Israel $2,907,000

A. New Israel Fund (NIF): $2,782,000

1. For general support of the New Israel Fund which seeks to strengthen democracy and promote social justice in Israel in three primary issue areas: Civil and Human Rights, Social and Economic Justice, and Religious Pluralism. ($200,000)

2. For NIF’s capacity building program, SHATIL, which offers technical assistance to social change organizations, through consulting and training in organizational and resource development, advocacy, media, networking and coalition-building. ($200,000)

3. For NIF’s capacity building program, SHATIL, to provide technical assistance in five key areas: Community Organizing in Low-Income Neighborhoods; Empowerment of Immigrants from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS); Leadership Training and Technical Assistance to the Ethiopian Community; Improvement of Educational Opportunities for Ethiopians; and Equal Access for Arab Israelis. ($340,000)

4. For NIF’s Arab Initiative, which supports Palestinian Israeli organizations that are working to effect systematic change in the areas of land, housing, planning and education. ($150,000)

5. For NIF’s Commonwealth of Independent States Immigrant Democracy/Pluralism Pool, which provides support to grassroots organizations that increase CIS immigrants’ exposure to democratic and pluralistic values, so as to further promote and advance these values within their community. ($152,000)

6. For NIF’s Small Grants Pool, which provides financial assistance to small organizations in the primary stages of their development. ($17,000)

7. For NIF’s program supporting Bedouin organizations, which are struggling to address the unmet needs of Israel’s Bedouin communities. ($10,000)

• Ethiopian Integration Projects:
  • South Wing to Zion, which advocates for immigration to Israel for Jews still waiting in Ethiopia, for recognition of this wave of Ethiopian immigrants as Jews in Israel, and for integration into Israeli society. ($20,000)
• Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Immigrant Integration Projects:
  • IMHA, Association of Immigrant Single-Parent Families, which empowers CIS immigrant parents to advocate for changes in policies affecting them, particularly in the areas of housing, social benefits, and employment. ($20,000)
  • Immigrants for Successful Absorption, has an information center that helps Russian speaking immigrants in the Negev to understand and access their rights ($10,000).
  • IRAC: Legal Aid to Immigrants, which provides legal aid regarding personal status issues, absorption, and civil disputes between immigrants and veteran Israelis, particularly in the areas of employment and property ownership and rental. ($10,000)
• Palestinian Israeli Projects:
• Adalah, which promotes the protection of Arab minority rights by legal representation of Palestinian Israeli citizens who are arrested and detained. ($50,000)
• Al –Ahali Center for Community Development, to support educational activities that promote civic participation among Palestinian Israeli citizens. ($20,000)
• Al-Zahraa, which works on the regional level to advance the status of Arab women. ($20,000)
• Arab Center for Planning, which is working to advance the land rights of the Arab population in Israel. ($30,000)
• Assiwar: Working Group for Equality in Personal Status Issues, which works to improve the status of Arab women. ($10,000)
• Association of Forty, which lends intensive assistance to Bedouin village committees that are attempting to gain state recognition and services. ($30,000)
• Baladna: Arab Youth Organization, which works to encourage awareness and social involvement among youth by strengthening their identity and to promote democratic and pluralistic thinking and behavior among youth. ($15,000)
• Committee for Educational Guidance, which seeks to bridge the gaps created by policies that discriminate against Arabs and the Arab education system, helps Arab youth progress educationally, and promote the development of Arab student leadership. ($25,000)
• E’elam Media Center, which works as a liaison between the Hebrew media and the Israeli Palestinian community. ($20,000)
• Follow-up Committee for Arab Education, which works to advance educational services for Arab citizens of Israel and promotes equitable allocation of resources. ($30,000)
• Kayan: The Feminist Organization for Women in Arab Society, which engages in public education, training, and consciousness-raising to promote a feminist agenda. ($20,000)
• Lagiya: Association for the Improvement of the Status of Women, which operates educational and training programs that promote the status of women in Lagiya and surrounding villages. (20,000)
• Mossawa, which struggles to eliminate discrimination in government policies and state budget allocations. ($30,000)
• Adva Center, which undertakes policy analysis, advocacy, and public education on issues of inequity among various population groups in Israel. ($20,000)
• The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which protects and promotes rights in Israel and the territories under Israeli control through litigation, education, community outreach, and policy advocacy efforts, and promotes a concept of civil and human rights as an integral part of democratic community building and as a unifying force in Israeli public life. ($150,000)
• Israel Women’s Network, which seeks to improve the status of women in Israel through leadership development, public education, and advocacy and legal activities. (25,000)
• Kav La’Oved (Worker's Hotline), which offers legal and practical assistance to workers whose rights have been violated ($20,000)

9. For NIF’s program to improve opportunities for Ethiopian immigrants ($395,000). Recommended for:

• ALMAYA - Association for the Advancement of the Ethiopian Family & Child in Israel: Which fosters the integration of Ethiopian immigrants in Israeli society by empowering community members, training Ethiopians as paraprofessionals, disseminating needed information to immigrants, and developing and implementing model programs to meet the needs of the Ethiopian community ($65,000).
• Center for Legal Aid Advocacy for the Ethiopian Community: Which provides the Ethiopian community with information, guidance, and assistance regarding rights and entitlements ($25,000).
• Fidel – Association for Education & Social Integration for Ethiopian Jews: Which engages in education, advocacy, and social activities to improve the integration of Ethiopian immigrants ($150,000).
• Hadera Ethiopian Volunteer Center: To conduct a leadership course for Ethiopian activists residing in development towns and distressed neighborhoods in the Sharon region ($20,000).
• Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews: To provide the data and policy analysis required to formulate strategies to improve immigration policies for the Ethiopian-Israeli community and advocate for the needed changes ($100,000).
• South Wing to Zion: The Association for Ingathering & Absorption of Ethiopian Jewry: For work to bring the remaining Judaic Ethiopians to Israel and to ease their integration into Israeli society ($35,000).

10. For NIF’s program to foster the absorption of immigrants from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) ($190,000). Recommended for:

• Bayit Rishon B’Moledet – First Home in the Homeland: To support an acculturation program for CIS immigrants, which will deepen their understanding of and identification with Israeli society, and cultivate a network of immigrant leaders ($20,000).
• Congress of Russian-Speaking Journalists: For support of the Congress of Russian-Speaking Journalists in Israel ($25,000).
• Immigrants for Successful Absorption: For support of this organization that helps Russian speaking immigrants in the Negev to understand and access their rights ($20,000).
• The Modus School and Educational Center: To develop, implement, and disseminate a new approach in education based on principles of democracy and responsibility ($35,000).
• New Era: To promote democratization among the CIS immigrant community ($20,000).
• One Plus One – Association of Immigrant Youth: To operate leadership centers and train immigrant youth counselors to run informal educational activities that facilitate participants’ integration into Israeli society ($20,000).
• Quality of Life for Each & Everyone: To expose CIS immigrants to elements of democracy and civil society ($25,000).
• Shiluv – Integration: To facilitate the integration of immigrants from the CIS into Israeli society ($25,000).

11. For NIF’s program to promote equal rights and opportunities for Arab Israelis ($483,000). Recommended for:

• Adam Institute for Democracy and Peace: For its democratization program in Arab schools, which includes in-service training for teachers, classroom work with students, and implementation of a democratic way of life in the school ($30,000) and to refurbish the computer lab ($1,000).
• Alwaha Ba Nagev – A Society for Social & Educational Services: For “Hamama” an intensive after school program for disadvantaged and abused children in Kseiffe ($15,000).
• The Association to Promote the Education of Bedouin Women: For the Pre-University Preparatory Project, a pre-university course that prepares talented Bedouin women high school students for higher education programs ($35,000).
• Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development: To initiate waste collection services for unrecognized villages in the Negev and to support a strategic planning process ($50,000).
• Community Advocacy: For the Bedouin Outreach program, which helps Bedouin communities in the Negev advocate for individual social rights and changes in policies that discriminate or exclude Bedouin from determination of issues affecting them ($35,000).
• El-Khwarizmi Association for Higher Education: For Education as the Foundation for the Future, a program to assess Bedouin elementary school students in their academic performance and to provide weak students with remedial lessons ($10,000).
• Hura Community Center: For a community television project, which offers training courses in television production to Hura residents and includes the production of a magazine program for community television in the northern Negev ($25,000).
• Israel Family Planning Association (IFPA): For Open the Doors in Arab Society, a project that trains Arab professionals on issues related to reproductive health and sexual behavior and provides IFPA services to Arab citizens ($40,000).
• Kfar Qassim Society for Informal Culture and Education: To support science and technology enrichment activities for Bedouin students in the Negev ($35,000) and for plans to hire a coordinator ($15,000).
• Masar – Institution for Ontosophical Education: For the Nazareth Center for Education, the first alternative school for Palestinian-Israeli school children ($25,000).
• Mossawa Center: The Advocacy Center for Arab/Palestinian Citizens of Israel: For the Capacity Building in Advocacy for Arab NGOs and Local Councils project, which aims to build the capacity of representatives from Arab NGOs and local councils to influence public policy and access government funds ($25,000).
• Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development: For the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation ($25,000).
• Sidreh: To increase the income generating capacity of the Negev Weaving Project, which sells homespun, dyed woven products produced by Bedouin women in the Negev and accommodates tourism to the region ($40,000).
• Tashrin: To conduct a woman’s empowerment course for the Bedouin women of Rahat ($7,000).
• Trust of Programs for Early Childhood, Family & Community Education: To support training activities for preschool personnel in Ramallah and East Jerusalem that focus on strengthening educational opportunities for children ($35,000).
• Women Against Violence: To improve the social and legal status of Arab Israeli women and to eliminate all forms of violence directed against them ($25,000).

12. For NIF’s program to strengthen civil rights and build civil society ($35,000). Recommended for:

• Israel Women’s Network: To improve the status of women, attain equality of the sexes, and create a more just and equal society via advocacy, legal and legislative activity, empowerment training, consciousness-raising and education ($10,000).
• Jewish-Arab Community Association: Wolfson Neighborhood: For Jewish and Arab residents in Acre to conduct community organizing and revitalize its volunteer base ($10,000).

13. For NIF’s program to support peace and coexistence in Israel ($15,000). Recommended for:

• Bat-Shalom for the Coalition of Women for a Just Peace: For a coalition of ten Israeli women’s peace organizations and independent women peace activists ($15,000).
• Netivot Shalom-Oz ve Shalom: For this religious peace movement’s newsletter, which offers a pro-peace interpretation of the weekly Torah portion ($15,000).

B. Friends of Yemin Orde:

$25,000 For support of its Partnering for Excellence project, which partners the Yemin Orde Youth Village and the Talpiot Children’s Village in an effort to redefine the use of residential boarding schools so that they focus on service provision for local disadvantaged children, enabling children “at risk” to be with or near their families.

C. Grassroots International :

$45,000 To support the Palestinian Democratic Development Program, which provides technical assistance and funds to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

D. North American Council on Ethiopean Jewry (NACOEJ):

$40,000 For the Israel Dissemination Program that enhances NACOEJ’s capacity to develop educational policies and practices derived from its Israel programs.

E. The Jerusalem Fund:

$15,000 Recommended for the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, which aims to document human rights abuses committed by the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government and army in the West Bank, Gaza-Strip, and East Jerusalem, and publicizes the violations in order to end the abuses, promote the rule of law, and protect human rights.