The youngsters who are selected undergo training, which includes mapping the community’s needs, devising a work plan, and launching activities at a number of these remote communities. They work together with local residents on social entrepreneurship, which in practice comes from the residents themselves.
In almost all cases, the commitment these young students take inspires them to stay indefinitely and continue taking responsibility and caring for the areas in which they were raised.
Choosing Tomorrow helps secure the future of the state of Israel by generating leaders who assume responsibility for social change, leveraging the energy of student activists into lifelong involvement in socio-geographically outlying regions of Israel, and encouraging long-term, sustainable impact in the Jewish state.
The Jewish Agency’s Choosing Tomorrow program encourages promising college students—particularly those who grew up in Israel’s geographic and social peripheries in the Negev, Galilee, and Jerusalem—to commit to remaining in those vulnerable areas after graduation. In almost all cases, that commitment inspires them to stay indefinitely and continue taking responsibility for the areas in which they were raised.
Each year, the program admits around 250 highly qualified and motivated young people, intent on making a positive change in the communities they came from. These young leaders go on to create close to 70 different projects across Israel, impacting the lives of thousands of fellow Israelis.
To those accepted to the program, the program offers an academic scholarship, an opportunity to acquire professional skills for social entrepreneurship, and a personal training and enrichment program, all with the aim of equipping these young leaders with the tools necessary to affect positive and meaningful change in Israeli society.
By supporting the Jewish Agency’s programs, we can continue empowering these inspiring young leaders, and enable them to give back to their own communities in Israel.
Top: Nasrine, one of the participants in Choosing Tomorrow. Photo: Nathan Roi/Jewish Agency for Israel
Jewish Agency for Israel North American Council is a tax-exempt public charity in the United States under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by U.S. law.
