March 14, 2008

 
(NOTE: YESTERDAY'S BRIEFING INDICATED UJC ALLOCATED $13.6M FOR PROJECTS IN THE WESTERN NEGEV. MORE PRECISELY, UJC APPROVED A $13.6M FUNDRAISING EFFORT FOR THESE PROJECTS.)

United Jewish Communities/the Federations of North America on Wednesday approved a $13.6 million supplemental fundraising effort for the Western Negev, Sderot region and Ashkelon, which remains under terrorist fire from the neaby Gaza Strip.

To date the continental UJC/Federation system has approved more than $34.6 million for the Sderot region and already allocated more than $21 million. Individual federations have also funded programs in the area through partnerships UJC supports.

(UJC hosted a live satellite and Web broadcast from Sderot last Sunday to tell the story of life there and to detail the needs. To replay the video, click here.) 

UJC/Federation aid for the Sderot region has been made possible by the $360 million Israel Emergency Campaign (IEC), which was launched in 2006 in response to the Second Lebanon War, to meet needs in Israel's North both during and after the war. As the Sderot region continued to come under fire, UJC/Federation allocated available IEC funding for the embattled South as well.

While the IEC Work Group, which oversees IEC funding, approved the latest $13.6 million in projects, all available IEC monies have already been allocated. As a result, UJC is requesting that federations pursue additional supplemental fundraising, by consulting with major donors and prospects and by communicating locally about IEC mailbox efforts. UJC is providing federation leadership and development professionals with detailed fundraising guidelines and proposals as well.

The latest $13.6 million in aid is intended to meet an array of needs in the Western Negev, including in the port city of Ashkelon, which has come under recent fire from new, longer-range missiles. The aid will go toward two broad areas -- interventions for children and young people, and community infrastructure and resources.

Among the major projects would be: providing Ashkelon youth with a Passover respite, $3.5 million; renovating bomb shelters in absorption centers in the Western Negev, $3.5 million; renovating bomb shelters and securing senior-care facilities in the Western Negev and Ashkelon, $1.24 million; creating a resiliency in Ashkelon to help people deal with trauma, $1.77 million; awarding scholarships for students at Sderot's Sapir College, $1 million.

For more details on how the funds would be allocated, click here. For details on the project proposals, click here.

"Since the Second Lebanon War, we have met ongoing needs in the North and in Sderot and the surrounding area. We have allocated some $20 million to the South. Given the recent escalation of violence, we must extend our work into Ashkelon, Hof Ashkelon and the surrounding area," said Toni Young of Delaware, chair of UJC's IEC Work Group and Global Operations:Israel/Overseas Coordinating Council.

"All the funds that were sent to the IEC Work Group have been allocated. In order to meet the vital needs arising from the growing threats to the Western Negev, we ask all federations to raise supplemental dollars and to send us any IEC funds they still have on hand," Young added.

"We are monitoring the situation closely, and will present additional programs to help our brothers and sisters in Israel, should further needs arise."

Young recently led a mission of the IEC Work Group to the greater Sderot area to gauge the impact of existing IEC programs and to examine emerging needs. The mission, Young said, found existing programs so effective that "we feel confident recommending that they be expanded to additional areas."

To support the IEC, click here. To learn more about the IEC or aid to the Sderot region, click here.