IVN Fellow Alumni

In 2004, IVN, in partnership with the New Israel Fund (NIF), initiated the Social Entrepreneurship (SE) Fellowship Program, which supports and incubates Social Entrepreneurs. SEs are highly entrepreneurial individuals dedicated to developing and implementing innovative and sustainable social/economic solutions in Israel and beyond, empowering people and communities to create positive, sustained change. These individuals stand at the cutting edge of social change, developing and pursuing their vision. However, they often lack the resources and support mechanisms to achieve their goals. The Fellowships enable entrepreneurs to dedicate their time to their projects during the 2-year period of the Fellowship, growing and expanding the projects and bringing them to a sustainable level.

Asher Elias's Tech Careers (2007-2009)
Tech-Career's vision is to help the Ethiopian population take its own place in the Israeli high-tech success story by providing technology training for Ethiopian immigrants and guaranteeing placement for the new graduates of the training in good-paying, valued high-tech positions. In 2007, Tech-Career's third class of 14 students completed the training process and graduated in December. 12 are already employed in Israel's high-tech industry. Tech-Career's 4th Software Development class of 23 began studies in October 2007 and at that same time inaugurated a new classroom. In November-December, 2007, 13 additional students were recruited for the new track and first QA course which began in January, 2008. Due to the expansion, the Tech-Career staff has increased to 7 and is enjoying increased media exposure. Tech-Career continues to create and strengthen partnerships with companies in Israel's high-tech industry and with governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

Laithi Gnaim's Economic-Social Agricultural-Environmental Cooperative
(2006-2008)
The Cooperative, in the Beit Netufa valley near Sakhnin, aims to bind, organize and empower the farmers, landowners and those who raise animals in the area in order to take advantage of the real potential of the land in accordance with principles of sustainable development. During 2007, Laithi’s initiative cultivated 27 dunams of land for food production. The first groups of 25 women have and are participating in empowerment workshops to learn financial and farming skills. Nine women are already helping provide for their families by starting their own small businesses thanks to these workshops.

Tal Cohen's Teach for Israel's Tomorrow
(2006-2008)
Inspired by Teach for America and Teach First UK, Tal seeks to integrate young leaders, men and women, outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors who have outstanding leadership abilities and a deep social commitment, as teachers for two years in the educational system in low-income, rural and urban communities. Since 2007, the Rashi Foundation is formally partnering with Tal on Teach for Israel to guarantee its successful implementation within the 2008-9 academic year.

Bezalel Cohen & Yechezkel Rosenblum's Work from Within – a Haredi Employment Initiative
(2006-2008)
Work from Within successfully partnered with philanthropist Leo Noé and others in the field to establish the multi-million dollar Kemach Fund to provide the necessary support for the Haredi population to enter the work force. A career consulting, training and financial aid center was opened by the Fund in Jerusalem to which over 600 people applied in the first three months; 164 were initially approved for vocational studies.

Chaim Fox-Emmett's ISRAEMPLOY
(2004-2006)
IsraEmploy is a one-stop resource for job seekers and employers, providing job offers, information, support, and advice through a national network. The model brings the concept of networking alive and empowers marginalized groups creating opportunity leading to social and economic change. has enabled over 5,000 people to find work since its inception. IsraEmploy is self-sustaining and Chaim Fox-Emmett has recently won a multi-year contract from the Jewish Agency for Israel to develop their Aliyah Job Center, which is leading to the scaling of his model to three additional languages – French, Spanish & Russian.

Irit Solzi and Dror Gershon's Movement for Israeli Urbanism, Merchav
(2005-2007)
The Movement for Israeli Urbanism that Irit and Dror founded is pioneering modern urbanism and city planning in Israel and takes its inspiration from the Movement for New Urbanism in the United States. Today, over 90% of Israelis live in urban environments. The movement strives to improve the quality of life for the current and future generations by humane and sustainable development of the towns and cities of Israel; and by advancing democratic values in the Israeli urban planning processes.

Amiad Lapidot's Compost Hakerem project of NGO Eretz Carmel
(2004-2006)
The project involves turning organic garbage into high quality compost called Humus in an ecological process using red worms and is the first time this method has been implemented in Israel. Eretz Carmel promotes environmental responsibility through active citizenship. Since its inception, the project has kept over 300 tons of garbage from going to the local dumps and has instead, returned more than 65 tons of sweet smelling compost to the communities. Seven additional communities (for a total now of 10), including a wedding/event hall and a leading Israeli hotel chain, have joined the program with more on the way. The addition of environmental legislation country-wide is having a positive impact on the amount of work Amiad is now getting from the municipalities.