Netzkraft Movement

Friends by Nature - Community Empowerment (FBN)

10 Shapira Street
70700 Gedera
Israel

Contact person: Lisa Frenkiel, Nir Katz

+972-52-699-9762; +972-77-211-5519; +972-77-211-5518
fbnoffice@gmail.com
lfrenkiel@gmail.com
http://www.friendsbynature.org

Topics

  • Commune, community project
  • Environmental project
  • Educational policy/project
  • Volunteers are welcome.

About us

Friends by Nature – Community Empowerment (FBN) is a non-profit Israeli organization that was established in 2005 by a group of young Israelis working in the fields of multiculturalism, education for tolerance and acceptance, at-risk youth, community renewal and informal education.

Friends by Nature – Community Empowerment runs programs mainly for at-risk Ethiopian Israeli youth, providing them and their families with a sense of belonging and purpose, with their eyes to the future.

The organization seeks to build and empower communities which operate a variety of programs and make them sustainable.

Goals of Friends by Nature:
• To allow the full integration of immigrants into Israeli society, respecting cultural diversity and the contributions they bring to the country,
• To develop community involvement and responsibility in Israel’s new generation
• To help youth and youth at risk find their place in Israeli society as contributing members to their community
• To strengthen the love for the land of Israel and its environment.

Programs
• Community Gardening: This program brings Israeli Ethiopian and veteran Israelis together through gardening. The garden operates as an environmental educational center and provides training to the community in the fields of practical ecology-gray water systems, garbage seperation and compostation, ecology gardening, and energey efficiency (water and electricity-wise).
• Community Incubator: The Community Incubator provides an opportunity for motivated students to join the Gar’inim, live in the neighborhoods where they operate, and volunteer in educational programs.
• Homework – At Home: Is is a unique academic assistance program that aims to boost children’s achievements by creating a supportive learning environment at home.
• Multicultural Jewish Identity: Each Gar’in has a “Multicultural Community Beit-Midrash” (Learning Group) that enables discussion of topics related to Ethiopian-Jewish traditions, modern and traditional Jewish customs, and how to shape communities based on these topics.
• Open Space: Open Space is a program designed as a safe unstructured hangout center where youth from the ages of 14 and up can come and be with their friends.
• Yahel Israel: Yahel is an educational organization that offers service learning and social action programs in Israel.
• Young Adults Vounteerism & Leadership: The program presents young adult Ethiopian Israelis aged 18-26 with a unique opportunity: to be on the giving rather than the receiving side, where most immigrants find themselves from the day they arrive in Israel.
• Youth Centers: The Gar’inim Youth Centers are open up to five times a week and employ male and female Ethiopian-Israeli youth workers, usually neighborhood residents. These people become role models for the youth with whom they work.

Nir Katz is the Executive Director of Friends by Nature – Community Empowerment (FBN).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.