November saw the official opening of a brand-new program designed to meet the needs of the large population of elderly Russian-speaking immigrants (olim) in the neighborhood of the Akko Educators’ Kibbutz. In the framework of the program, a group of forty Russian-speaking retirees meet in the community center at the Educators’ Kibbutz building every week for social Hebrew learning and interest groups. “Our approach is no different from if we were working with younger adults

The Ogen Club for At-Risk Youth continued to galvanize its important and growing role in the neighborhood this year through a special community project on Yom Kippur. The high holy days are a unique time in Israel. During the Hebrew months of Elul and Tishrei, a special atmosphere settles over the country as Israelis from north to south prepare to take stock and bring in the Jewish new year. No holiday captures the spirit of this special season quite like Yom Kippur. On this

The Lionesses of Akko, a support and leadership-training group for young mothers and local women, and the Akko Educators’ Kibbutz latest project, entered its second month in July. Every week on Monday afternoons, a group of 15 women from the Korczak neighborhood meet in the Kibbutz building’s community center to spend the afternoon together. There, guided by kibbutz members Shelly and Inbal, the Lionesses of Akko meet to discuss a range of topics relevant to their lives while

For the past 10 years, the Akko Educators’ Kibbutz has been leading Holocaust Remembrance activities in the city by offering a wide array of programs to Akko’s diverse communities of all ages. Under the banner “Rebellion of Hope,” this annual program reaches out to a wide range of Akko locals to discuss Holocaust memory in new and interesting ways with the vision of bringing the community together to do more than remember for the sake of the past, but also for the sake of the

On the 25th of February, the Ogen (Anchor) Club for At-Risk Youth decided to change things up a little. On an ordinary day, the 13-18-year-old members of the club turn up to the Ogen in the afternoon where they receive help with homework, enjoy a hot meal, and spend quality time engaged in various informal educational activities with their guides and mentors who run the club. However, part of the underlying educational rationale of the Ogen is to teach the attending teenagers

Earlier this month, the city of Haifa was treated to a one-of-a-kind performance when Beit Hatzeirim (The Children’s House) put on a play conceived, produced and performed by the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders who call Beit Hatzeirim their second home. A capacity crowd of 200 people, families, friends and supporters packed the local community center for the play, which the children called “When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Kid.” Guided by Tal Valentine, director of Beit Hatzeirim and

To close out 2018, the Ogen Club for at-risk teens opened its arms to the wider community by putting on a special celebration of the new year that combined traditional Russian "Novy God" (Новый Год - "New Year") customs with a twist of Akko hospitality. On the 30th of December, the modest space of the Ogen Club was packed from wall to wall with children, teens, parents and grandparents who came together to celebrate the traditional holiday in their new home, here in Israel. T