Speaking Jerusalem

We began meeting in 2017.  With only 11 women, we gathered on Yousef’s rooftop in the Old City to: • Foster relationships between Arab and Jewish women. • Encourage women to work together towards a shared future that guarantees both communities fundamental rights and quality of life. • Address the very high unemployment among Palestinian women so they could better care for themselves and their families. Knowing that communication and mutual understanding were critical to our goals, we began providing ways for women to meet regularly to learn and practice Hebrew and Arabic.  Now, seven years later:  • Language exchange programs engage 2,900+ women who meet frequently throughout Jerusalem and online. • A greater understanding of the civic issues impacting others has led participants to work together to address concerns. • With better Hebrew language skills and our support, Arab women have greater job prospects and are advancing personally and professionally. Despite the enormous pain all have experienced since last October - we have not stopped for a minute!  Especially now, during these challenging times, we must continue creating spaces for learning, thoughtful conversations, and mutual understanding. Since the war began, we have: • Held 135 gatherings, language classes, and workshops for 1,900+ women. • Started new conversation groups for mothers, for students, for “the elephant in the room” (politics), a Jewish-Muslim “Beit Midrash,” and more – all to keep talking! • Expanded our Employment Project, which supports the professional advancement and self-sufficiency of 1,100+ women from East Jerusalem. • Increased our volunteer team to 40 Jewish and Arab women. More than ever, our communities need the hope that our programming delivers, and there is more to do. Your support is instrumental to our work.  We have big plans for the coming year to meet the high demand for our services. We expect our community to grow to 3,200 women with more program offerings.  To do this, we have a fundraising goal of NIS 74,000.  A generous donor has challenged us to raise NIS 37,000 and will match this amount shekel-for-shekel. NIS 37,000 will become NIS 74,000! We need your help! Every shekel donated will help us reach our goal. * Spoken Jerusalemite operates under the auspices of the Kulna Jerusalem non-profit organization.