Green Resilience

Throughout these challenging times, the Jerusalem Green Fund continues to work steadfastly to fulfill the vision of a sustainable and resilient Jerusalem. We ask for help from you, residents and lovers of our beautiful city, in this year’s campaign to raise $50,000 (180,000 ILS). Every donation, great or small, brings us closer to our goal. We thank you for your support, as it is only through a joint effort that our vision will become reality! This year we have once again learned the importance of resilience, trying to live our lives in spite of months of war. We had a challenge of similar proportions during Covid, but we must remember that  the climate crisis is a constant and ever-growing threat to our well-being. The war puts tremendous stress on resources, on the supply of goods and services, and also on each of us personally. In order not only to cope but ultimately to remain strong and healthy through such challenging times, our city needs to become more sustainable. We must learn to live in greater harmony with our environment, to protect and respect people and nature in and around our city so nature can in turn nurture and sustain us. Each of JGF's programs focuses on developing a more sustainable Jerusalem. For example: • Active involvement in three Jerusalem neighborhoods, providing educational activities, developing and maintaining community gardens, distributing produce rescued from the city’s wholesale market and neighborhood grocers, and coordinating opportunities for local residents to actively participate in protecting and nurturing urban nature right near their homes. • The Sustainable Jerusalem Lobby is a forum of some 85 member organizations, community centers, civil society organizations, institutions, businesses, and community-based groups who have a shared vision for a more sustainable city. By generating a groundswell of public support for a green agenda, we succeed in having a positive impact on the Mayor and on policy-making in the Jerusalem City Council.​ • The Jerusalem Green Fund established and leads a regional partnership for the advancement of an urban biosphere in the upper Soreq river basin. Through this initiative, partners throughout the region are now committing to change the way local authorities, civil society organizations, communities, and businesses interact and coexist in harmony with the natural resources in and around them.  These three examples illustrate how JGF works from very local neighborhood activities through to working to influence city-wide policy and beyond to establish a harmonious biosphere region for the Jerusalem Hills and the Upper Sorek River Basin. Thanks to its innovative approach and broad range of activities, and by serving as an umbrella organization for the region, the JGF has begun to play an increasingly leading role in Jerusalem. One result of this is increasing cooperation between the JGF and the Municipality.  In these times we need resilience and this is created first and foremost by standing together and supporting each other. The more we help the weaker communities in our city and protect the city’s green assets, the stronger we can be in the face of adversity. Recognizing these values, JGF has expanded its programming and increased its efforts to fulfill a meaningful role at this time for our city. We ask you to stand with us for a sustainable city. Support our work as we strive to reach our goal of $50,000 (180,000 shekels). Your contribution will go directly to the work of making Jerusalem a greener, cleaner, healthier and more resilient city. (Photography by: Pepe Allo, Maya Shaked, and Penina Ein Mor)