Many people know that Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City supports not only our local Jewish community but also communities worldwide, working with organizations and agencies in Romania, Bulgaria and, of course, Israel. What most people might not realize is that Jewish Federation actually has a staff member on the ground in Israel.
Hannah Soltz is Federation's Israel representative. A native Israeli, she works with all the programs — 21 in total — that Federation funds in Israel. Her role is more than just monitoring and reporting back that the money allocated to these programs is being used properly. She provides insight on the changing needs in Ramle, which programs are working, any changes in local municipal priorities, if there are different programs that should be considered for funding, and more.
Soltz recently visited Kansas City for the first time since the pandemic began. During her time here, she met with Federation lay leaders, participated in a community study collaboration task force meeting, and was able to work with the members of Federation’s Israel and Overseas subcommittees in person as they reviewed allocations requests and made recommendations for funding.
“After the last couple of years only being able to connect on Zoom, it made a big difference to have her here in person,” said Andi Milens, Federation’s Senior Director, Community Building.
Soltz works with Federation’s partnership community of Ramle, a relatively small community in central Israel that sits between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Ramle is a “mixed city” — although the majority of its 80,000 residents are Jewish (approximately 75%), there is a strong Israeli Arab presence, including Muslims and a smaller Christian population. Working in a mixed city can present challenges, Soltz said. Ramle is also not a wealthy city, and opportunities for residents can be limited.
"Growing up in Ramle, your future is not very bright, unfortunately," Soltz said. "But the more chances you give [a] child, the better chances he will not be out on the streets. He'll get a good education, and later on, be a fruitful citizen."
Many of the programs and organizations Federation supports — which range from Etgarim, which offers activities for children with special needs, to Congregation Birkat Shalom, a Reform congregation led by Kansas City native Rabbi Steve Burnstein — focus on bringing the diverse community of Ramle together and giving the city's youth the tools they need to have brighter futures.
One of the flagship programs is the Israeli Center for Educational Innovation (ICEI), which is overhauling the educational system one school at a time. It began as an effort to help Ethiopian children whose families have made aliyah to Israel. Many of these children don’t have an education, and/or don’t have support at home because their parents don’t have an education either.
Rather than separate these children from their classmates and put them into special classes, ICEI helps restructure schools to improve the education of all students. That means having special training for teachers on new methods of teaching reading and writing, updating classrooms, and even improving the physical elements of the school, like providing new desks and chairs and stocking the library with more books. Because ICEI has changed the way schools teach, its impact has grown beyond its original target population.
ICEI is working with three schools in Ramle and is hoping to add a fourth school in the future (ICEI also works with other schools throughout Israel). Soltz said that the level of reading and writing in first grade is the highest in the country in these schools, and by second grade, 100% of them can read and write.
"It's made a huge difference in the lives of these kids," Soltz said. "These kids come from illiterate families, some of them cannot read and write, and the parents cannot even help them with homework or anything. So that's quite an opportunity for these kids to progress."
Another program making a direct impact is Appleseeds Academy, which provides Jews and Arabs with education and training so they can find jobs in the digital and technology fields. While in Kansas City, Soltz presented at Federation’s Women’s Philanthropy giving circle event about a new digital marketing course Appleseeds is offering.
“For very little money, [the students’] lives will change. Thirty people will get a profession. They will be able to make a living,” Soltz said. “These are people with no qualifications or high-tech experience, and they will get a certificate for digital marketing and will be able to open their own business from home on a laptop.”
Women participating in the giving circle voted to give the allotted $3,300 to fund tuition for students. Federation’s Israel and Overseas committee is also considering making a recommendation to the board to provide funding for the program.
“Some of the feedback we got from the giving circle participants indicated the importance of seeing that their dollars could make a big difference,” Milens said. “They could see that $3,300 was going to make an impact.”
Another example of making a direct impact was the repair of a soccer field in a mixed neighborhood in Ramle. The field, a popular place for all members of the community, was damaged last year during a period of civil unrest. Jewish Federation contributed money (working through the JDC) for the field to be repaired, but the idea wasn’t just to fix the field. Jewish and Arab members of the community came together to repair the field themselves, and now take shifts watching over the field at night to make sure it doesn’t get damaged or vandalized again.
While Jewish Federation isn’t the only funder of programs and projects like this in Ramle (support also comes from the Israeli government, the municipality, other non-profits and some private donors), Soltz said it’s heartening for residents of Ramle to see that people outside of their community care.
“For Israeli citizens, it's very exciting and it's very emotional for them to think that people they don't know give money for their benefit. And it's not the government, it’s not another municipality, it’s just someone who, out of generosity, cares about them,” she said. “And I think it's important for the people here in Kansas City to know that they do make a difference. They’re helping change Ramle for the better.”