Creating Social Entrepreneurs: A Donor’s Eye View

August 30, 2008

On August 19, 11 students, all immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU), graduated from the second cycle of a SHATIL training course for social entrepreneurs co-sponsored by Ben Gurion University of the Negev. In attendance was Bella Savran, a new Israel-based donor to SHATIL's Assistance to Immigrants from the FSU Project. Her insights as a social worker and her excitement about the project inspired us.

“I identify with this population because my parents were immigrants [to the US from Europe,]” said Savran. “They were lucky because they were in business, which is a portable profession.  But when I heard these students’ family stories – about highly educated professionals who weren’t able to integrate into the Israeli world of work -- I realized this could have been my story.

“They told me their work with immigrant youth-at-risk was a healing experience. They said, 'we remember we felt the same way; it was hard for us to get the language, to feel part of Israeli society. For us, it’s a like a healing of the wounds we felt when we immigrated to Israel with our families.’

“When they spoke about their projects, I was very moved to see what it meant to them to learn about social change and to become social change agents,” Savran continued. “Several of them said, ‘I didn’t really know what I was getting into, but the more I got into it, the more moved I became by the issues we worked on.’

Graduate Felix Kol presenting his group's project

“One participant who worked on a project helping older people living in protected housing fight for their right to not have cellular antennas placed on their buildings, said it was like helping her grandparents. She and the others said it was interesting for them to have something very different from their studies – most were studying accounting, the arts and engineering. They said going through this experience had a profound impact on them and made them realize they would always want to be involved in social change work. I saw that a one-year course can have an effect on the kind of person you become, on the way you live your life.

“I could see that part of the energy of the group came from the fact that they did group work. This created a great atmosphere and is critical in terms of consciousness-raising. They weren’t just going out and working with teens, they were coming back to the group, processing what they were doing and learning and getting a broader perspective from SHATIL on the issues.

“I was impressed that the graduates of last year’s course founded their own NGO, giving them a context in which they could continue their social change work. This is their own initiative, part of the ripple effect I see in SHATIL's work. I thought that was beautiful.”

Felix, one of the course participants, said: “I learned that anyone can effect change. If all immigrants were united like this, we would all succeed.”

The course – now preparing for its third cycle -- trains participants in both the theoretical and practical aspects of social change work. Each participant chooses a project to work on from strengthening immigrant youth-at-risk to helping the elderly exercise their rights. This year's students also had a chance to meet with Knesset members and to speak on the radio.

The cadre of 15 students that participated in the first such course in 2007 went on to form a Graduates’ Forum, which mentored this year’s participants, including presenting an overview of the pertinent social issues affecting the FSU community in southern Israel.