By Alexander Jacob Shapiro | Monitoring & Evaluation Coordinator
I hope you’re doing well during these challenging times. Our hearts are very heavy.
A few weeks ago, despite already-high tensions in Jerusalem, we held a Ramadan Iftar break-fast in the West Bank - an event that was characterized by a feeling of love and family.
In the last few weeks our community has been tense, but strong bonds remain. We, the staff, and also alumni, have been reaching out to each other, checking to make sure everyone is safe, ensuring each person feels cared for, listened to, and respected.
We held a Zoom call where alumni shared experiences and we have a number of in-person meetings planned.
While the current situation is hard, it shows why our work is so important. The fact that our community has stayed connected in these hard times is a light amongst the despair.
Before the current tensions, we had a productive quarter.
During this quarter we launched our alumni-led community teams in the areas of high-tech, dialogue, and ‘alumni forum and initiatives,’ along with local communities in three cities. These efforts have been successful and promising, as the alumni themselves have taken the lead in creating a vibrant community. The community is increasingly self-sufficient: currently 30 alumni hold leadership roles, solely or with staff assistance organizing at least monthly opportunities (20 formal activities in four months of 2021 so far) for dialogue, high-tech training, social activities, and professional development - including networking events, dialogue (e.g. recent lecture and dialogue session with a US Foreign Service Officer, and a three-day dialogue weekend in Haifa); technical and soft-skills training (e.g. recent lecture series with Microsoft), sharing job and internship opportunities, mentorship (e.g. current program with Mckinsey & Co. Consultants), employability training, access to startup accelerators (e.g. our close partners, 50:50 Startups), training in dialogue facilitation, access to support for Arab-Jewish professional and social collaborative projects, and extended blended program (e.g. alumni-led three-day weekend seminar in East Jerusalem with high-tech training, dialogue, and recruitment elements upcoming in June). Alumni have also created local organic communities in three cities and frequently meet-up informally. The active participation and leadership of alumni in creating the community, and the strong personal bonds among alumni that exist outside of the influence of T2P staff, are encouraging signs that the community will continue to thrive beyond the scope of this program or even of T2P
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