(JTA) — A new partnership between dozens of Jewish community centers in 15 countries has yielded a pool of $1.6 million for joint projects through 2020.
The pool was created during the JCC Global World Conference in Tarrytown, New York earlier this month. It includes tens of thousands of dollars in subsidies for nine Jewish communities in poor countries, including India, Ukraine, Venezuela, Moldova and Greece.
The pool is part of a three-year pilot program in which international JCCs are paired with one another for joint projects that aim to strengthen inter-communal bonds, according to JCC Global, an Israel-based umbrella group of Jewish community centers that is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Working in pairs, JCCs will pledge $15,000 each for the pilot program. JCC Global will also contribute $15,000, creating a fund of $45,000 for the two centers’ joint activities, JCC Global said in a statement earlier this week.
“However, JCCs in wealthier communities help subsidize those in lower-income areas, including three JCCS in Ukraine, one in Moldova, another in Russia, in addition to the JCCs in Venezuela and India,” read the statement about the new partnership, which JCC Global calls “Amitim 2.0–Fellows – A Global Leadership Network.”
In total, 53 JCCs around the world will fund $795,000 toward the partnerships, while JCC Global will fund $800,000, the organization said.
The initiative will bring “Jewish Peoplehood concepts and programs to 75 JCCs worldwide,” according to the organization.
Among the new partnerships formed at the conference was a pairing of the Akko Community Center in Israel with the Mid-Island Y JCC of Long Island, NY; the OHA Maccabi JCC of Buenos Aires with the Jewish Community Culture Center Beit Dan, Kharkov, Ukraine; the JCC Krakow, Poland with the JCC Manhattan.
JCC Global’s funds for the program come from a grant from UJA Federation of New York, private donors and from grants from JDC, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Activities will include training for JCC workers and organizing joint conferences, JCC Global said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
