodation, studio space, and guidance from instructors and peers to help ease their transition into the competitive art world. This joint experience will provide a unique framework for Arabs and Jews to better understand one another, and to develop a cadre of young artists who can help encourage the Israeli art world to become more multicultural.

Innovation in Mixed Cities:

• A Bridge the Divide grant allowed Hashomer Hatzair (youth movement organisation) to create the Social Justice Tzedek Centre (NIS 70,000) in Ramle in partnership with Ajyal (an Arab youth movement). The Centre was based on a model successfully implemented in six other Israeli cities, but with a focus on providing a shared space for Arab and Jewish citizens to come together to deescalate tensions and offers a framework in which to build mutual understanding and solidarity.
• The Centre’s organise community training and form action groups to create change in their cities. These beneficiaries have gone on to set up more than 50 municipal action groups, leading campaigns such an increasing voter turnout and working toward national policy change.
• The Ramle Centre and its first cohort of trainees have already set up one action group to date and hope to address the most urgent issues affecting the resident’s day-to day lives, including crime, education, integration, and infrastructure