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June 29, 2007
Delivering hope to community
Canadian-supported Asper centre in Jerusalem gives new life to
lagging neighborhood.
WENDY ELLIMAN ISRAEL PRESS SERVICE
The two oldest children of Yulia, a divorced mother of four who
made aliyah from Russia just six years ago, were poor students who
found maths and English especially unfathomable. One scraped through
his graduation, his grades too poor to get him much further. The
other failed to graduate at all.
Despite the challenge, Yulia is determined that her two younger
children (fourth and sixth graders) will do better when, in the
fall, they begin attending a centre that provides resources enabling
children to improve their educational achievements.
"They know all about the computer as a toy," said Yulia,
"judging by the time they spend playing computer games. But
soon, they'll have a chance to use the computer to improve their
math and English through specially designed computer programs."
The new centre, which was dedicated in early June, is the fourth
in a lengthening chain of community action facilities built at the
initiative of the 24-year-old Asper Foundation of Canada, in partnership
with Canada's Jewish National Fund.
"In the past four years, we've initiated centres in Ofakim,
Migdal HaEmek and Be'ersheba, but it was important to us to be in
our beloved Jerusalem as well," said Asper Foundation managing
director Gail Asper. "As Israel is the soul of the Jewish people,
so Jerusalem is the soul of Israel. And once we began planning in
Jerusalem, we found a wonderful partner in the Jerusalem Foundation."
The building is in the city's Ramot Alon neighborhood, which is
home to veteran Israelis and immigrants, mainly from the former
Soviet Union, Ethiopia and Bukharia. Established in 1974 and today
home to 47,000 people, Ramot's social and economic future now hangs
in the balance.
"This was once a pluralistic community of secular, religious
and ultra-Orthodox veterans and newcomers," said Ramot Alon
Community Centre chairman Ze'evik Landner, who has lived in the
neighborhood for the past 24 years. "Although there is still
one section consisting of beautifully landscaped homes and apartment
buildings owned by affluent and upper-middle class residents, many
of them have moved out. Now, there are mostly large pockets of secular
and ultra-Orthodox areas facing poverty and social problems. We
must invest in our community to stop it sliding into a downward
spiral."
The investment shared by the Asper Foundation, the Jerusalem Foundation
and Canadian JNF is close to $350,000, a portion of which will go
to renovating premises provided for the centre by the Jerusalem
municipality. The lion's share, however, will go towards financing
educational enrichment programs and activities largely geared toward
disadvantaged youngsters. It will also serve as a multicultural
meeting place for residents from vastly different backgrounds and
enable the new immigrant population to integrate into the general
population of the neighborhood.
One of the centre's four sections will be for youngsters like Yulia's.
Its tutors will help with homework and oversee computer courses
that reinforce English and math in line with the school syllabus.
A second section, for younger children, will have supervised games
and toys, computer games for infants and a puppet theatre. Teens
will be given "green" tools in the centre's third section,
where a unique program run in tandem with JNF will operate. Through
field trips and day and summer camps, the youngsters will learn
leadership skills, Zionism, Israeli history and how to maintain
a green environment.
The action centre's fourth section will be a computer lab with 20
stations, which will extend from teaching kindergartners the three
Rs in preparation for first grade and educational games and training
for teens as computer instructors, all the way to website-building,
providing unemployed residents with computer know-how and young
couples with a family budget planning course.
"As we've seen at our three community action centres already
up and running, these are places that can provide educational support
beyond the reach of the school system," said Asper. "While
they particularly help youngsters with educational difficulties
or children from deprived families, their combination of technology-oriented
education and teaching of leadership skills and heritage can help
all comers achieve their optimal educational level."
"I believe that the Israel Asper Community Action Centre will
become the breathing heart and centre of community life in Ramot
Alon," added Landner. "Perhaps it will hold the key to
a brighter and better future for Ramot's deprived youngsters. At
the very least, it will bring children and families from vastly
different backgrounds and beliefs together under one roof."
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