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JOIN Israel
JOIN Israel services at-risk youth, families and elderly in crisis across Israeli populations. The organization taps unused resources and enlists partners in a unique model of collaboration. We JOIN together government agencies, communities and nonprofits in a synergistic partnership to solve intolerable situations facing Israelis today.

In the United States, JOIN Israel finds and gives a platform to likeminded individuals to join together and rescue Israelis in crisis. We host parlor meetings, regional fundraisers and a have a growing Young Leadership Chapter.

JOIN Israel was established in 1992 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit by Stephen Bisk. It was started to offer social services and educational solutions for immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union.

Staff

 * Stephen Bisk -- Executive Director
 * Alex Schieber -- Director of Development

Board Of Directors

 * Neil Wessan -- President
 * Rick Smilow -- Vice President
 * Regina Bisk
 * Doug Cohen
 * Murray Dayan
 * Daniel Goldberg
 * Jeffrey Kleinhaus
 * Daniel Nir
 * Melissa Steinberg
 * Bryan Weingarten

Young Leadership Board

 * Adam Lev -- Chairman
 * Idan Baum
 * Matthew Goldberg
 * Yehudis Gottesfeld
 * Eli Hanovitch
 * Adam Hirst
 * Moti Iluz
 * Adam Sussman

Bolster Education
JOIN bolsters substandard educational programs in 25 under-funded schools throughout Israel, providing immense value-added academic opportunities for more than 6,500 students annually. JOIN subsidizes computer labs, science labs, educational equipment (smartboards/projectors, etc.), sports equipment and musical instruments to fulfill the greatest needs in each school.

Education Consulting
Too often, poorly funded schools start off with less than experienced educators teaching in specialties they were never trained in, and who receive little ongoing training or supervision. The daily grind can leave teachers stagnating and no longer imaginative and creative. Curriculum can become outdated or incomplete.

JOIN employs innovative expert consultants to upgrade scholastic programs in 15 elementary schools. These consultants sit in on classes, assess curriculum, projects and textbooks, evaluate students’ academic achievement, and make and implement recommendations to make classes more interactive, engaging and educational. They also regularly advise teachers and run a 2-day teacher- training seminar in the summer.

JOIN Literacy
While school libraries are demonstrably one of the most powerful ways to boost academic achievement, some under-funded schools with high immigrant enrollment lack this fundamental resource. JOIN Literacy establishes basic, yet active, school libraries and reading programs to give these children access to books they need, and crave!

Middle School to University
JOIN Israel gives students in grades 6, 7 and 8 a taste of higher education to spur them to greater levels of academic motivation and excellence. Mini-courses of five, four-hour sessions held on the campuses of the Weizmann Institute and Bar-Ilan University cover topics such as biotechnology, robotics, law, and applied chemistry. The exposure to some of the most fascinating theories, discoveries and experiments in modern science and law whets students’ appetite for more.

JOIN Lifeline
Many Israeli elderly live day-to-day in severe financial distress, unable to help themselves and with no one else to help them. When critical, expensive needs arise, they are simply unable to cope. JOIN LifeLine works with government welfare agencies in seven cities to receive their social workers’ assessment and prioritization of the most-needy cases that have no other source of funding. Every JOIN dollar goes to purchase medicines and provide dental work, hearing aids, eyeglasses, critical home repairs, medical transportation, blankets, heaters and the like, literally saving impoverished elderly in their hour of greatest need.

JOIN Day Camp
Youth from low socio-economic backgrounds already spend the rest of the year grappling with pressures and strife at home and at school. A long, empty summer while their friends are at camp and their parents at work is a sure recipe for trouble. JOIN subsidizes 600 children annually in 3-week day camps that provide fun activities and sports together with healthy bonding with peers and counselors, in a safe and nurturing environment.

PITRONOT Solutions
Pitronot Solutions extricates hundreds of families trapped in the most tortuous and convoluted financial and legal predicaments. Saving them from financial ruin, devastating creditor pressures, relentless disruptions that preclude gainful employment, and untold suffering. Pitronots exceptional and dedicated professional staff is unparalleled in its ability to resolve the most complex quandaries affordably and holistically, furnishing services normally provided by top legal firms for a fraction of the cost.

Our Own Way
Our Own Way circumvents resistance from at-risk teens by meeting them on their own terms, in the parks and streets. Free of a formal framework, outreach counselors slowly cultivate relationships and trust. They identify underlying feelings of resentment and injustice, and guide teens to formulate their own social-action response. Our Own Way encourages engagement, self-expression and positive identity.

JOIN Hot Lunch
JOIN’s Hot Lunch program at the Chazon Avraham School in Jerusalem provides the energy and nutrition for girls from impoverished, often single-parent backgrounds to concentrate and learn better. With parents who often lack the resources, time and skills to provide a nurturing home environment or a day-to-day structure for their children. Many girls come to school without any food at all. More than just a healthy meal, it fills their need for security and gives them hope that they can overcome their harsh realities to learn, grow and succeed in life.

JOIN Big Brothers
JOIN’s Big Brother program provides social and academic mentoring for 40 youth from very poor, mostly dysfunctional immigrant families. They often lack healthy role models, face excessive pressure, and feel estranged and disrespected. The Big Brothers provide academic and emotional support to help these children manage and thrive academically,socially and behaviorally.

Russian Family Services
The Russian immigrant community in Israel is particularly plagued by deeply rooted, complex problems in the home, including marital strife, spouse and child abuse or abandonment, depression, divorce, dysfunctional behavior, addictions, unemployment and poverty. They are also less likely to seek intervention, and less likely to benefit from standard resources. However, without intervention, issues tend to snowball and devastate the family unit and each of its members.

Over the past 18 years, JOIN has been at the forefront of helping Russian immigrant communities with the many acute issues they face communally and individually.

JOIN Therapy
Psychological issues can impede productivity and the ability to feel positive emotions. However, the cost of therapy is beyond the means of many, and tragically, many go untreated. JOIN Therapy subsidizes most-critical counseling for adults. We also subsidize psycho-educational evaluations for children exhibiting underlying difficulties, providing them with the therapeutic help they need.

Life-Skills Workshop
High school students from the Former Soviet Union now living in Israel often have troubled family backgrounds. They are often woefully incapable of transitioning into employment, marriage, parenting and managing a home in their new country. This tragically results in many broken, dysfunctional families, expensive interventions, and the next generation becoming similarly scarred and ill-prepared. JOIN’s Life Skills Workshop prepares young men and women for the challenges they will face in interactive group sessions for 15-25 participants. Students learn and discuss topics such as home management, financial management, employment skills, coping skills, stress management, communications, marriage and parenting.

25th Anniversary Gala (2020)
This event both celebrated JOIN Israel's 25th anniversary as an organization and honored the two decades of leadership and generosity of Rick Smilow and Neil Wessan. At the event, Joel Greenblatt, Daniel Nir, Theta ZBT UPenn, and Jeffrey Goldberg were also recognized for their generosity.