by Zach Carstensen, Dir. of Governmental Relations & Public Affairs, Jewish Federation of Seattle
On Wednesday, March 14th, leaders from
Seattle’s LGBT nonprofit community joined Irit Zviely-Efrat and Avner
Dafi. Irit and Avner are the executive
directors of Hoshen and Israel Gay Youth respectively. They are two of the Israeli nonprofit
organizations which comprise the Alliance of Israeli LGBTQ Educational
Organizations. The lunch meeting was
convened by the Greater Seattle Business Association and the Jewish Federation
of Greater Seattle. It was organized by A Wider Bridge, an organization whose mission is to build stronger connections between the LGBT communities in Israel and North America.
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| IGY - Israel Gay Youth |
During the lunch meeting, Avner and
Irit described the present conditions for LGBT people living in Israel and the
challenges and opportunities for nonprofits seeking to serve the LGBT
community. The group also opened a
productive dialog on the future opportunities between the two communities
including visitor exchanges, capacity building to help strengthen and enhance
the Israeli LGBT and LGBT nonprofit communities. By sharing knowledge and expertise
organizations like the GSBA, Jewish Federation, Hoshen and Israel Gay Youth
will continue making progress for gay and lesbian people wherever they might
live.
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| Hoshen |
The Greater Seattle Business
Association and the Jewish Federation will be developing a road map for future
activities to bring the two communities closer together for learning, deeper
understanding and future action.
