In an effort to bolster inclusion for people with disabilities throughout the
Jewish world, the Israel-Boston-based Ruderman Family Foundation announced
Tuesday the winners of its inaugural Ruderman Prize in
Disability.
Recognizing 10 non-profit organizations in Israel, the US,
the UK, Russia and even Mexico, foundation president Jay Ruderman said that the
winners “offer a vision of a world with full inclusion, where people with
disabilities have the same opportunities for employment, education, religion,
and enjoyment of their communities as those without disabilities.”
Each
organization – four of which are from Israel – will receive a grant of $20,000
to continue its work in developing programs that enable people with disabilities
to participate in the mainstream, said Ruderman, adding that the grants “will
nourish and nurture that vision.”
He said the foundation, which has
pioneered efforts to encourage the organized Jewish community worldwide to
include children and adults with disabilities in all their activities, was
overwhelmed by the high number of applications it had received for the prize,
and highlighted that it had been difficult to select the winners.
“In
this first year of the Ruderman Prize in Disability, we are tremendously
encouraged by the high number of candidates from among so many outstanding
organizations and the fine record of achievement they each represent,” he
said.
“We are convinced that this annual award will serve to support and
encourage new opportunities for individuals with disabilities and to expand
horizons,” he added. “Full inclusion for all people with disabilities is a
priority of our foundation, and we will continue to find creative ways to
promote and sustain this effort.”
In Israel, the winners were AKIM, the
National Association for Children and Adults with Intellectual Disabilities,
whose program allowing people with developmental disabilities to serve in the
IDF received special notice; the Reishit School on Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim, which is
the only school in the country that fully includes students with disabilities in
a regular school setting; Shalva, the Association for Mentally and Physically
Challenged Children in Israel, which will receive funding for the Special
Interview Project that it runs together with Hebrew online news outlet Ynet; and
the Vertigo Dance Company, whose Power of Balance program has brought together
professional dancers to work with those with disabilities in developing a new,
innovative language of movement.
Prize-winners in the US were the Jewish
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Boston, for its program providing mentors to
adults with disabilities; the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center of San
Diego for its Inclusion Program, which allows children with disabilities to
participate in all of the center’s programming; and MetroWest Able in New
Jersey, which has created a more inclusive environment in its synagogues for
children with disabilities.
Worldwide, the Ruderman prize recognized the
efforts of the Jewish Family Center Adain Lo in St. Petersburg, Russia, which
Ruderman called a “model of Jewish education with pluralism”; the Mexican
organization Kadima, which enables children and adults with disabilities to
participate in community activities; and the UK’s Norwood Ravenswood charity,
which runs many innovative projects to promote inclusion.
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