12/20/2023 0 Comments Elyon builds![]() “This year in particular my student has just blossomed, she’s just blooming,” said Merovitz. “Over the years, we’ve had up to more than 100 Ottawa individuals participate.”īut when the students do buy-in, it’s an amazing experience, said Merovitz, who is currently spending about an hour a week mentoring an Israeli youth. “Our first 50 to 60 mentors were all here in Ottawa,” said Gordon. From just 10 Ottawa-based mentors to now more than 500 connections being made every week, the program has grown rapidly in its first decade. “It’s a barrier to higher education for kids because you need a very high level of English to carry on in school.” She explains that in Israel, it is like “you have 40 kids in a 40-minute class, and everyone spoke for one minute,” that’s the standard English experience for the day for some of these children.Īnd so, Israel Connect was founded. 1 barrier to social mobility in Israel and it is heavily correlated to economic status and region,” said Gordon about why she started the program. ![]() The program has grown to include students throughout Israel, and in particular in Ottawa’s Partner Region, the Galilee Panhandle which includes Metulla, Kiryat Shmona, Galil Elyon, Mevo’ot HaHermon, and Yessod HaMa’ala. The program, which is receiving $6,000 in funding from Federation this year, was launched in Ottawa about nine years ago by Sarah Gordon. Once a week, mentors lead live one-on-one video meetings focused on English conversation, reading, and vocabulary development. Israel Connect pairs the volunteer mentors in North America with students across Israel to improve their English proficiency, increase their access to higher education and put them on the path to economic mobility. The funding supports Israel Connect to recruit and train Ottawa volunteers who act as mentors and are the backbone of the program. For the last three years, the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, through the Partnership 2Gether program, has provided funding to Israel Connect’s efforts to arrange English-language mentorship for Israeli youth.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |