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*** THE ALIYAH REVOLUTION ALBUM ***

Thursday, October 25, 2007

These Guys Have It Going On


A group of former Brandeis students are starting a 10-day exploratory trip for college grads interested in making Aliyah. Check out their site.

Vision:

To enable Aliyah-minded students become agents of positive change in Israeli society, the global Jewish community, and the world using Israel as a platform.

The Vision Defined:

Agents of Positive Change

For most North American Jews, there is a financial opportunity cost involved in moving to Israel, and ideology is what pushes them to make the move across the Atlantic. Ideological motives do not end as soon as an oleh steps off the plane—to the contrary, the change in location is just the beginning of the impact that these individuals can potentially make. ImpactAliyah will harness this energy to help these individuals make a positive impact.

Israel as a platform

In computer lingo, a platform is a user interface that helps users achieve their goals. ImpactAliyah advocates the view that Israel is a platform from which inspired individuals can change the world. Tomorrow’s greatest achievers should appreciate the value of making their impact on the world with Israel as their base. ImpactAliyah advocates Aliyah as an opportunity to actively improve Israeli society, to carry out Tikkun Olam (improving the world), and to strengthen the global Jewish Community.

Goals:

-To establish a social network of young entrepreneurs, social activists and leaders who will support each other through the process of making positive change in and from Israel.
-To empower participants with the skills they will need to succeed in the global marketplace, including the contacts necessary to thrive in Israel.
-To impart an appreciation of the challenges that Israel and the Jewish people face, coupled with the understanding that challenges are opportunities for change.
-To provide value to Israeli companies by connecting them with top students from the United States.
-To provide a model for roving recruitment and networking in a foreign country, to pave the way for groups of American students to relocate to Israel and establish themselves with a sound foundation, enabling them to effect change.

Methodology:

ImpactAliyah will model a roving recruitment journey that matches participants with companies and organizations that fit both their personal interests and goals as well as enabling them to begin making an impact in Israel from the day they get off the plane. To this end, ImpactAliyah is running a ten day pilot journey in January 2008 for 30 students in the Boston area who are interested in Aliyah and making a difference. Participants will study opportunities and challenges that face Israel and the Jewish people, focusing on how American olim and native Israelis work to mitigate these challenges and leverage opportunities. This model will allow students to learn about their fields of interest in Israel, as well as connect companies and organizations in Israel with students who they may eventually hire. Programming in Boston in preparation and in response to the trip will facilitate continued education and support the contacts developed in Israel. The shared experience will create a cohort of like-minded individuals who will support each other in their leadership endeavors in the Jewish State.

· A pre-trip shabbaton, as well as gatherings at several of Boston’s top universities will work towards raising awareness of ImpactAliyah’s vision and build a participant base.

· Over the course of the ten-day trip, participants will engage with movers and shakers in Israel’s cultural and economic centers, including Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva.

· The trip will enable students to envision leaving the beaten path of these main centers to struggle with the challenges of life in Israel’s outlying and low-income areas with visits to these locations and with discussions with residents from these areas.

· ImpactAliyah will create and nurture a realistic vision of life in Israel and help students with the initiative to develop their network in Israel over the course of their college career through a mentorship program with new olim and those in more advanced stages of preparation.

· Post-trip programming will enable us to crystallize the ImpactAliyah community, and build towards future initiatives as a group. This programming will include a post-shabbaton, member updates through an internet based newsletter, as well as future networking opportunities.

Project Development

1. Foundational Phase

We are currently building a network of partners including Nefesh B’Nefesh, Hillel at Brandeis, Hillel Council of New England, and the Israel Experience Ltd. We are developing a participant base from top universities in the greater Boston area, including but not limited to Tufts, Brandeis, MIT, Harvard, and Boston University. We have completed the first stage of our market research, which included an e-mail response as well as a survey, jointly receiving almost fifty unique responses from the Boston area.

2. Platform Engagement

Over the course of a ten-day trip to Israel, students will engage Israel as a platform for making positive change. We are currently in the process of finalizing our itinerary and have put together a list of American olim and Israelis who have made an impact on Israeli society and the globalized Jewish people. The Israel Experience Ltd has booked all of our accommodations and meals. We are currently reviewing our options for plane reservations which we will finalize once the application process begins in mid-September. Among other opportunities, Nefesh B’Nefesh will arrange informational interviews between students and olim working in participants’ areas of interest. We have set up home hospitality for all participants during our shabbat in Jerusalem

3. Continued Impact

Following the trip, ImpactAliyah will conduct a number of events to maintain the network built in the platform engagement phase and further our goals. Here are some of the endeavors we are planning thus far:

-A post-trip Shabbaton on the Brandeis campus
-An alumni and friends network of participants and olim which will hold events and gatherings in Israel and the US
-An internet based newsletter, which we will broadcast from our website and from our facebook group

Future Development

ImpactAliyah’sBoston trip will serve as a model for future trips, which will depart from multiple cities as the project gows. The geographically centered trips will create communities of students in various large cities across the United States who will support each other, and serve as leaders on their campuses.

We also envision future trips that will prepare students for a two year commitment to working in Israel after graduation from an American university. In this stage, ImpactAliyah will serve as a package of services, which in addition to a preparatory trip, will include Ulpan, job placement, and financial assistance to help students pay off their academic loans. The preparatory trip in addition to support services during the two year program will allow students to bring their talents to Israel for a short term period following graduation from an American university, and create a lower threshold form of Aliyah. We will focus on placing students in jobs that will make an impact on Israeli society, the world Jewish community and Tikkun Olam, so that the two year program will double as a period of national service to the Jewish people. ImpactAliyah will assist students in the process of integrating into Israeli society so that when students reach Israel’s shores, they will be ready to hit the ground running and make an impact.

Team

Our team consists of two parts—a steering committee of committed students and an advisory board made up of leaders in the organized Jewish world and movers and shakers in Israeli society.

Steering committee: Avi Bass (Brandeis ’08), Jason Lustig (Brandeis ’08), Sam Packer (Brandeis ’08), Adam Ross (Brandeis ’08), Esti Schloss (Brandeis ’09).

Advisory Board: Larry Sternberg (Executive Director of Brandeis Hillel), Dyonna Ginsburg (Former International Director, Yavneh Olami), Aharon Horwitz (CEO, MavenHaven), Ariel Beery (social entrepreneur).

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1 Comments:

  • At 7:39 AM , Blogger Avi Bass said...

    Just to clarify...
    We are current Brandeis studetns, and the trip is a program for current college students who hope to be leaders in their communities until the make Aliyah, and become agents of positive change once they get to Israel. Its a cool program. Thanks for posting this.

     

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