Israel At Heart

In 2005, we created an Israel at Heart Fellowship Program at the Interdisciplinary Center-IDC Herzelia for young Ethiopian Israelis who wanted to pursue their academic studies at a leading university in Israel. The fellowship provides full tuition and living expenses. We just started our fifth year of the Israel at heart fellows program at the IDC Herzelia where we now have close to forty Ethiopian Israeli students studying, business and accounting, law, government, psychology, computer sciences, and communications. The program continues to grow and we are attracting the top students form the Ethiopian community. One of the main criteria for participation in the program is proficiency in English. It is very important we take those students to travel around the world so they can talk about their community in Israel. We provide them with private English classes and training in public speaking and interviewing skills during the school year by professional instructors.

Unfortunately, many graduates do not find jobs commensurate with their education. This adds to the already high unemployment within the community. The most significant problem which young Ethiopian Israelis face when looking for work is their inability to do networking. Their families are not in a position to be helpful in this area. They also, at times, unfortunately have to deal with certain forms of discrimination. The Israeli public and business sector in particular are not aware that there are many capable, well educated, Ethiopian Israelis who are qualified to work. We believe with a little help, from each one of us, we can provide these individuals with the network they need and make a significant change in their lives and that of their community.

We created a summer internship in 2007 and brought fourteen Ethiopian Israeli university students to New York to work for a variety of top firms in the fields of communication, law and business. In 2009, we brought three students for our second summer internship program. The students worked in The US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. After the completion of their ten weeks internships, the students went on a speaking tour to a variety of audiences about the challenges their community faces in Israel. Of course, our objective is to find work for the students in Israel, but we felt the experience of working and living in US would help make them be more desirable back in the Israeli job market.

As they return to Israel and begun the new school year, we are trying to help many of the students find part time work back in Israel in their fields of study. If you know anyone who would like to assist us in the placement of our students in the Israeli job market or if you are interested in taking a summer intern next summer, please get in touch with us at 212-7199020 or e-mail info@israelatheart.org.