P2P (People to People) Update

The P2P (People to People) working group from the Wexner Summit “Stronger Together” has been busy working on multiple projects that connect Israelis and North American Jews.  

While at the Summit, we realized what a gift it was that alumni from four of the Wexner programs were meeting and working together.  Right there, within the Summit group, was a P2P experience.  To expand on that and utilize the potential within the room as well as with all Wexner alumni and to create a way for alumni to connect face-to-face, we set up a Facebook group for all Wexner alumni to use when traveling from North America to Israel and vice versa.  We have already had several successful “Wex-Connects”.  If you have not done so already, please click here and request to join the group! 

P2P members are also working on a Twinning Initiative.  Non-profit lay leaders on both sides — Israeli and North American — will be “twinned” based on their work in similar organizations.  They will learn and share with each other and, hopefully, form friendships based on mutual values and experiences.  We have 14 potential twinning opportunities (with spots for Americans still available) — please email us if you are interested.

Some of us also started B’nei Bayit, or Bet Bet, and will pair host families in NYC (as a start) with Israelis studying for advanced degrees at Columbia University and New York University.  The host families will invite these students for holidays, provide community resources and perhaps chicken soup if their student isn’t feeling well.  Bet Bet will kickoff with a welcome reception, host a volunteer experience this winter for both hosts and students and hold a closing reception at the end of the academic year.  Hosts would have at least three to four additional touchpoints (brunch, dinner, Shabbat, etc.). If you live in New York City and would like to be a host, please let email Anita at ahgreenw@gmail.com.  Please also email Anita if you would like to replicate this idea in a different “Wexner City” where there is the kind of topnotch graduate program that would draw Israelis. 

As we head to Israel and convene again with our fellow Summit participants in April — after a year of fruitful thought, invention and teamwork — our P2P group is working to arrange a pre-Summit experience for participants.  This will give us more time to get to know and learn from one another.

We at P2P continue to try to find more people-to-people ideas and experiences to work on.  

To ask any questions or find out more information from this group,
please use our database to find the group members’ email addresses.