B’Tzedek began its operations after having mapped the field, developed and written a vision, and created a strategic operational and financial plan. What we do now is judged by how it advances us on that strategic path. Our operational goal is to establish five interrelated program areas that function in a synergetic fashion. They are:

1.      National Initiatives for Change

B’Tzedek aims to collaborate with national agencies and leverage their resources by acting as catalyst, expert, tool provider, trainer, consultant and partner. To extend its reach and directly impact students, B’Tzedek will also use large-scale systems such as electronic publishing and national competitions, through which teens will actively engage in and explore social issues.

2.      High School Service-Learning Program

Train school staff to design community involvement opportunities in which students volunteer in a particular field and learn about it (e.g. mental health, ethnic conflict). Connections between community organizations and schools will be intensified to enable us to upgrade the community involvement experience. This program seeks to enhance the existing, but woefully under-resourced and under-achieving, national Ministry of Education ‘Personal Commitment’ high-school program.

3.      Centers for Social Justice Leadership

Engage high-school students in an extensive program of learning, training and action to address community problems. Israeli teens will learn skills, benefit from informal educational workshops and meet community leaders experienced in social change. They will then design, implement and evaluate their very own initiatives. This program will operate out of a physical center that will also serve other B’Tzedek programs in that city.

4.      Global Connections

B’Tzedek seeks to participate in and contribute to a broad sense of belonging and responsibility that includes the Jewish People and the global community. We will help students work on global issues and develop practical partnerships with Jewish youth in other countries, and activist youth around the world, to advance shared agendas.

5.      Learning Center

Develop and leverage our capacity by locating, making available and advocating for conceptual and hands-on knowledge amongst Israeli students, Israeli and overseas educators, social activists, academics, policy-makers and opinion-shapers. We will translate into Hebrew and publish significant works, train professionals, hold conferences, and maintain Israel’s leading content-rich website in this field.

Since its founding in late 2006, B’Tzedek has successfully focused on establishing itself as a provider of quality consulting, project management and content services to other agencies (‘National Initiatives for Change’). It made sense to begin here in order (1) to leverage B’Tzedek’s existing knowledge and capacity to the benefit of hundreds of youth and students, (2) to create a financial base (current work is primarily fee-for-service) and (3) to become known in the field as a significant partner for potential funders and partner agencies. This work is here .

Additionally, in the last part of 2007, B’Tzedek began establishing independent, national programs and developed initiatives in other program areas. As we grow, we plan to reach and influence Israeli youth and young adults through all five connected program initiatives. Read about our existing programs under the program menu.