Trustees Dikla, David, Yosef, Roey

After months of planning and building cooperation with our local partners, which included recruiting Trustees, and finalizing lists of children - the Youth Futures program has kicked off in Maalot - Tarshicha.

On Sunday, August 3rd, the Mayor, Mr. Shlomo Buchboot, and Youth Futures held a ceremony that launched the program, together with the Mayor's Educational Advisor - Mr. Michael Dahan, the Deputy-Mayor - Mr. Silas Libilia, the Director of the Education Administration - Dr. Orly Yeruslavski, the Director of the Absorption and Community Administration - Ms. Tamara Amir, the Director of the Social Services Bureau - Ms. Kochi Hazan, the Director of Psychological-Educational Services - Ms. Rachel Franco, and the Project Coordinator in the Education Administration, Ms. Orit Sin-Corona.

The Jewish Agency was represented by Ms. Anat Sharvit, who is the Director of the Confrontation Line Partnership, Zohar Ezer, the Youth Futures Manager in Maalot-Tarshicha, and Irit Noy, the partnership's coordinator.

The Mayor wished the Trustees a fruitful cooperation with the various local services for the benefit of the children of Maalot - Tarshicha and the entire community.

The initial basic training program for the 11 Trustees of this city will take place during August, and will enable them to get acquainted with the diverse and unique population of Maalot - Tarshicha, which is a mosaic made up of Jewish and Arab residents - both religious and secular, and new and old immigrants. They will also get to know more about the children they will work with.

The Trustees have also learned of the special needs of this population, and of the different programs already operating in the city during meetings with the representatives of the local municipality - in order to maximize utilization of the available local resources.

Good luck to us all!