Immigrant Students Practice Social Entrepreneurship

May 19, 2008

Students from the former Soviet Union (FSU), not usually known for their orientation toward social change, have proven to be positive about its possibilities when they are exposed to it. Several graduates from the first year of SHATIL’s course to train FSU immigrant students to become social entrepreneurs are continuing to work on the Salsa Project, which informs immigrant students of their rights and responsibilities, scholarship and work opportunities, etc. The program was launched in March in a local technical college in collaboration with another youth organization. The students are in discussion with Ben Gurion University of the Negev to replicate the project there.

Second cycle of the FSU students’ entrepreneurs course.

Participants in the second cycle of the course, together with the course’s Graduates Forum from the first cycle, are working on integrating youth from the FSU into Israeli youth movements. As part of this effort, they are giving workshops on the special characteristics of immigrant youth to youth movement coordinators, and are discussing ways to encourage the participation of immigrant youth.

The Graduates’ Forum developed and launched an Internet forum in which participants can report on their activities, share ideas, announce events, ask for advice and discuss dilemmas. They aim to develop it into a website to be used as a communications platform for anyone interested in immigrant youth, from the youth themselves to organizations and professionals who work with them and other interested parties.  In the more distant future, the graduates hope to found a youth organization that deals with immigrant youth issues in the south.