Vision to Reality: The Reut Blog

During Pesach, we plan to update our community regarding developments in different areas of our work. Today’s focus is on the teams dealing with the ISRAEL 15 Vision and regional development (bottom up processes).

Version B of Document on ISRAEL 15 Vision was Published: The document: “ISRAEL 15 Vision: Principles and Guidelines for a Social and Economic Leap – Version B” was published last week after a dedicated effort by the team led by Omri Zegen (click here - currently only in Hebrew). This document will be critically important to our efforts to impact the policies of the incoming government towards generating Israel’s leapfrog.

Preparing for the ISRAEL 15 Conference and Study Visit: The Second Annual ISRAEL 15 Conference will take place on Monday, June 8, 2009 and is followed by a Study Visit on June 9-11 (Tue-Thurs). We are designing the conference to convene the people and organizations that are pushing the envelope of Israel’s social and economic development to discuss the ISRAEL 15 Vision.

Regional Development – Pilot Project in Beit Shemesh and Mate Yehudah finalized. 2nd Pilot Project in the area of Akko and Mate Asher about to begin: Aggressive regional economic development is critical for the acceleration of national development. In order to promote this strategy the Reut Institute collaborates with Partnership 2000 of the Jewish Agency to carry out pilot projects that will explore the theory and practice of regional economic development in Israel.

The first pilot project in the area of Beit Shemesh and Mate Yehudah – which is in partnership with the Jewish communities in Washington DC and South Africa – was already finalized. The second pilot project in the area of Akko and Mate Asher (Western Galilee) – which is in partnership with a consortium of communities around Dallas – is expected to begin after Pesach.

Related Links:

www.israel15.com.