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Dancing in Jaffa
$50,000 to support documentary production
Support for documentary that chronicles the journey of internationally renowned dancer Pierre Dulaine as he returns to his birthplace of Jaffa to fulfill his life-long dream to teach Jewish and Arab Israeli children to dance together. The film weaves together the stories of the children who work with Dulaine and depicts the challenges and possibilities of real human interaction.
Agenda
Total giving of $300,000 over four years for Israeli Arab Media Campaign
Agenda, Israel’s only Center for Strategic Communications is working toward changing the way Israeli-Arabs are represented in mainstream Israeli media. Though Arabs comprise 20% of the Israeli population, until recently they were appearing in the media less than one percent of the time – and that one percent typically centered on political conflict. Today, through Agenda’s successful media training and activities, 60% of media representation of Arabs revolves around civic issues such as health, culture, sports, education and business. Agenda continues to provide media training for Israeli Arab professionals, new media training for Arab and Jewish youth, and ensures a strong Israeli Arab presence in the press as interviewees or commentators. Most recently, Agenda helped facilitate the participation of Israeli Arab personalities on such popular reality T.V. shows as Israel’s “American Idol.”
Encounter
Total giving of $225,000 over six years to support trips for rabbinical students and emerging Jewish leaders
Founded by an American rabbinical student, this exchange program takes future American rabbis and educators from all denominations on excursions to Bethlehem and Hebron to learn about the challenges facing Palestinians and the steps that grassroots, non-violent activists are taking to meet them. This program helps develop American Jewish leaders who can speak with authority and nuance about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Gesher Multicultural Film Fund
$140,000 over two years to support the Jewish Arab dialogue incubator program
Gesher, an Israeli based non-profit, manages the country’s only independent film fund that focuses on “marginalized voices” in Israeli society including those of new immigrants, Mizrahi Jews, and Israeli Arabs. More recently, Gesher launched an incubator program to bring together emerging Jewish and Arab filmmakers to be mentored by veteran Israeli and Arab filmmakers and to come together around a shared interest in film and a real need for training.
Jerusalem Cinematheque
Total giving of $240,000 over four years for I Am You Are education and outreach
The I AM YOU ARE film program brings together Arab and Jewish youth from Jerusalem to explore film, filmmaking, and personal identity. The teens participate in a six-week workshop where they produce, write, direct, and edit short documentary productions based on their own lives. RPF’s support has allowed these films to be shown in Jewish and Arab classrooms throughout Jerusalem as a way to provide insight into, and spur discussions about, life from the other’s perspective.
Interfaith Youth Core
Total giving of $300,000 over four years for Media Training and Online Interfaith Platform
As a way to act on his belief that religion should be a source of cooperation not conflict, Eboo Patel founded Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a network of religiously diverse college students and young adults who learn understanding and respect by volunteering together in their local communities. IFYC members focus on how best to use social media to advance their message and work. The organization continues to train hundreds of youth leaders on how to use social media to better engage their peers and is now embarking on the creation of an online interfaith cooperation platform to make their voices heard.
Middle East Education through Technology (MEET)
Total giving of $350,000 over four years for general support
During the second Intifada, two Israelis and a Palestinian student living in the United States thought of a way to use technology to bring together Israeli and Palestinian youth. The result was Middle East Education through Technology (MEET) – an effort that targets the best and brightest Israeli and Palestinian high school students for a three-year intensive program in computer science and business. Students study together in weekly classes and then spend summers at Hebrew University learning from visiting MIT instructors. They then work in teams designing real projects that have a social benefit as they also learn about each other.
OneVoice Movement
Total giving of $400,000 over four years to support the International Education Program
Since 2003, OneVoice has been working within Israel and Palestine to give voice to the overwhelming, but often silent, majority of mainstream Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East who wish for peace. OneVoice’s Israeli and Palestinian youth leaders visit dozens of college campuses throughout the United States each year. At each stop, they talk about the realities of life in Israel and Palestine (realities often not seen in the media) and serve as models of how people can strongly disagree about political issues, but still agree to basic human dignity and a peaceful resolution.
Sesame Workshop
Total giving of $500,000 over four years to support production of both Israeli and Palestinian versions of Sesame Street
The Israeli version of Sesame Street, Rechov Sumsum, introduces children throughout the region to issues of diversity. Children are exposed to different ethnic, religious and cultural communities within Israeli society and are introduced to the first ever Arab-Israeli Muppet. Shara'a Simsim, the Palestinian version focuses on Palestinian culture, respect for others, and boys self-esteem in order to help preschoolers living in the West Bank and Gaza gain positive social skills. It is the only locally produced children’s educational program currently broadcast in the West Bank and Gaza. Together both productions garner a viewership of close to 800,000 children.
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