Jun 27, 2011
Kulanu Project Earns JAFI’s Partnership of Excellence Award
The partnership between the Jewish community of Miami and the city of Yerucham, Israel was recognized recently by the Jewish Agency for Israel’s (JAFI) Partnership of Excellence Award for its Kulanu Tri-Center Project, an innovative Jewish leadership and educational program for teens.
Kulanu, which means “all of us” in Hebrew, is a project that brings together teenagers from the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center in North Miami Beach, the Hacoaj Community Center in Buenos Aires, and Matnas (the community center) in Yerucham. The Greater Miami Jewish Federation Israel & Overseas Department is working closely with professionals at each of the three locations to engage teens in a two-year educational and advanced leadership program. Kulanu includes workshops about each community, inter-community e-learning activities, face-to-face interaction between representatives of the three communities, the development of projects to improve the communities and/or a mitzvah project serving local needs. The program’s curriculum was developed by Dror Gershoni, Miami’s Community Shaliach (emissary) from Israel, and included three components: Israel-Diaspora relationships, the meaning of Jewish identity in each of the three communities, and Jewish youth leadership development. The program also expands each of the teen’s commitment to serving as Jewish leaders and role models.
Federation embraced this project to strengthen Miami’s partnership with Yerucham and the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, as well as to invest in the future leadership of our community.
JAFI is an overseas partner of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. The award was presented at the Jewish Agency’s Partnership 2Gether Conference in Tel Aviv in June 2011. Read more about Kulanu by clicking here.
