Olim Beyahad Graduates Programs

Graduates' Forum and Graduates Volunteering Program

Project Background/Need:

Over the past 4 years, Olim Beyahad has accumulated an "army" of approximately 300 graduates and participants who are employed in compatible jobs at the forefront of Israel's workforce. Recently, a type of awakening has occurred among the graduates as a whole. After acquiring countless skills and abilities through their participation in Olim Beyahad's core program and successfully integrating into distinguished corporations at the forefront of Israel's workforce, the graduates' have accumulated a great amount of motivation to use their acquired tools and experience to initiate a social change among the Ethiopian Israeli community as a whole. The graduates organized themselves into small groups and approached Olim Beyahad's Executive Director, requesting assistance in advancing social initiatives, volunteering options they thought of on their own, and various projects. They also expressed great interest in creating a young and influential leadership group. Olim Beyahad's staff came to the conclusion that we must take advantage of this arousal and that the time is right to advance to the next stage and create programs that will enable Olim Beyahad's graduates to take responsibility for leading and advancing the Ethiopian Israeli community and facilitating social change in Israeli society.

Target Population:

Ethiopian Israeli university graduates who have completed Olim Beyahad's core program.

Project Goals:

• To unite Olim Beyahad graduates into a cohesive group of strong leaders and form an internal network of program graduates.
• To provide Olim Beyahad's graduates with numerous volunteer opportunities through which they will serve as role models for the Ethiopian Israeli sector and examples of success for the general Israeli public with the hope of changing the public's opinions regarding the sector.
• To expand the organization's ability to generate change. 

Method/Project Description:

In the framework of the Graduates' Forum, Olim Beyahad's graduates work to form an internal network of fellow program graduates who have a sense of responsibility and commitment to the Ethiopian Israeli community and Israeli society. The Forum enables participants to use the tools they acquired in the framework of Olim Beyahad's core program to initiate and implement various social projects and spearhead social change in the Ethiopian Israeli community and the general public. The Forum serves as a social network for graduates that provides and facilitates mutual support, while also serving as a supportive platform for the organizations' activities. The Graduates Forum currently consists of nearly 200 members and is led and managed primarily by the graduates themselves, while Olim Beyahad accompanies them, providing them with support and encouragement

The Graduates' Volunteering Program, which operates in cooperation with the Graduates' Forum, aims to help graduates carry out social projects by providing them with numerous volunteer opportunities through which they serve as role models for the Ethiopian Israeli sector and examples for success for the general Israeli public. Volunteer activities focus on the areas of:

1) Youth – Holding lectures at schools, tutoring and mentoring Ethiopian and native Israeli youth, and serving as role models.

2) Ethiopian Israeli IDF soldiers – Serving as personal mentors for soldiers and mediators between the soldiers and army framework.

3) University students and young adults - Mentoring Ethiopian Israeli university and college students during their 1st year of studies and volunteering at immigrant absorption centers throughout the country, teaching new immigrants basic life skills.

4) Employers – Holding lectures for company executives in order to improve employers' opinions of the Ethiopian Israeli sector, increase their willingness to hire Ethiopian Israeli employees, and motivate them to volunteer for the organization).