TIPS Projects

TIPS, the Tucson, Israel, Phoenix and Seattle Partnership, has two major kinds of programs. The first is to empower youth and young adults in Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon, Israel. The second helps to bring together Israelis and American Jews through personal contact.

In recent years, TIPS has focused on leadership and empowerment for the teens and young adults in our Israel communities. More than 150 youth from Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon attended two seminars to come up with ideas for programming that would make a change in the lives of teens in their region. From those seminars, TIPS has helped create and support the following programs:

Empowering Youth and Young Adults

1) A sports leadership program for middle school youth to teach them about teamwork, how to teach soccer, and how to develop programs for others. This program is done in coordination with the professional soccer team HaPoel Tel Aviv. Graduates of the two-year program are certified to lead younger teams. Since league sports are not typically a part of Israeli high schools, the program allows teens from various neighborhoods to work together for the good of the city in a fun and energetic way.

2) Art City, a major new project that has placed programs for teens in bands, dance, theater, and photography under one umbrella. It is amazing to see how the skills of these teens have grown in just two years. They perform locally and have been invited to perform in regional and national events. More than 12 teen bands are in the program. A marvelous dance program with over 100 participants has grown into a very polished performance troop, part of which will perform in Seattle in May, 2010. The program has transformed the city into a center for the arts for teens and has created a sense of pride in the community.

3) The first ever sports league in the 20-community Hof Ashkelon region. Local schools do not have sports teams, nor has there ever been a regional sports league. Since youth in the same community often attend different secondary schools, they rarely see each other, and because of poor public transportation, they often do not meet teens in other communities. Since 2007, over 150 teens have participated in the league each year on 11+ teams. The league has been hugely successful. Youth from the same moshav are getting reacquainted, meeting youth from other communities and developing a sense of regional pride. During this time, many of the Hof Ashkelon communities were under regular shelling from Gaza, so having a chance to play soccer away from the targeted areas, gave the guys a chance to unwind through sports and talking. This coming year TIPS will begin to support a girls' basketball league too.

4) A Youth Council and Youth Center serves as a gathering place for teens from around the region where they plan and carry out regional teen activities, supports teens who are advisors/counselors for younger youth in their moshavim and kibbutzim, and through seminars and activities learn leadership skills. During the Gaza action, teens from this group volunteered with the elderly and young children.

5) Garden Renovations allow local youth to take responsibility for improving the image of their own communities by renovating gardens and assisting in small building projects to create local teen meeting places.

6) For both communities, a future project for young adults: We hope to help create centers in Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon for young adults, to help them network for the process of getting jobs.

Bringing American and Israeli Jews Together

1) Israeli Teen Counselors to the US: For over five years, TIPS has been sending Israeli teens to volunteer in summer camps in the Western US. In Seattle, the youth are at the Jewish Community Center Day Camp, bringing a taste of Israel and Hebrew to the campers. The four or five Israelis stay with local Jewish families who have teens in their households. The Seattle-area families have created strong bonds with these teens and many have visited them in Israel. The Israeli teens go back to Israel with stronger leadership skills and a commitment to giving back to their communities in Israel. If you have teens at home during the summer and are interested in hosting an Israeli from two to six weeks, Israel [at] JewishInSeattle [dot] org (email us.)

2) The Chuck Simpson-Netanel Peretz Memorial Art Contest for 5th and 6th graders in the TIPS communities. Seven Seattle schools, both Jewish day schools and supplemental schools, have participated in this art contest the past three years. Top entries from the five TIPS communities are available for display. Three pictures from each community are in the colorful TIPS calendar, which is available in August each year.

3) Women Cooking, a new program for more than twenty Israeli women skilled in cooking, who learn to cook together for large groups, decorate nicely and tell their personal stories. Women from different ethnic backgrounds will come to Seattle to cook with local women, give spice demonstrations, etc. Some may be able to set up a small business in the future and earn extra money from what they learn.

4) Pen Pals: Several school classes have been in e-mail and letter contact with classes in Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon. When local day schools have taken trips to Israel at the end of 8th grade, they have met their pen-pals and spent the day with them.

5) B'nai Mitvah projects: We have a list of small projects that b'nai mitzvah can choose for their tzedakah projects. Israel [at] JewishInSeattle [dot] org (Write to us) for more details.

Additional Projects

Separately, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle has also helped fund other specific projects in the Kiryat Malachi/Hof Ashkelon region, including:

1. Scholarships for first generation Ethiopian-Israeli college students from Kiryat Malachi
2. An after-hours emergency medical clinic in Kiryat Malachi and a dental program in Hof Ashkelon
3. Security fencing around schools
4. A legal advocacy program called Yedid, mainly for newer immigrants

For more information about the TIPS Partnership or other Israel programming, please email us at Israel [at] JewishInSeattle [dot] org.